Phil Collins has recalled being blown away by Taylor Swift’s musical prowess years before she became an international pop superstar.
The British drummer and singer, 75, heaped praise on the “Opalite” hitmaker, 36, during a recent appearance on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years with Vernon Kay.
Collins shared that he was first introduced to Swift by his daughter, Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, at the 2010 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“I’d kind of known the name, but she wasn’t anywhere near the star she is today, a very nice lady,” the rocker said of Swift. “Then she got up on stage with a guitar and sang ‘White Horse.’”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer remembered the performance “blew me away completely, because not only was the song great and the sentiment of the song, it really got me, but she sang it beautifully and it was just so simple, you know, her and the guitar.”
The 2008 song, featured on Swift’s second studio album, Fearless, is about the painful reality of heartbreak and the difficult realization that love is not a fairytale.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for the song since then,” Collins admitted of the track, which he included on his list of 10 songs that have soundtracked his life as part of the BBC radio show.
His list of choices also included The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight.”
In June, Swift became the youngest woman to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wonder remains the youngest person ever inducted, having entered the Hall at age 32 in 1983.
During her acceptance speech, Swift said her songwriting talent was “instinctual. No one taught me how to do it.”
Collins, meanwhile, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. He was later awarded the organization’s highest distinction, the Johnny Mercer Award, at the 2010 ceremony.
The “Another Day in Paradise” artist recently completed a seven-month stay in intensive care. Opening up about the health scare in a new interview with The Sunday Times, Collins, who has been open about his addiction to alcohol in the past, revealed the recent hospital stay was the result of a relapse.
“My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up. People were coming to say goodbye,” he said, adding that he was on life support.
Collins told the publication that his pancreas is permanently scarred and his kidneys “barely function,” but he also suffers from other health problems following a serious spinal injury in 2007. He now walks on crutches and is cared for by a live-in nurse 24 hours a day, while also managing his type 2 diabetes.
