Does anybody know why Phil Collins wasn't immediately made lead singer?

Just curious as to why when Genesis decided to hunt down a lead singer when PG left when their drummer had sung lead vocals on some of Genesis songs already which is pretty crazy, I mean how did he end up singing the lead vocals on "Absent Friends" when he had just arrived? Was it down to PC just wanting to carry on as a drummer and not finding it logical to sing and drum?

 

It is what it is. Sometimes the answer is right under your nose, but it takes a while to find it

 

From the docs I've seen, it just didn't occur to them to make him front man until he tried it .

 

That is my impression, yes. He probably wasn't sure how he would function as front man in concert while also performing drum duties, before they had struck on the strategy of bringing in another tour drummer.

 

I wonder if Phil thought it would be too much to drum and be dnt an/lead singer without a secondary drummer (which I don't think they had considered at that point)

 

Yeah, it wasn't an obvious thing to do because Phil was the drummer and wasn't going to front the band from behind the drums. They did intend from the beginning for him to sing some of the ballads on Trick of the Tail.

 

Yeah, Phil would sing the portion to show the auditioner how it was to be sung and in each case Phil did it better so it was "Well, there you go".

 

The vocals were just one part of it. They knew that Phil could sing. Lots of people can sing. Probably some of them sounded better to the band's ears (including Phil's ears) than Phil did.

The issue was finding a new front man. Someone who could command the front of the stage as compellingly as Peter Gabriel did, without being like Peter Gabriel, since the last thing they wanted to become was their own tribute band.

I think it took the couple of hundred or how ever many guys to audition to just get Peter out of everybody's heads. No matter how much they knew they couldn't replace Peter as Peter on stage, they had a much bigger issue. What would a new front man mean for the future of the band? What would it mean for the kind of songs they'd write? Because if Peter hadn't sung or written every song, he sure cast a long shadow across them.

THAT was the nut to crack. Who's the guy who can sing differently than Peter, that can be different on stage than Peter was, could handle the old songs, and could help the band be who they wanted to be going forward, as writers and as performers.

The drummer is the LAST guy you think of as being THAT guy. Rather than wondering why it took them so long to figure out, I give them all the credit in the world for figuring it out at all. And Phil all the credit in the world for more than rising to the occasion, imo.

 

I wonder did the prospect of having to pay a second drummer on tour factor into the equation as well? Remember they still weren't very commercially successful when Peter left, and there was probably pressure from their label to keep costs low until and unless they actually started raking in the big bucks.

 

From what I've read, he didn't really want to do it. He liked being a drummer, and to this day he considers himself first and foremost a drummer. But as someone mentioned, during singer auditions he would demo how to do the songs, and he sounded better than the guys auditioning. I guess it was finally his girlfriend who pushed him into suggesting it to the band.

When Banks and Rutherford gave the thumbs up, (not sure if they asked Steve ) Phil's next step was to find a drummer for live shows. He wanted Bill Bruford. When Bruford said yes, that was the final green light to become the singer. Or at least that's what I've heard happened....

Led to some of the best double drumming in rock.

 

Because he's wicked yoogly???

 

They were afraid he would become a cheesy pop star and ruin their music but then decided that would be acceptable if they became hugely wealthy as a result.

 

Because his voice is just plain annoying?

 

This is correct. He reluctantly did it and it worked very well. Trick of the Tail is my favourite Genesis album.

 

+1.

How can you go wrong with SQUONK and RIPPLES on the same album.

 

He was already balding?

 

You're in the wrong thread. You're excused!

 

Not my favorite, but one of them. Great album.

 

Collins had sung lead before on some album cuts and unreleased material. There are reports that Genesis interviewed up to 400 singers for the role. But Collins eventually asked if he could have a go. The band recognised he was familiar with all the material so gave it a go. Collins was concerned who would drum, but was satisfied when Bill Bruford was able to join. That's what I heard, in brief.

 

Because his voice is nasally and terrible.

 

Collins would sing the parts to guide those auditioning, so he got pretty good at it. I'd love to hear Nick Lowe's audition.

 

He also sang unison lead with Gabriel on some songs.

 

Couldn't get insurance coverage...

Known drummer deaths for Spinal Tap:

• John "Stumpy" Pepys -- died in 1969 in a bizarre gardening accident.
• Eric Childs -- died 1974, choking to death on someone else's vomit.
• Peter "James" Bond -- spontaneously combusted on stage in 1977.
• Mick Shrimpton, who replaced Bond, disappeared and is presumed dead, as his brother Ric replaced him in 1992 and interviews with Ric make reference to other Tap members saying "We're not sure we want to put your mum through this again." (Rip, June 1992). I can't find a cause of death stated anywhere, though.
• In an interview on the Arsenio Hall Show in December 1992, David St. Hubbins referred to a drummer he did not name who had been accidentally packed with the band's equipment and never seen again. St. Hubbins also claimed then that the band had had 12 drummers.

 

Here's what Mike Rutherford has to say about the situation in his autobiography:

Privately, the question of finding been too a new singer had painful for us to think about didn't since Pete had left: we just didnt go there. Some of the best stuff for the album we were writing new was instrumental, and for a while we thought about keeping it that way. However, we realized that it could get a bit boring without any vocals. But then who would sing them? It seemed an insurmountable problem.

We thought Mick Strickland had the right kind of bluesy voice for us and he also had a low-enough profile to be able to slot into the band. We knew it would have been even more difficult if we were bringing in an image as well as a new face.

Mick came in for an audition, but when he tried Squonk' it was in completely the wrong key: the poor guy battled through but it was never going to work

The next day Phil came in with a suggestion. "Listen I wouldn't mind giving it a go". Apparently Andrea, a Canadian girl he'd married in 1975, had encouraged him, but I think itd been on his mind anyway. "All right, go on then",and so he did.

 

Oddly enough, when Genesis was booked into the London (Ontario) Arena (March, 1976 -
first post-Gabriel concert), they hadn't settled on a lead singer yet. I was at the show and
Phil seemed to us a natural fit.