Phil Collins Gives Rare Health Update 2 Years After Retiring from Drumming: 'To Suddenly Not Be Able to Is a Shock'

Mar. 15, 2025

Phil Collins in London in June 2017.Photo:Brian Rasic/WireImage

Brian Rasic/WireImage

Phil Collinsis giving fans insight into his current health.

“It’s still kind of sinking in a bit…” he admitted in the interview, filmed in October 2022. “I’ve spent all my life playing drums. To suddenly not be able to do that is a shock.”

The “In the Air Tonight” singer said he’d been playing drums since he was only 5 years old, and decades later “the drumming has taken its toll on my hands, legs.”

Phil Collins performs in Las Vegas in May 2007.Kevin Winter/Getty

Kevin Winter/Getty

“If I can’t do what I did as well as I did it, I’d rather relax and not do anything,” theTarzancomposer said. “If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks, then I’ll have a crack at it. But I just feel like I’ve used up my air miles.”

Phil’s son Nic also spoke about the impact of performing and touring for decades had on his body, giving more insight into his current health. “Musicians, people in bands in general had this thought that they were invincible,” he said.

“I think that’s really what it is with my dad is just this kind of sense of you’re a drummer, you’re invincible, you do what you do. But you don’t know it’s gonna take a toll in the long run.”

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Nic, who has been following Phil as a drummer, noted that his father had a “big surgery on his neck [in 2015] that stemmed from all those years playing drums and bad posture." Phil also suffers from drop-foot, where one of his feet has no sensation and he must use a cane to walk.

Phil, who joined the band Genesis in the 1970s,retired from playing the drums in March 2022.

The documentary takes place over several days in October 2022 where Collins shares stories from throughout his career “from a drumming perspective,” a synopsis for the documentary states.

Phil Collins performs in Berlin in March 2022.Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty

Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty

The in-depth film covers “his early days behind the kit to his groundbreaking work with Genesis and his celebrated solo career, from his time with the jazz-fusion group Brand X to composing for Disney’sTarzan, forming his own big band, and ultimately passing the torch to Nic during the final Genesis and Phil Collins tours.”

Phil Collins: Drummer Firstis available to stream on YouTube.

source: people.com