Phil Collins says it’s been a ‘difficult, frustrating few years’ in rare new interview

Phil Collins has opened up about his health challenges in a rare interview for the BBC’s Eras podcast.

Speaking to presenter Zoe Ball, the legendary musician, who turns 75 on 30 January, spoke about being sober for the past two years, as well as the multiple operations he has undergone on his knee.

The former Genesis frontman and solo artist played his final live concert in 2022, having previously told fans he could “barely hold a drumstick” following a serious spiral injury in 2007. The injury damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and caused lasting nerve damage.

Asked by Ball if he had come to terms with the health conditions that prevented him from playing music, he explained that it was “an ongoing thing”.

“You know, I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” he said. “I’ve had challenges with my knee… I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”

Collins revealed that he has undergone five surgeries on his knee and now has one “that works” and “I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever”.

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The “In the Air Tonight” singer admitted he’d “probably been drinking too much”, which affected his kidneys: “I enjoyed coming off tour,” he said. “Coming off the road… I thought, right, I’m gonna do all those things that I couldn’t do.”

Collins began drinking during the day, apparently stopping around 6 o’clock: “I guess I had too much of it,” he said. “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.”

Collins also revealed that he recently celebrated two years of sobriety, after his assistant observed the date that he’d stopped drinking: “It’s just been a difficult, interesting, frustrating last few years… but it’s alright now.”

In July last year, a representative for Collins had to assure fans that he was not in hospice care, after social media rumours claimed he was on his deathbed.

Instead, the musician was in hospital recovering after his latest knee surgery, his spokesperson confirmed to The Independent.

Collins was the subject of a documentary about his life and work in 2024, in which he was filmed visiting his drum kit for the first time in years.

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“It’s still kind of sinking in,” he said, while sitting down at the kit. “I’ve spent all my life playing drums. To suddenly not be able to do that is a shock.

“If I can’t do what I did as well as I did it, I’d rather relax and not do anything. But 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.”

Collins, who began playing drums when he was five years old, has achieved huge success both as a member of the rock band Genesis and as a solo artist behind hits such as “In the Air Tonight”, the lead single from his 1981 debut, Face Value.

He won a Grammy for Album of the Year thanks to his third solo record, No Jacket Required – one of the best-selling albums of all time – which was released in 1985 and featured collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Helen Terry and Sting.

The interview with Ball was released as the fifth and final episode of the new series of the BBC Eras podcast.

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Elsewhere during the conversation, Collins and Ball discussed his famous career, his audition for Genesis, and the professional and personal challenges he has faced over the years.

Asked what life had taught him, Collins said there was part of him that was trying to make up for things “that I’ve either done or have made people feel. Or affected the kids in any kind of negative way.”

Collins has five children from his three marriages: son Nic, a drummer, 24; musician Simon, 48; actor Joely, 52; football player Mathew, 21, and Emily in Paris star Lily Collins.

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“I had a very happy family life,” he continued. “My kids are amazingly well-adjusted considering some of the things that you’ve been through, you know? And as I’ve said before, I’m very proud of all of them. They’ve all stood on their own and done what they believe in.

“I feel very lucky about that. But I couldn’t have wished for a more varied and eventful playing career, and I don’t have periods where I kind of dig me.”

Collins said that asides from being back to being “totally mobile and healthy”, he would like to go into the studio and “have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music... you’ve gotta start doing it to see if you can do it.”

Ball, who last interviewed Collins on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2020, said in a statement: “Phil Collins’ music is woven into all our lives, those songs are time machines, full of heart, drama and joy. I’ve been a lifelong fan ever since discovering Genesis as a young teenager, and their Wembley gig in ’87 is still one of the best nights of my life.

“I’ve been lucky enough to chat with Phil a few times over the years, but to dive into his extraordinary story for Eras and sit down with him again for such a special, intimate conversation about music, family and everything in between is an absolute dream. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”

The first four episodes of BBC Eras: Phil Collins are available now on BBC Sounds. The visual fifth episode will be released on Monday 26 January on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer at 6am, and also air on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday 1 February from midnight.