Phil Collins' 1989 No. 1 Hit Features A Rock Legend You Probably Never Noticed

Progressive rock drummer Phil Collins nearly left Genesis in the 1970s, but he instead went on to have a simultaneous career as a soft rock superstar in the 1980s. But he still occasionally sought out the help of other well-established musical figures — his late '80s pop smash "Another Day in Paradise" very subtly includes background vocal work from David Crosby of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Synth-based, sorrowful, and restrained, "Another Day in Paradise" topped the charts for four weeks and helped prove that 1989 was the decade's best year for power ballads.

A meditation on the issue of mass numbers of unhoused people in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as the perceived public indifference to the matter and Collins' own shame at not helping out as much as he could, "Another Day in Paradise" is appropriately spare and sparse musically, allowing the lyrics to be heard and felt. But there's also a lot of passion and heart inherent in the vocal performances, and Crosby is responsible for much of that. Here's how Phil Collins checked off an item on his professional wish list and made a hit single in the process with "Another Day in Paradise."

Richly textured harmonies and undeniable background vocals characterize Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise." Those weren't the result of multi-tracking Collins' voice: That's all music icon David Crosby. "I was in bands that did covers of Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash songs," Collins explained in "The Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits." "I think he's the key member of that group, because he's the one who picks the odd notes out of the air and sings them." 

Of Crosby's contributions to "Another Day in Paradise," Collins remarked, "David did exactly what I expected him to do. He just picked a few notes out of thin air that I would never have thought of." It turns out that this collaboration was a long time coming. When Collins was in production on his 1981 LP "Face Value," he'd intended to feature Crosby, but the two musicians couldn't align their schedules. They never actually met until an Atlantic Records event in 1988, where Collins petitioned Crosby to participate on the 1989 LP "...But Seriously." 

That December, "Another Day in Paradise" became Collins' seventh and final solo No. 1 of his career. Collins and Crosby teamed up again less than four years later. On "Hero," Crosby's meditation on the complexities of morality, Collins delivered background vocals. While a minor pop hit, "Hero" was a smash at adult contemporary, going to No. 3 on that genre's chart in the summer of 1993.