Rock & Roll of Famer Phil Collins has opened up about his recent health struggles that have sidelined his career.
The chart-topping crooner and former Genesis drummer recently revealed that he’s receiving 24-hour care amid ongoing issues stemming from his 2007 spinal injury, which dislocated vertebrae in his upper neck, leading to nerve damage in his hands.
A decade later, he suffered a fall, which resulted in him needing a cane to assist with walking.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” Collins — who turns 75 on Jan. 30 — told BBC 2’s Zoe Ball in a new podcast series. “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 — I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me … I mean, I got COVID in [the] hospital, my kidneys started to back up … everything that could [have gone wrong] all seemed to sort of converge at the same time.”
He said that after five surgeries on his knee, only one is functional: “I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”
The London-born “Sussidio” singer also shared that after a period of heavy drinking, his kidneys were “messed up.” He’s now been sober for two years and said leaving the touring lifestyle behind has done him good.
“I stopped drinking at six o’clock in the evening. I wasn’t one of those guys that sort of stayed up all night drinking,” Collins said. “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. But it is just one of those things that happened, and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”
In addition to those health conditions, Collins has also been battling type 2 diabetes since 2017.
“It’s just been a difficult, interesting, frustrating last few years. But it’s all right now,” the Grammy and Oscar winner said.
When Genesis announced their farewell tour in 2021, Collins revealed that due to a degenerative condition, he could “barely hold a stick with (one) hand.”
Last summer, reps for the legendary rocker shot down rumors that he was terminally ill after a hospitalization ignited speculation that he was in hospice care. A spokesperson came forward and announced that he was, indeed, hospitalized, but only to undergo knee surgery.
Collins, known for timeless ballads “Against All Odds” and “In the Air Tonight,” and the Genesis classics “That’s All” and “Invisible Touch,” saddened diehard fans when he announced earlier in the year that his ongoing health issues have affected his desire to play music.
“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens. But I’m not hungry for it anymore,” he told MOJO magazine. “The thing is, I’ve been sick. I mean very sick.”