Simon Collins was born in the family of the vocalist of the band Genesis - Phil Collins. Having adopted his father's style of performance from his father, the musician performed solo for a long time. Then he organized the group Sound of Contact. His maternal sister, Joelle Collins, became a well-known actress. His paternal sister Lily Collins also mastered the acting path.
quarrelsome parents
Simon Collins was born in West London, in Hammersmith. His father was the famous drummer, singer and composer Phil Collins. The eldest son of a celebrity was presented by the first wife Andrea Bertorelli. When the boy was 8 years old, his parents separated, and he and his mother moved to live in Vancouver, as the woman was from Canada.
After her divorce from Phil, Andrea took with her not only their common child Simon, but also her daughter Joel. The girl also bore the surname Collins, since the musician had adopted her at one time.
Soon they all moved together to Richmond, and when the future drummer was 11 years old, my mother acquired an estate in Shaughnessy. The woman wanted to give her children a good education, so she was guided by this very moment in choosing housing.
When the teenager was 16 years old, the parents started a lawsuit over the house. The father wanted the estate to belong to both children when they grew up, but for now he controlled the property. Mom wanted Simon to hand over his part of the estate to her. But the court considered that the guy, due to his age, was not yet entitled to make such transactions.
The path to the music of the artist Simon Collins
When the boy was 5 years old, his father gave him a drum kit. Simon started playing drums, putting on records and playing along to the tunes. Later, his father even took him on tour with Genesis. There, the teenager was able to learn many secrets of mastery not only from the parent, but also from the drummer from Chester Thompson's band.
Phil hired a percussion instructor for his 10-year-old son, but Simon Collins preferred to take extra jazz lessons from famous artists. Already at the age of 12, the young drummer took the stage with his father during a world tour.
In addition to drums, Simon learned to play the piano and guitar and very early took up writing poetry and melodies for songs. Already from the age of 14 he participated in many groups of mainly hard rock orientation. But he did not ignore rock and roll, punk, grunge and even electronics.
The guy did not like to play other people's music on drums. He wanted to write and perform his own compositions. But they turned out to be too pop, so they could not fit into the repertoire of heavy rock bands.
In addition to music, Collins was fond of astronomy, reacted sharply to social problems. These two themes are often intertwined in his writings.
Solo career Simon Collins
At first, Simon Collins participated in the punk band Jet Set. He recorded demo tapes in 2000, after which Warner Music became interested in his personality, offering to record a contract.
The musician moves to Frankfurt, where he releases his debut album "Who You Are". 100 thousand copies were sold in Germany, mainly due to the composition "Pride".
Three years later, Simon returns to Canada, where he founded his personal label Lightyears Music. So the second album "Time for Truth" was released here. Collins plays various instruments himself and has provided most of the vocals.
Deciding to pay tribute to Genesis, in 2007 the musician covered the famous composition of the group "Keep It Dark". Keyboardist Dave Kerzner helped him in this. While working, he met Kevin Churko. He helped to mix the record.
Simon then asked Kevin to produce his third album, U-Catastrophe. It was ready in 2008. It was Collins' first project recorded in Canada on iTunes. The single from this album, "Unconditional", charted on the Canadian Hot 100.
Rejoining Sound of Contact
At the end of 2009, Simon decided to re-create the group, offering cooperation to Kerzner, whom he knew from the Genesis group. And he pulled up his colleagues Matt Dorsey and Kelly Nordstrom. The four banded together for rehearsals at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver.
In December 2012, in the progressive rock band Sound of Contact, Simon took vocals and played drums, Kerzner got the keyboards, Dorsey became the bassist, and Nordstrom the guitarist. At the end of spring 2013, the band's first album, Dimensionaut, was released.
Shortly thereafter, Nordström left for family reasons. In January 2014, Kerzner left the band. The latter decided to focus on his own project and organized the company Sonic Reality. True, both musicians decided to return back in April 2015. And the work on the second album began to boil.
In 2018, shocking information was heard about the departure of Collins and Nordstrom from the group. Dorsey and Kerzner began working on material that was originally going to be presented to Sound of Contact. Although in fact they organized a new team, In Continuum.
It's a pity that such an interesting group ceased to exist. Collins himself described it as a crossover progressive rock band that managed to retain the pop sound that was characteristic of progressive rock of the 70s of the last century. Although, perhaps, the musicians will unite again and delight the fans with excellent tracks.
