Phil Collins and his son Nic have an incredible bond, as evidenced by their stunning performance of one of his father’s lesser-known hits, ‘You Know What I Mean’. Picture: YouTube/DeadMike.com
Phil Collins and his son Nic have an incredible bond, as evidenced by their stunning performance of one of his father’s lesser-known hits, ‘You Know What I Mean’.
In a beautiful video, Nicholas Collins, who was performing as the drummer on his dad’s 2019 Not Dead Yet Tour, came up on stage to play the piano as Phil Collins joined him on vocals for the 1981 song.
The pair joked with the crowd, with the Genesis frontman saying it was the only song out of his extensive back catalogue that his son actually liked, before giving the Houston crowd a performance to remember.
Phil Collins does a duet with his son
Phil Collins announced his retirement from music as he performed with Genesis at the O2 Arena in London on in March 2022.
In an emotional video, the singer said goodbye to his fans and told the crowd he would now have to get a “real job”, years after it was first disclosed that back surgery had left the frontman ‘unable to hold a drumstick’.In September 2009, it was reported that Collins could no longer play the drums, due to a recent operation on a dislocated vertebrae in his neck. A year later, he spoke of feelings of depression and low self-esteem.
“After playing drums for 50 years, I’ve had to stop. My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in,” he wrote at the time.”It comes from years of playing. I can’t even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through.”
He alleviated fans of Genesis, however, ending the interview on a positive note by confirming: “Don’t worry, I can still sing.”A year later talking to Rolling Stone magazine, Phil seemed happy with the new-look format of Genesis, saying: “I was going to stop drumming anyway. I had stopped. I don’t miss it.”Once Phil had a second surgery in 2016, he felt healthy enough to tour and announced the Not Dead Yet global tour for the following year.
His son, Nic, first performed on his dad’s last solo tour, starting in 2017, when he was only 17-years-old.”It’s not because he’s the boss’s son that he’s playing the drums, it’s because he’s good enough,” Phil said on The Project at the time, explaining that Nicholas has been playing drums since he was two.”The band fell in love with him… suddenly it was like he knew what he was doing and wasn’t in awe of the situation. I’m very pleased for him, and for me, that we get to go through this together.”
Nic also has his own band called Better Strangers, and they released their debut EP, Luna’s Daydream, in 2021.Nicholas posted about performing with his father in 2019, saying: “This tour gave me the chance to represent all the music I grew up with.”I’ve had the chance to share the stage with such remarkable musicians and they have helped me progress so much as a musician and I owe so much to them.”I also owe so much to my dad. He made this all happen and was impeccable from start to finish. To be able to look back on this period of my life and the memories I got to share with my old man is incredible.”
