Genesis frontman Phil Collins is one of the best singers and songwriters of the 80s and 90s. The former Genesis frontman is known for his musical talents. While his bestowed talent for music is known, looks like he even wrote his daughter Lily Collins a song.
A father-daughter relationship is a very important relationship that is bound to shape her future. And here in the case of Phil Collins, it’s inevitable that he was always away for work. Lily Collins is Phil’s daughter from his second marriage with Jill Tavelman. She didn’t get to spend her time with both of her parents for long. As they divorced when she was five years old. It is revealed in her memoir Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me. “When I was 5, my parents got divorced and my dad moved from our home in England to Switzerland, where he stayed for more than 20 years.”
She also wrote, “He may have still been alive, but most of the time, it felt as if he were completely gone.”
Lily also says that because of his absence she was extra aware of herself and her surroundings. She said, “I became extra careful about what I said and how I said it, afraid he’d think I was angry or didn’t love him.”
Retrospective to her younger time, Phil Collins only focused on his work with Genesis. Instead of supporting Lily, he committed himself to tour and music. She also had no idea that her father was a rockstar. That was the time, Phil was struggling with alcohol addiction. He was working for Disney during that time. Also, Disney hired Collins as a songwriter for the 1999 Tarzan movie.
Phil wrote five songs for Tarzan. And the song most important for him and the movie, ‘You’ll Be In My Heart‘. The song was written for his daughter Lily. When the song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2000 he said he, “began life as a melody I imagined singing to a baby Lily”.
Lily also during an interview with EW said, “We grew up watching Disney shows and movies together, so [“You’ll Be in My Heart”] was his way of kind of being able to do it for his kids. It was so special.”
She also had things to say about her father, being a rock star. She said, “It’s a weird thing to have your dad or your parent be on the stage with a million people saying their name and you’re like, ‘No, that’s just dad.” She recalled,
“But I started to get used to, that person was Phil and then when we were home, that was dad.”
