Collins Plans Soul Album

The former Genesis star will tackle Motown and Stax Records classics on Going Back.

It won't be the rocker's first foray into soul music - he enjoyed a solo hit with a cover of The Supremes' You Can’t Hurry Love in 1983.

Collins says, "It shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that I've finally made an album of my favourite Motown songs.

"These songs, along with a couple of Dusty Springfield tracks, a Phil Spector/Ronettes tune, and one by the Impressions, make up the tapestry, the backdrop, of my teenage years. I remember it as if it was yesterday, going to the Marquee Club in London's Soho and watching The Who, The Action, and many others, playing these songs. In turn I'd go out the next day to buy the original versions.

"My idea, though, was not to bring anything new to these already great records, but to try to recreate the sounds and feelings that I had when I first heard them."

Collins has teamed up with three of the Motown's surviving Funk Brothers, the session musicians who featured on the soul label's classic tracks, for songs on the tribute album.

He recalls, "There was one moment when they were tracking (Martha Reeves & The Vandellas hit) Heat Wave that I experienced a wave of happiness and wonder that this was actually happening to me."

Tracks also include the Temptations’ Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue), Stevie Wonder's Uptight (Everything’s Alright) and the Four Tops' Standing In The Shadows Of Love and Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever.

Collins and the Funk Brothers will perform a string of concerts at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom in June (10) to preview the tracks on the album.