One of rock music’s strangest grudges began with two words at Buckingham Palace.
Twenty-four years later, Phil Collins says a phone call from Paul McCartney finally forced both men to deal with it.
The real surprise is not that two superstars clashed. It is how small the original spark was — and how long it sat there.
“I thought, ‘you a******e’!”
Phil Collins reveals the real reason he fell out with Paul McCartney and the moment that left him feeling ‘surprised’
https://t.co/mHnuPVVWpc@piersmorgan | @PhilCollinsFeed pic.twitter.com/NNgbAzBDBT
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) October 2, 2026
Collins walked Piers Morgan through the whole affair during a new interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Morgan asked him both how the falling-out began and what finally happened when the two musicians spoke again.
The story began at the 2002 Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert. Collins was the house drummer for a lineup that ran from Eric Clapton and Ozzy Osbourne to Ray Davies, while McCartney and Brian Wilson brought their own bands.
During rehearsals at Buckingham Palace, Collins carried a rare first edition of Hunter Davies’ Beatles biography. He wanted McCartney to sign it.
McCartney agreed. Then, according to Collins, he turned to his then-wife Heather Mills and referred to him as “our little Phil,” the big Beatles fan.
That word — little — landed badly.
Collins said he immediately felt patronized. He also conceded that McCartney probably did not mean the line the way it sounded and admitted that he made more of it than McCartney intended.
But the irritation stuck.
It mattered to Collins because McCartney was not some distant stranger. Collins had played on one of his albums, performed with him for the Prince’s Trust and presented him with an award in London.
He eventually wrote about the encounter in his memoir. When the story surfaced again during a 2016 interview, McCartney sent him an email objecting to the way Collins had characterized him.
Collins did not reply.
Years passed. The unanswered email became a genuine chill between two men who had already shared stages and studio history.
Then came the unexpected call.
Collins has been gathering memorabilia from musicians he has worked with for a King’s Trust charity auction scheduled for November. McCartney wanted to contribute an item, and his office asked for Collins’ phone number.
Once they were speaking directly, McCartney raised the old dispute.
Collins apologized. He told McCartney he wished he had never made the complaint public, while still standing by the fact that the 2002 exchange happened.
He declined to reveal every detail of McCartney’s side of the private conversation. But he gave the bottom line: the two men had finally made peace.
“We kissed and made up,” Collins told Morgan.
That call was not the first public sign of a thaw. In August, MusicRadar reported that McCartney’s decision to donate to the auction had opened the door to a direct conversation. The auction gathers memorabilia from artists Collins has played with and will direct its proceeds to the King’s Trust.
Collins said then that the matter had gone “full circle.” McCartney was happy they discussed it, and Collins was relieved to have the strain removed from a relationship that had mattered to him for decades.
That makes the timing of Collins’ latest comments especially interesting.
At a recent London event marking 45 years of his album Face Value, Collins brought up another McCartney mystery.
NME reported that Collins remembered George Harrison praising his cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows” in the original 1995 version of The Beatles Anthology. Collins raised the subject during a London question-and-answer event with Steven Wilson celebrating the 45th anniversary of Face Value, the 1981 album that included his version of the Beatles song.
The documentary originally aired on ITV and was later reissued on Disney+. The re-release also added a new final episode.
When Collins watched the documentary again, he said the moment was gone. He jokingly wondered whether McCartney “didn’t like it.”
That does not necessarily mean the feud is back. It does show that Collins has not completely lost his taste for tweaking McCartney in public.
And that may be the most honest ending available here.
Two men with more fame, money and musical history than almost anyone alive spent years bothered by a backstage remark and an unanswered email. In the end, a charity auction did what time could not: it put them on the phone together.
Collins took responsibility for letting the slight grow into something bigger. McCartney took the initiative to address it instead of letting the silence drag on.
After 24 years, that was enough.
Featured image: Phil Collins and Paul McCartney. Photos by Raph_PH, licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
