Phil Collins will be the recipient of the annual Johnny Mercer Award at the 2010 Songwriters Hall of Fame. Collins will receive the award on June 17th at a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
Collins sang the lead vocals on eight American chart-toppers between 1984 and 1989; seven as a solo artist and one with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", to the dance pop of "Sussudio", to the political statements of his most successful song, "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.
Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with obscure rock group Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. On Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.
His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2002, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work.
Johnny Mercer was a true son of the South. His roots and his heart were firmly placed in Savannah, Georgia, an eccentric and unique world unto itself that has barely changed to this day. His love affair with music didn't come from the glitter of Broadway or Hollywood, but as a country boy growing up near a small park, where on Sundays he went to listen in wonder to a local band play Irving Berlin.
His lyrics came naturally from the colorful way the people around him talked: you gotta "Accentuate The Positive;" "Fools Rush In;" "Where Angels Fear To Tread;" "Any Place To Hang My Hat Is Home;" you're just "Too Marvelous For Words." And the sounds he heard-- the clickety clack of the railroad track, the wind whistling through the Spanish moss, and the rain like silver slivers racing along the horizon-- "Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train a-callin' 'Whoo-ee!'"
Johnny Mercer's poetic genius continues to reflect the romantic yearnings, the wit, the energy, and the personality that is our America dream.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride
