For decades, Phil Collins was the engine room of rock and roll—a polyrhythmic powerhouse whose drumming defined the sound of Genesis and a solo career that dominated the global charts. But as the legendary musician approaches his 75th birthday, the “In the Air Tonight” singer has shared a sobering reality: the man who once played to millions now requires 24-hour live-in care to navigate his daily life.
In a rare and candid appearance on the BBC’s Eras podcast, Collins pulled back the curtain on a medical decline that has been as relentless as it has been frustrating. Having stepped away from the stage in 2022, Collins confirmed that his independence has been significantly curtailed by a cascade of physiological failures.
“I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” Collins revealed, marking a significant escalation in his reported health status. “I’ve had challenges with my knee. I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”
A Body Under Siege
The physical toll of being one of history’s most celebrated drummers began to manifest in earnest nearly two decades ago. During the Genesis 2007 reunion tour, Collins suffered a spinal injury in his upper neck that necessitated surgery in 2009. The aftermath of that procedure was devastating for a percussionist: he lost the sensation in his fingers, eventually reaching a point where he could only hold drumsticks if they were surgically taped to his hands.
Since then, the complications have multiplied. Collins has undergone five separate knee surgeries, leaving him with only one functioning knee. He also suffers from “drop-foot”—a condition resulting from a 2007 spinal procedure that has left one foot entirely numb and forced his reliance on a cane since 2015.
“I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever,” he told the podcast, describing a reality far removed from the high-energy frontman who once famously performed at both the London and Philadelphia legs of Live Aid on the same day.
The Cost of the “Quiet Years”
Collins also addressed the systemic issues that forced him to perform his final 2022 show at London’s O2 Arena from a seated position. While his son, Nic, took over the drumming duties for Genesis’ The Last Domino? tour, Collins was privately battling the long-term effects of alcohol abuse and a subsequent bout with COVID-19.
Now two years sober, the Grammy winner admitted that his kidneys were “messed up” due to heavy drinking during his initial retirement years.
“I enjoyed coming off tour… I thought, right, I’m gonna do all those things that I couldn’t do,” Collins reflected. “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.”
The “difficult, interesting, and frustrating” years of late have served as a sharp contrast to a career that began with the bright lights of the West End. Long before he was a rock god, Collins was a child actor, appearing in the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang before starring in Oliver! in 1964.
His transition to Genesis in 1970 as a drummer—and his subsequent rise to frontman following Peter Gabriel’s 1975 departure—recharted the course of music history. Today, while he maintains that things are “all right now,” his story is a poignant testament to the physical price of a life spent in the relentless pursuit of musical perfection.
