Simon Collins

Simon Philip Nando Collins (born 14 September 1976) is a British-Canadian musician, drummer and lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Sound of Contact. Collins is the son of English drummer and singer Phil Collins and Collins' first wife, Andrea Bertorelli. He is the brother of actress Joely Collins and half brother of Lily Collins. Reviewers have compared his vocals to his father's.

Collins was born in Hammersmith, London, England on the 14th of September, 1976, the eldest son of English singer-songwriter Phil Collins and his first wife, English-Canadian citizen Andrea Bertorella. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1984, when he was eight years old, after his parents' divorce. He lived with his mother, Andrea, and half-sister, Joely, in nearby Richmond between the ages of 8 and 11. In September 1987, they moved into an estate purchased in Vancouver's Shaughnessy neighbourhood with assistance from their father, a decision described by Andrea Collins as a means to a better education for Collins and his sister and for the sake of other lifestyle considerations. In 1991, Simon's parents were involved in a court battle at the Supreme Court of British Columbia to gain possession of the estate, owing to a misunderstanding of the terms of ownership of the home. Their father had previously placed the estate in an irrevocable land trust in 1987, however, to be owned by both children jointly in adulthood. Their father succeeded in retaining control of the estate until Simon's twentieth birthday, as the judge ruled in October 1991 he was not old enough to sign his half of the estate to his mother as she had intended. Collins completed his secondary education at Vancouver's Point Grey Secondary School.

He first became involved with music when he was five after his father purchased for him a Tama drum kit. Collins practised drumming by playing along with music albums in his parents' record collection as well as when accompanying his father while on tour with Genesis. Collins' experiences on tour allowed him to be mentored by his father and by the band's touring drummer, Chester Thompson. Though he had a percussion instructor when he was ten, Collins preferred drumming to artists such as Stewart Copeland, Gavin Harrison, and Keith Moon over his formal lessons in jazz drumming. Simon made his first onstage appearance alongside his father at the age of 12, performing drums on "Easy Lover." He also appeared onstage for a performance during the Seriously, Live! World Tour.

In his early teens, Collins learned to play the piano and began to develop songwriting and singing skills. While he played drums in numerous hard rock bands beginning at age 14, Collins wanted to pursue singing, songwriting, and diversity in music styles, including pop, progressive rock, rock and roll, punk, grunge, and electronica. According to Collins, he did not wish to spend his life "drumming to other people's music." His early compositions were rejected by the heavier rock bands he played for because of their pop style.

In his late teens, Collins worked part-time as a disc jockey in Vancouver's rave scene. His experiences in rave culture inspired a collaborative documentary project with his sister Joely called Summer Love.

Collins developed a passion for astronomy and social issues during his youth, and frequently revisits these themes in his music.

Solo career and collaborations

Prior to the beginning of his solo career, Collins was a member of the local punk band Jet Set. Collins was signed by Warner Music following a release of demo tapes he had recorded in 2000. It was at this time that Collins moved from Vancouver to Frankfurt, Germany, where his debut album All of Who You Are was released. The album saw 100,000 copies sold in Germany and three singles were released off it: "Pride", "Money Maker" and "Shine Through". The album's sales have been attributed to the success of the single, "Pride." A second single, "Shine Through", was co-written by Collins and Howard Jones.

In 2003, Collins left Warner Music and returned to Vancouver to start his own record label, Lightyears Music. On the Lightyears label two years later, Collins released his second album, Time for Truth. He played a variety of instruments on the album in addition to providing the majority of the vocals. In 2007, he recorded a cover of Genesis' Abacab track "Keep It Dark," as a tribute to Genesis, with keyboardist and co-producer Dave Kerzner. During production of "Keep it Dark", Collins met Kevin Churko, who mixed and mastered the recording; Collins later had Churko work with him on the production of his third album, U-Catastrophe.

U-Catastrophe, released in 2008 on iTunes, became Collins' first North American recording project. The album's first single, "Unconditional", debuted on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart at No. 30 in September 2008. It later peaked at No. 12 on Billboard in November 2008 and charted on the Canadian Hot 100 in the same month. Kerzner, Kelly Nordstrom, and Steve Hackett were featured on "Fast Forward the Future"; Phil Collins appeared on "The Big Bang".

Sound of Contact

In late 2009, Collins approached Kerzner with the idea of forming a new band. After bringing the idea to musicians Matt Dorsey and Kelly Nordstrom, the four of them began working together at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver. The band, known by December 2012 as Sound of Contact, included Collins on lead vocals and drums, Kerzner on keyboards, Dorsey on bass, and Nordstrom on guitar. The band's debut album, Dimensionaut, was released in May 2013. Soon after the release of Dimensionaut, Nordstrom left the band; Kerzner left in January 2014. Both rejoined the group in April 2015 and, subsequently, Sound of Contact began working on their second album.

Studio albums

• 1999: All of Who You Are
• 2005: Time for Truth
• 2008: U-Catastrophe

Singles

Sound of Contact

• 2013: Dimensionaut

With other artists

• 2012: Genesis Revisited II (with Steve Hackett)

• Canadian Top Singles peak for "Pride"
• "Simon Collins Album & Song Chart History". Retrieved May 6, 2015. 
• "Officialcharts.de – Simon Collins – Pride". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved May 6, 2015. 
• "Officialcharts.de – Simon Collins – Shine Through". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved May 6, 2015. 
• "Simon Collins Album & Song Chart History". Retrieved May 6, 2015.