Genesis Icon Phil Collins' Last Days: Singer, 73, Shares Heartbreaking Health Update With Fans by Admitting 'I Just Feel Like I've Used Up My Air Miles'
The British musician has updated fans with a heartbreaking health update by saying he feels like 'I've used up my air miles'.
Dec. 20 2024, Published 12:31 p.m. ET
Legendary musician Phil Collins has shared a heartbreaking health update, admitting he feels like "I've used up my air miles".
RadarOnline.com can reveal the Genesis star, 73, opened about his deteriorating health during a new documentary series about his life.
Collins' health has deteriorated in recent years and now he needs a wheelchair, admitting he will soon have to stop playing his beloved drums.
The drummer claims bashing his drum sets have taken its toll on him physically, as his hands, feet and body have been impacted from decades of entertaining audiences.
Collins said: "If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks, then I'll have a crack of it. But I just feel like I’ve used up my air miles.
"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.
"If I can't do what I did as well as I did it, I'd rather relax and not do anything."
Collins has blamed his body deteriorating on playing the drums relentlessly during his life as he's now riddled with neck, back and body problems.
During the TV special called Phil Collins: Drummer First, viewers also hear from his son Nick, who now plays with Genesis.
He candidly says how his dad had "big surgery on his neck that stemmed from all those years playing drums and bad posture".
Over the years Collins has sustained an injured vertebrae in his upper neck which has led to crippling nerve damage.
He sparked concern among fans during his last ever Genesis concert in March 2022 when he performed in a wheelchair.
Collins has sustained an injured vertebrae in his upper neck which has led to crippling nerve damage over the past decade.
Genesis guitarist and bassist Mike Rutherford, 74, said last year: "As you know, Phil is a bit… He's much more immobile than he used to be, which is a shame, but at the tour, he was in good spirits.
"He’s fine now at home, enjoying life. He's worked so hard over the years, I think he’s enjoying his time at home."
In 2009, Collins says he was unlikely to ever play the drums again, due to his injuries.
He said: "After playing drums for 50 years, I've had to stop. My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in.
The Genesis star admits even holding drum sticks has become painful and revealed he's even had to 'tape the sticks to my hands to get through' performances.
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"It comes from years of playing. I can't even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through."
Collins is the father of five children, including Emily In Paris star Lily Collins.
The actress, 35, spoke in depth about her father in September, noting her favourite Genesis song – In The Air Tonight.
She said: "You know the funny thing is that I have these memories as a kid of songs that I don't know if they're actually real, because they were like, in my head, as I was maybe in the womb."
Lily added: "But then when I went to the first Genesis concert that I actually remembered as an adult, there were songs that came on that I went, 'That's a real song?! I thought that was just a melody in my head.'"
