Phil Collins has split from his third wife after six years of marriage.

The singer and his Swiss spouse, Orianne, released a statement saying the couple had decided to separate.

Collins, the former drummer and singer with Genesis, will continue to live in Switzerland to be near his children, Nicholas, four, and one-year-old Matthew.

In a statement, his publicist said: "They have been living separately since the beginning of the year and both cite the fact that they have been growing apart for some time now and this has put too much pressure on their relationship."

Mara Buxbaum continued: "Consequently, they have decided in the interests of their two children that it is better to separate.

"They are both very sad that it should come to this but have as their priority the welfare and happiness of their children and are determined to remain friends and be loving parents to them."

Collins, 55, who has had solo hits with In The Air Tonight and Separate Lives, met 33-year-old Orianne during a 1994 tour. He said he fell in love with the "meeter and greeter" on the journey from the airport, although he was still married to his second wife.

He and Orianne were married in 1999, and took a fiveyear lease on a £10 million house by Lake Geneva.

Collins has had an eventful love life, famously dumping his second wife, Jill Tavelman, with whom he had a daughter Lilly, by sending her a fax telling her he would not be coming home.

He has another son and daughter by his first marriage, to Canadian-born Andrea Bertorelli, his childhood sweetheart, which ended in 1979. She left him while he was on tour with Genesis and the split inspired his first solo album, Face Value, two years later.