“We Kissed and Made Up”: Phil Collins Reveals His Decades-Long Feud With a Former Beatle Is Over

The war is officially over.

In a recent interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored, No Jacket Required singer Phil Collins said his feud with former Beatle Paul McCartney has finally been put to rest.

The beef stems from an awkward moment the two music icons shared while playing an event in 2002, during which Collins felt McCartney was “patronizing” towards him. That was 24 years ago.

After an interview Collins gave The Sunday Times, in which he shared the McCartney story publicly, McCartney reached out to the ex-Genesis drummer by email. Collins did not respond.

Then, a few months ago, it was a charity auction that Collins was curating that led to an eventual reconciliation. Apparently, the “In The Air Tonight” singer had reached out to several musicians, including McCartney, asking if there was any memorabilia they wanted to donate.

“He said, ‘While we’re on the phone…’ And I thought, ‘Oh, here we go.’ He said, ‘What is this all about?’ I said, ‘I wish I’d never said it, Paul. I wish I’d never said it.’ He said, ‘I thought we were good,’” Collins shared. “I mean, it’s not fair for me to tell you what he said to me, but that’s basically the gist of the conversation. So we kissed and made up.”

Collins added, “I said I was sorry… Obviously this had been bugging him because he likes to be liked, as we all do, you know, and maybe him more than some other people. But we all like to be liked. And I understand that. And we kissed and made up.”

A Brief History of the Collins-McCartney Fued

So, what exactly happened that caused this decades-long feud to take place?

In 2002, Collins had an interaction with McCartney that he would later describe as rather “condescending.” Both artists were performing at Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee concert that year, and Collins was the house drummer. Collins asked McCartney to sign his first edition copy of an authorized Beatles biography. McCartney’s response left a bad taste in his mouth.

In his 2016 memoir, Collins told all regarding his exchange with the music legend. He recounted the story once again to Piers Morgan on Friday.

“‘So I was sitting on the side of the stage, and Paul came up behind with Heather Mills, who he was married to at that point, and I said, ‘Paul, could you sign this?’ And he said, ”Oh yeah. Yeah’.”

Collins continued: “‘And he said, he probably didn’t mean it like it sounded, but he said, ‘He’s a big Beatles fan is our little Phil.’ And I thought, ‘You a***hole’. I couldn’t help it. That’s just what I thought. I probably made more of it than he meant, I did make more of it…”

Now, it seems like the two music legends have finally reached a good place. It just goes to show that there’s nothing an apology and a little understanding can’t fix, even between two stars like Collins and McCartney.

Photo by: Ross Marino/Getty Images

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