Phil Collins has given a new health update four years after admitting he fears he will never perform live to fans again
Phil Collins now has a ’24-hour live-in nurse’ following years of health issues. The 75-year-old Genesis frontman has suffered from injuries throughout his life caused by years of drumming.
Recently, the rocker opened up about battling various ailments that has led him to have five operations on his knee alone. It’s got to the point where he can no longer walk without assistance.
The last time he performed on stage was in March 2022 when he reunited with his band Genesis for a farewell concert at London’s 02 Arena. And the In The Air Tonight singer admitted he doesn’t think he will ever perform live again.
In a new interview with BBC Breakfast, Phil said: “The last 18 months has been fine. Before that, not so good. Everything health-wise caught up with me at the same time. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
“I had problems with my knee, which I had for a while. But I played through it. I toured through it. But eventually I had to have a knee operation. And I had to have it done five times because it either kept getting infected or it broke.”
Phil is about to be indicted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a second time later this year. The first was with Genesis back in 2010. Phil was one of the founding members of the band, who formed in Surrey back in 1967.
He left in 1996 to pursue a solo career and enjoyed success with hits like Against All Odds, Another Day In Paradise, Easy Lover and a cover of the classic Supremes song You Can’t Hurry Love. But the band got back together in 2020 and played a string of gigs until 2022 as part of their ‘The Last Domino?’ tour.
Asked if he would ever perform again, he said: “I can’t really see it happening.” It comes after he turned down the chance to sing at the upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame indictment because he “wasn’t match fit”.
Appearing in a BBC documentary to celebrate his 75th birthday, Phil told presenter Zoe Ball that his kidneys were also “packing up” as he shared: “It’s an ongoing thing. You know, 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.”
He continued: “I got Covid in hospital. My kidneys started to pack up. I’ve had five operations on my knee now. I’ve got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”
But Phil – who has five children, including actress daughter Lily Collins, the star of Netflix show Emily In Paris – is feeling positive about the future and may still release new music in the future.
He shared: “I’m constantly saying to myself ‘I’ve got to go back down to my studio at home’. I’ve got lots of lyrical ideas that I write down. And there are things that are half-formed and a couple of things that are finished. So there’s something that I can get my teeth into to start working on.
“You can’t just go onstage – you have to rehearse, and by that point if you’ve not been singing then your voice is going to be shot, and then that’s not going to be good, so I’d rather not do it.”
Phil has had a career spanning almost six decades, during which he became the only artist to perform at both Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia for the dual-venue Live Aid charity concerts in 1985.
Reflecting on this, he told the BBC: “I remember it very well. Someone said, ‘Well you could get (a Concorde flight) and do both’ and I said OK. I said, ‘I’m not the only person doing it cos that will look like showing off’ and they said no, no, no.”
He added: “Retrospectively, you can look at (the performances) and say it bonded the two events.” As a solo artist, Collins has achieved three UK number one singles and won many accolades including six Brit Awards and eight Grammys.
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