Simon Collins

Simon Philip Nando Collins (born 14 September 1976) is a British-Canadian drummer and the former 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 paternal half-brother of actress Lily Collins. Reviewers have compared his vocals to those of his father. Early life Collins was born in Hammersmith, London, England. He is the eldest son of English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins and his first wife, British-Canadian citizen Andrea Bertorelli. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1984, when he was 8 years old, after his parents' divorce. He lived with his mother, Andrea, and his 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.