Phil Collins hasn’t ruled out a return to music. However, in an interview with BBC Breakfast, the former Genesis frontman admitted he’s unsure if he’ll be able to get back on the road amid his health woes.
“I can’t really see it happening, but I’m healthier now than I have been for quite a while,” he said. “Whether or not I would go out again… I would contemplate, yeah.”
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More likely, Collins said, is that he could release new music, something he hasn’t done since 2002.
“I’m constantly saying to myself, ‘I’ve got to go back down into my studio at home,’” he said. “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 things that I can get my teeth into to start working on.”
No such return will happen soon, though. In fact, Collins recently rejected an offer to perform at his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in November.
“They asked me if I would perform and I said no,” he revealed. “You’ve gotta be match fit to do something like that.”
“You can’t just go on stage. You’re gonna have to rehearse, and then by that point, if you’ve not been singing your voice is gonna be shot, and then that’s not gonna be good,” Collins continued. “So I’d rather not do it.”
What to Know About Phil Collins’ Health
Collins’ interview came months after the singer got candid about his health. While he’s been struggling since a 2007 spinal injury, things have dramatically worsened in the years since.
“I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” he said BBC’s Eras podcast. “… I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”
One of Collins’ top concerns was that of his knee. The drummer has had five surgeries on his knee, and is now left with only one “that works.”
In addition to problems with his knee, Collins said that, during the height of his troubles, he got COVID in the hospital and had issues with his kidneys.
“It’s just been a difficult, interesting, frustrating last few years,” he said. “But it’s all right now.”
Photo by ERWIN SCHERIAU/AFP via Getty Images
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