Phil Collins has kept an extremely low profile since Genesis wrapped up their The Last Domino? reunion tour in early 2022, and he’s dealt with significant health setbacks during that time. But he’s reemerged for a new interview with journalist Zoe Ball on the podcast BBC Eras that will drop on Jan. 26.
In the interview, Collins said that he’s had a “difficult, frustrating few years” due to five separate surgeries on his knee. “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.”
Over the past 15 years, Collins has dealt with severe nerve damage stemming from injuries he sustained on the 2007 Genesis reunion tour. Surgeries to correct the matter resulted in the loss of feeling in his fingers, leaving him unable to play drums or even grip silverware. He’s also suffered from the gait abnormality foot drop. As a result, he was unable to walk without assistance. On his last few tours, he sang from a seated position. Throughout the ordeal, Collins sometimes self-medicated with alcohol.
In the new BBC interview, Collins reveals that he’s been sober for two years. “I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times,” he said. “But it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”
In photos released alongside the interview, Collins appears healthier than he has in years. He now considers himself “totally mobile and healthy” following the recent knee surgeries. “I can walk,” he said, “albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”
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He’s also considering a return to the studio. “[I’d like to] have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music,” he says, “you’ve gotta start doing it to see if you can do it.”
Collins hasn’t released an album of original songs since 2002’s Testify. His last studio LP of any sort was the 2010 Motown covers collection Goin’ Back. But he did tour as a solo act between 2017 and 2019 with his son, Nic Collins, on drums. And Genesis returned for one last run between 2021 and 2022.