Phil Collins Says He’s Not Done Yet and Still Hopes to Create New Music
Photo by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Even with serious health problems, Phil Collins is not closing the door on making new music. The former Genesis singer says he is feeling better than he has in years and still has creative ideas he would like to explore.
During a recent interview with Zoe Ball on BBC Two, Collins spoke openly about the medical issues that have shaped his life in recent years and how they continue to affect his daily routine.
Living With Ongoing Health Issues
“It’s an ongoing thing,” Collins remarked. “I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication, as I should do. I’ve had challenges with my knee. Everything that could go wrong with me did go wrong with me. I got COVID in hospital. My kidneys started to back up. Everything seemed to converge at the same time.”
He explained that his knee problems were severe and required multiple procedures. “I had five operations on my knee. Now, I’ve got a knee that works, and I can walk, albeit with assistance, crutches or whatever.”
Collins also addressed the role alcohol played in his health decline. He said his kidney issues were likely linked to drinking too much earlier in life.
“I wasn’t one of those guys that stayed up all night drinking,” he noted. “I’d drink during the day, but I guess I had too much of it. I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times.”
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A Long Recovery and New Stability
The singer added that his health problems built up over time and led to long hospital stays. “But it is just one of those things that happened, and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”
Collins said he has now been sober for more than two years. Along with improvements after knee surgery, that change has helped him feel more stable. “It’s just been a difficult, interesting, frustrating last few years,” he confessed. “It’s all right now.”
His last live appearance came in 2022 during Genesis’ farewell tour. Collins, who stopped playing drums in 2009 due to nerve damage, performed seated while his son Nic handled drums onstage.
Hope for Music Ahead
While touring again seems unlikely for the 74-year-old, Collins has not ruled out returning to the studio. He shared that making music still matters to him.
“The things that are ahead for me would be, apart from just being back to being totally mobile and healthy, is maybe go in [the studio] and have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music,” Collins said.
He admitted that starting again can feel uncertain. “You tend to sort of feel (like), ‘That’s it, I’ve done that.’ But you’ve gotta start doing it to see if you can do it.”
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Unfinished Ideas Still Matter
Collins also revealed that he already has material waiting. “I’ve got some things that are half-formed or were never finished, and a couple of things that were finished, which I like,” he explained.
He ended with a note of quiet optimism. “So maybe life in the old dog. You’ll see.”
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