Phil Collins is opening up about his health as he approaches his 75th birthday on Jan. 30.
The former Genesis frontman spoke to British presenter Zoe Ball for the BBC podcast series “Eras” this week, where he reflected on his notable career and where he’s at now.
“I have a 24-hour, live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” he revealed to Ball.
Collins then detailed a series of health problems that have plagued him in recent years. “I’ve had challenges with my knee, I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me. I got Covid in hospital, my kidneys started to back up.”
The eight-time Grammy winner acknowledged that excessive drinking may have contributed to his kidney problems. “I’d probably been drinking too much, and so my kidneys were messed up,” he said. “I wasn’t one of those guys that sort of stayed up all night drinking. I’d drink during the day, but I guess I had too much of it.”
He added: “But it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”
The decorated musician called it “a difficult, interesting, frustrating last few years.” He also shared that he’s had five operations on his knee, noting “I can walk, albeit with assistance.”
The musician’s struggles are the result of years of mounting injuries. He underwent back surgery in 2015 that left him with nerve damage. A fall in 2017 resulted in him using a cane to assist with walking.
By 2022, his health forced him to retire from the drums entirely, as he could no longer grip a drumstick. During Genesis’s final tour that year, his son, Nic Collins, took over percussion while he handled vocals from a seated position.
His physical decline has also affected his creative drive. Last year, Collins told MOJO magazine that he is no longer “hungry” to record. “I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens, but… I’ve been sick. I mean, very sick.”
Despite his struggles, Collins struck a note of positivity about his career. “I couldn’t have wished for a more varied and eventful playing career,” he told Ball during this week’s recordings.
His forthcoming docu-concert is set to make its world premiere in Syracuse next month.
“The Phil Collins Story,” celebrating the life, career and music of Collins, will debut Feb. 3 at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, N.Y. The show, chronicling his songs from Genesis to his solo works, will begin at 7:30 p.m.