Phil Collins appears to be putting some of his activities in order in anticipation of a new project.
In 2009, Collins revealed that he was no longer able to play drums due to compression of his vertebrae after years of playing in a certain position. The next year, after the release of a Motown covers album, he said that he was done recording to spend more time with his family and concentrate on a book he wanted to write on the Alamo and the Texas Revolution based on his extensive artifacts collection.
Earlier this week, the Texas General Land Office announced that Collins had decided to donate his collection, worth “tens of millions of dollars”, to the state of Texas. Kaye Tucker, a project manager for the office, told Texas Monthly “My understanding was that he had been talking to some area museums about an exhibit, so I had dinner with him and asked if he’d consider giving at least part of it to the Alamo. To my amazement, he just said, ‘Yes.’”
On Thursday, Collins was at the Texas Revolution shrine in San Antonio to announce his donation. He told the crowd “Some people would buy Ferraris, some people would buy houses, I bought old bits of metal and old bits of paper. It’s at my home, in my basement in Switzerland. I look at it every day, but no one else was enjoying it.”
Collins’ donation comes with a caveat. He wants the state of Texas to fix up the site and put up a building to house the collection. It appears the state is more than happy to comply.
With one of the love’s of his life in good hands, he may be readying to return to another. Bassist Leland Sklar, who has been in Collins’ solo band for many years, says that Phil has put together three weeks of rehearsals to see if the magic is still there for a possible tour.
Sklar told the podcast I’d Hit That “If at the end of three weeks, he feels like it’s still got the old mojo, then he’ll talk to management and see what they want to do. Personally, I didn’t think we were ever going to play again, and then all of a sudden, I think he’s in a better place in his life. His two young sons, I think kind of said to him: ‘We’ve never seen you.’ And I think a lot of things came together, where he wants to test the waters.”
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