Lily Collins took to social media this week to mark the latest birthday of her music icon father – the Genesis drummer, Phil Collins – with an adorable throwback snap
Lily Collins paid a gushing tribute to her father, music legend Phil Collins, to mark his latest birthday.
The 35-year-old Emily In Paris star is the daughter of musician Phil and his second wife, Jill Tavelman – who he was married to from 1984 until 1996. On Thursday, Lily took to Instagram to celebrate the fact that her dad – who has been battling health issues since suffering a spine injury in 2007 – was turning 74 that day.
She shared an adorable throwback photograph of herself with Genesis drummer from the day he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a second image of him posing with her inside a London theatre. This winter, Lily has delighted fans by performing in the West End show, Barcelona – which concluded earlier this month after a successful 12 week run at the Duke of York’s Theatre on St Martin’s Lane.
In her birthday tribute, Lily thanked her father for supporting her career, writing: From a west coast star to the West End stage and everywhere in between — I’m so grateful to be by your side and for the support, experiences, and love we have and will continue to share. The older I get, the greater I appreciate all the little, special moments spent together.”
She concluded: “Happy birthday Dad. I couldn’t love you more or be more thankful to celebrate you today and every day. Truly. To the moon and back again…” Lily also shared a short video clip of herself at the Hotel Eden in Rome where she discovered that there were autographed photos of herself and her father hanging on one of the walls. She gasped: “So, how cool is this? Their’s me. And their’s dad. Very cool!”
The Netflix star added a caption stating: “Like father, like daughter. So proud to share space with you. Happy birthday, Dad” – alongside a red heart emoji. Lily’s husband, the director Charlie McDowell, also paid tribute to Phil, writing in the comments of Lily’s post: “Happy birthday Phil! Legend.”
Music icon Phil retired from playing drums three years ago after battling health issues after suffering a spinal injury during a Genesis tour in 2007. He underwent surgeries in 2009 and 2016 to help correct a dislocated vertebrae in his spine – but was left nerve damage that left him “more immobile”.
Opening up about his injury in 2016, Phil shared his concern that he would “never play the way I used to” after feeling his neck go numb after play-fighting with Genesis session drummer Chester Thompson on stage. He recalled, “Something happened on the Genesis reunion tour.
“At the end of each show, I had a drumming duel with Chester Thompson, and one night something happened. It just went. I tried everything – bigger drumsticks and so on, but it just never came back. It’s a mystery what happened, I just couldn’t get it back.” In the intervening years, Phil has fluctuated between threatening to quit performing for good and returning to play on stage.
His son Nicholas told Rolling Stone magazine in 2022: “I think at the moment, he’s definitely retired. If you ask me on a serious level, I think that show in London was my dad’s last show.” Refusing to rule out a return to the stage, however, he added: “But then again, he said that in 2004 and we wound up doing a tour in 2018. You can never be sure. For me, I think that was that, but who knows?”
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