Phil Collins has opened up about his ongoing health issues, admitting years of heavy drinking left his kidneys “messed up” and necessitating 24-hour nursing care at his home.

Phil Collins and Zoe Ball (c) Will Ireland/ Concord Music Group

Phil Collins sat down in a new interview (Image: BANG Showbiz)

Phil Collins has revealed that years of heavy drinking have taken a serious toll on his kidneys.

The 74-year-old musician, who has grappled with numerous health complications in recent years, now relies on a full-time live-in nurse at his residence to oversee his medication regimen for various medical conditions.

During an interview with Zoe Ball for the Phil Collins Eras: In Conversation series, he explained: “It’s an ongoing thing. You know I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do.”

 

Collins detailed his string of medical setbacks, saying: “I’ve had challenges with my knee, I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”

He continued: “I got COVID in the hospital – my kidneys started to back up, you know, everything that started that could, all seemed to converge at the same time.”

Photo of Phil COLLINS

Phil Collins admitted he had a drinking problem for years (Image: Getty)

The drummer has undergone extensive treatment for his mobility issues, noting: “I had five operations on my knee now – I’ve got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”

Addressing his drinking habits, Collins acknowledged: “I’d probably been drinking too much, and so my kidneys were messed up, you know. I enjoyed coming off tour, coming off the road, but I thought, right, I’m gonna do all those things that I couldn’t do.”

He clarified his pattern of consumption: “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. 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.”

Phil Collins live in concert

Phil admitted he now needs 24-hour care (Image: Getty)

 

The In the Air Tonight hitmaker rose to stardom as Genesis’s drummer but assumed the lead vocalist role after Peter Gabriel’s exit in 1975, and he confessed the transition was psychologically challenging since he wasn’t a “natural” frontman.

He recalled: “Well, it wasn’t natural for me. I mean, I, it’s a psychologically….the drums are a safety blanket, you know, a security blanket.

“It’s like you’ve got something between you and the audience.

“The first thing I had, that scared the life out of me was having to go down the front and stand with just this microphone stand. Because there’s nothing, you know, you are just exposed, everyone’s looking at you ’cause you are the singer, whereas they didn’t look at the drummer.”

Phil hasn’t released a new studio album since his 2010 covers collection, Going Back, but he teased the possibility of new material.

He remarked: “The things that are ahead for me would be, apart from just being back to being totally mobile and healthy, is go in there and have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music ’cause you know, you tend to sort of feel, that’s it, I’ve done that.

“But you’ve gotta start doing it to see if you can do it. Otherwise, you don’t do it. So that is something on my horizon.

“I’ve got some things that are half-formed or were never finished, and a couple of things that were finished, which I like, so you know. Maybe life in the old dog. Yeah. You’ll see.”

BBC Two and BBC iPlayer will air Phil Collins Eras: In Conversation on January 31 to celebrate his 75th birthday. The show represents the fifth and concluding episode of the Eras: Phil Collins podcast series, which will premiere on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer on January 26 before airing on BBC Radio 2 on February 1.

The initial four episodes are currently accessible on BBC Sounds.