Phil Collins shares heartbreaking health update as star admits ‘I just feel like I’ve used up my air miles’
20 December 2024, 08:48
Phil Collins has shared a rare and heartbreaking health update as the musician revealed he is no longer able to play his beloved drum kit.
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The 74-year-old musician and Genesis drummer, best known for hits including 'In the Air Tonight' and 'Against All Odds', revealed the painful health update as he added: "I just feel like I’ve used up my air miles"
“I've spent all my life playing drums. To be suddenly not be able to do that is a shock,” he revealed.
The drumming icon revealed the health update during an interview that originally took place in 2022, but has been shared for the first time as part of the new documentary Phil Collins: Drummer First.
“If I can’t do what I did as well as I did it, I’d rather relax and not do anything,” the star admitted.
“If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks, then I’ll have a crack of it."
Released on Wednesday on YouTube, the new documentary features interviews with Collins recorded following his final string of live shows with Genesis in 2022.
"But I just feel like I’ve used up my air miles,” he continued.
“It’s still kind of sinking in a bit… I’ve spent all my life playing drums. To be suddenly not be able to do that is a shock.”
The rocker has married three times, with Emily in Paris star Lily Collins one of his five children.
The interview saw him touch on a string of health setbacks that included a major fall while on tour, with the star rushed to hospital after sustaining a head injury before a live show.
"I've spent all my life playing drums,” he said, describing himself as a “drummer” as opposed to a singer.
The singer has experienced other serious health setbacks since losing sensation in his fingers following neck surgery in 2009.
He later underwent spinal surgery in 2015, as well as suffering from an abscess on his foot in 2017 due to complications from type 2 diabetes.
