British rocker Phil Collins, the drummer-singer for the band Genesis who became a chart-topping solo artist, says he has no drive to make new music because of severe health issues.
In a new interview with Mojo magazine, Collins says he is “not hungry” for any creative efforts, even in his own home:
“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens,” Collins tells MOJO’s Mark Blake. “But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick, I mean very sick…”
Collins suffered severe nerve damage following a spinal injury in 2007 and has had deteriorating mobility in recent years, meaning that for Genesis’s farewell shows in 2022 he had to sing sitting down while his son Nic played drums.
Collins, now 74 years old, began drumming professionally in the late 1960s and joined the progressive rock band Genesis — then fronted by Peter Gabriel — in 1970. Gabriel left the band in 1975 to focus on a solo career, and — almost as a last resort — Collins took over lead vocals for Genesis and held on to the role for decades, leading its signature lineup until a final tour that ran from 2021 to 2022. During those farewell shows, he sang while sitting in a padded chair.
According to Variety, the “In The Air Tonight” singer is no longer capable of playing a drumset:
In 2021, Collins let the world know that he would not be drumming on the group’s farewell tour, telling an interviewer, “I can barely hold a stick with this hand. I’m kind of physically challenged a bit, which is very frustrating.” In a documentary filmed after Genesis’ final shows that just came out last year, “Phil Collins: Drummer,” he said: “It’s still kind of sinking in a bit. I’ve spent all my life playing drums. To suddenly not be able to do that is a shock. … 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.”
The Mojo interview is meant to promote a 50th-anniversary issue of Genesis’s famous album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway — the last record before Gabriel’s departure. The magazine issue also includes interviews with Gabriel, Rutherford, Banks, and guitarist Steve Hackett.