Phil Collins Recalls Health Setbacks That Ended His Drumming in BBC Series

The series also highlights how strain mounted offstage as Collins stepped away from constant recording and touring.

Phil Collins performs with his band Genesis in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 5, 2007. Darryl James/Getty Images

Rock and pop legend Phil Collins has spent recent years confronting a series of health setbacks that gradually ended his ability to play the drums and reshaped his life offstage.

In a later reflection shared through the BBC Sounds series “Eras: Phil Collins,” the musician recalls a moment in Los Angeles when his body first signaled that decades of touring had caught up with him.

“Suddenly it’s called sudden deafness,” Collins said, explaining that he initially tried to take the condition in his stride. As he adjusted, he recognized it as a cue to slow down. “I thought, okay, well, that’s me sort of slow down a bit.”

The episode goes on to connect Collins’s later touring years with the physical decline that ultimately made drumming impossible. Looking back on the Genesis reunion tour, Collins recalled noticing a sudden change in his ability to play.

“One night, I just was losing power and grip in my left hand,” he said, noting that he initially assumed the problem would resolve itself, “But it didn’t.”

The series frames that moment as the beginning of a painful progression that eventually left him unable to play the drums.

The series also highlights how strain mounted offstage as Collins stepped away from constant recording and touring. Describing the abrupt stillness that followed years of nonstop work, he said, “I’d never stopped. So I felt like, you know, if I want to go and sit and watch cricket at 11:00 all day and have a drink, I’ll do it, all right.”

In previous interviews, Collins has spoken openly about how his health affected his desire to continue making music. In an interview with MOJO magazine, the “In the Air Tonight” singer said he sometimes considered going into his home studio but lacked the physical strength and motivation he once had.

“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens,” he said. “But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick. I mean, very sick.”

Collins also addressed his limitations ahead of Genesis’s farewell tour in a joint interview with BBC Breakfast, saying the experience was “frustrating” as he watched his son take over on drums, unable to join him.

“I’m kind of physically challenged a bit, which is very frustrating,” Collins said at the time, adding that he did not expect to tour again after the run concluded.

Genesis concluded “The Last Domino?” tour in 2022, formally ending the band’s live career. Collins performed seated at center stage while Nic Collins handled the drums, bringing a symbolic close to the group’s five-decade run.

Over the course of his career, Collins sold more than 250 million records worldwide as a solo artist and member of Genesis, won eight Grammy Awards, and earned an Academy Award for “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Disney’s “Tarzan.”