As he emerged as an artist in his own right during the rock renaissance of the 1960s and progressive rock’s peak of the 1970s, one figure who captured his attention was Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. As someone who could combine hard rock forcefully with a touch of jazz, Bonham appealed to Collins because he combined accessible drumming with technical proficiency.

While studying the drumming greats, Collins sought guidance from the likes of Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker and Keith Moon. Bonham remains at the top of his list of favourites largely because he was “the first drummer I ever gave a standing ovation to”, and “When The Levee Breaks” will always be a song he associates with drumming at its peak.

However, when a fan asked him during an online Q&A session in 2016 which artist he would like to collaborate with that he hasn’t worked with yet, none of these drum virtuosos caught his eye. Instead, he named the “Queen of Soul” herself, the ultimate voice of gospel and one of the world’s most important social activists of all time – Aretha Franklin. “I’ve always loved her voice,” Collins explained during his 1993 episode of the BBC show Desert Island Disksand chose “Somewhere” as one of his favorite songs.

Collins has openly expressed his admiration for Franklin on several occasions, who, like Collins, mastered the art of balancing emotional depth and technical skill in her music. The two also managed to cross a wide range of genres, with Collins attracting the attention of those working in a handful of relevant fields. Soul singer Diane Birch, for example, once described him as someone who walked the line between “really cheesy and really sophisticated.”

However, it also seems unnecessary and nearly impossible to compare the two beyond general musical sensibilities. Ultimately, Collins’ love of Franklin undoubtedly stems from his love of soul music, which has profoundly shaped his musical identity and inspired him to incorporate soulful elements into his own work, even as he forged his own path in pop and rock.

Above all, Collins’ fixation on her voice probably taught him a lot about how to add emotional depth to singing, and led him to explore the expressive potential of his own voice and convey raw, heartfelt emotion in his performances.

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