Book Review: Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography by Phil Collins

At 65, Phil Collins has been a drummer since he started playing along to the TV as a boy. Fast-forward to today, and he has sold out a run of shows in London, despite thinking he would not perform again due to ill health.

For these concerts he will only sing, as a loss of feeling in his hand has left him unable to play his beloved drums properly.

Everything in-between these years is revealed in this no-holds-barred autobiography, which is a well-written and emotive read. Collins comes out the good guy and the bad guy – a loveable muso who learnt from the best bands of the Sixties to create a string of hits, he was also an absent father with a drink problem and a trail of broken relationships.

Collins’ honesty is touching and candid but he does not overshare, and some of the most difficult parts of his life are not related in great detail.

He laments how, at one stage during one marriage split, he went from Mr Nice Guy to Mr Hated in the press.

It turns out he’s simply Mr Human. Just with 100million record sales more than most other humans.

Published by Century