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PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE ANNOUNCES GLOBAL ACQUISITION OF MUSIC LEGEND PHIL COLLINS’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Penguin Random House today announced it has acquired world publication rights for the autobiography of music legend Phil Collins. The deal was negotiated by Ben Dunn on behalf of Century in the UK and by Tricia Boczkowski on behalf of Crown Archetype in the U.S., with Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown Ltd., Mr. Collins’s literary representative.

The as-yet-untitled work will be published in print and digital formats in October 2016 by Crown Archetype in the U.S. and Canada and by Century in the UK. Penguin Random House will be selling translation rights to publishers internationally. The U.S. editor will be Kevin Doughten, Senior Editor.

Phil Collins, a generational icon and cultural legend, is one of the most successful songwriters and musical performers of all time. A global hit-maker, he has written and sung some of the most defining songs of the last 40 years. He is one of only three recording artists in history to sell over 100 million albums as both a solo artist and a member of a band.

Born in West London, Collins gained fame as the drummer and lead singer for the rock band Genesis, leading them as they transformed from a beloved art house/prog rock group into one of the biggest bands in the world.

As a solo artist, his worldwide record sales top 150 million, including such hits as “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds,” and “You’ll Be in My Heart.” He has won numerous music awards, including an Academy Award for Best Song, seven Grammy Awards, and six Brit Awards, and was named a Disney Legend for his work on the musical Tarzan.

Said Collins: “Several times over the last few years I have been asked to write a biography but never felt that the time was right—until now. Having found the right publisher in Penguin Random House, I am ready to go on record about my life in music, with all the highs and all the lows, and to tell the story from my point of view, ¬warts and all!”

Ben Dunn, Publishing Director of Century, said: “Phil Collins’s autobiography is one of the last great untold stories and is something we’ve all been desperate to read. The early material is simply breathtaking, and I am honored to be his UK publisher.”

Tricia Boczkowski, VP, Editorial Director of Crown Archetype, said: “As one of the world’s most successful recording artists, Phil Collins’s music has spanned generations and has been the soundtrack to so many of our lives. Unflinchingly honest, his memoir will surprise readers with its candor and vulnerability, showing the world a Phil Collins that not many people know. We are thrilled to be publishing this music legend’s story.”

Crown Archetype is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Penguin Random House (http://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.

Century is an imprint of Cornerstone Publishing, part of The Random House Group Ltd, based in the UK. The Random House Group Ltd is a Penguin Random House Company.