Phil Collins is putting the finishing touches on a new Motown covers collection despite suffering severe nerve damage to his hands that has made drumming nearly impossible. “The first time I picked up the drum sticks after my neck surgery, they flew across the room because I couldn’t grip them,” he says. “When I play, I’ve had to tape the sticks to my hand. It’s like wearing a condom. It’s very strange. It really cramps your style.”

The nerve damage has made more than just drumming difficult for the 59-year-old musician. “I can’t let go of the spoon or the knife when I eat,” he tells RS. “I can’t open a car door. I won’t get gruesome with you, but there’s a lot of things I can’t do. I’m left handed. I’m having an operation soon and there’s a good chance of it improving over time.”


Collins’ medical problem makes another Genesis reunion unlikely. “He has to play the drums and play some quite complicated things,” says Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks. “It’s one of the many reasons it won’t happen.” But Collins says he still hopes to one day perform again with the Peter Gabriel-lead lineup of Genesis. “Three years ago I didn’t know I’d be in this position and three years from now it may not be like this," he says. "I think the main thing is Peter’s schedule and the speed he works anyways.” Banks agrees, noting, “I think if it we were to do The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway there’s always multimedia stuff that makes it possible now. It would be opening a huge can of worms, not just musical but getting out and playing it.”

In the new issue of Rolling Stone, on stands in the digital archives this Friday, Phil Collins says he believes that he may have lived past lives — and that he's contemplated suicide. The reclusive singer — who hasn't released an album of new material in nearly ten years — took writer Erik Hedegaard into his surprisingly modest home in Switzerland and explained that most of his time is now spent working on his gigantic collection of artifacts from the Alamo and raising his two young sons from his last marriage. Decades of criticism have taken their toll, and Collins says he has little desire to create more music beyond his new disc of Motown covers, Going Back. "I sometimes think I'm going to write this Phil Collins character out of the story," the singer says. "Phil Collins will just disappear or be murdered in some hotel bedroom, and people will say, 'What happened to Phil?' And the answer will be, 'He got murdered, but, yeah, anyway, let's carry on.' That kind of thing."

In the meantime, the band is overjoyed to be one of the few progressive rock bands inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Read our full report from this year’s induction ceremony.) “Whoever is deciding these things, obviously they change,” Collins says. “Now there’s obviously a couple of people there saying ‘Guys we’ve ignored all this other stuff’ which is why you’ve got Abba and the Hollies and us. Very diverse. Jimmy Cliff is somewhere in there. Much more diverse than just rock & roll I think this year. ”

Listen to your body! It'll take only so much abuse and neglect before fighting back by way of shutting down.
Phil hit the drums hard.... REALLY hard! That kind of bashing is only gonna hold out for so long.... Then, you
start reading articles like this one. There seems to be some emotional issues going on as well.

How sad... Get better, Phil.

Being forced to quit before his time, must have his head spinning because is a great drummer. I heard him say that he is a drummer first and then a singer. And I just love his playing when he was with Brand X I think that they were a under rated super Fusion group, and they were a Super Group, and Phil's drumming was just top notch. He is very depressed I'll bet.

Yeah, I've read where he said that... Funny how he made it big writing, producing and singing. Truth be told, good drummers in the world of pop are a dime a dozen. And Phil did not become the major success he did because of his drumming skills... Funny thing, E.C. Scott would always talk to me about how I can be a great drummer playing with her. I would tell her to name me ONE great and well known blues drummer. That music is for guitar players, singers and maybe harmonica players if they're really good. Those are the ones that excel to the top in that genre. Everyone else are just side players. Same with pop. As good a drummer as Phil was, it was his writing, arranging, producing and singing that catapulted him to the icon status he has today, not his drumming skills. If Phil never picked up a drumstick but still did everything else he's done, he'd still be a mega star.

That was well said Don.

I agree with what is on this post about Phil Collins' amazing talent as a drummer, songwriter, producer, etc. .... I'm amazed that he says he has contemplated suicide. .... I think he has overcome many obstacles. .... I was watching a show on public television--it was Collins playing some of his pop hits with a jazz big band. .... On the show he said he doesn't read music. .... This blew my mind because he writes GREAT songs. .... I mean--isn't it an obstacle for a songwriter who works with professional musicians that charge by the hour (and are worth every penny) to not be able to read music? .... Yet Collins has overcome that to become a world-class talent. .... I think he should be proud of himself for that.

Maybe I should ask you guys since I'm not a professional musician: Isn't it an obstacle for a songwriter to not be able to read music? .... I've heard that Lenny White also doesn't read (don't know if this is true). .... Again I'm amazed because Lenny White is another fantastic songwriter.

At least he's in good company!
Django Reinhardt
Irving Berlin
Wes Montgomery
Erroll Garner
Buddy Rich
Dave Brubeck couldn't read music even while a music student at the College of the Pacific. "Brubeck advanced through the curriculum with mainly raw talent, and could not, in fact, read music when he graduated."
Chet Baker
Paul McCartney
John Lennon
Ian Anderson
Hendrix
Clapton

Irving Berlin?????? .... Wow!!

But this is what I'm talking about. .... If you get together with other professional musicians isn't the fastest way to communicate a new song via written music? .... It's not the only way but it seems to me to be the fastest. .... And time is money.

Oh yes, I'm sure that no matter what the obstacles/challenges are, if a group of people want to make music they will make music. .... I'm just saying that it has been my (very limited) experience that communicating new songs is done fastest via sheet music. .... Wait--What is this????? .... Yanni doesn't read music?.... NO!!!! .... THAT'S A LIE!!!!!!

(About three quarters down from the top of page
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=38263 .)

Phil is a master artist, T. And I regard him as among the top drummers for sure.
His drumming is not so much underrated as much as it's overshadowed by his
success as a composer, producer and hit maker. "In the air tonight" will always
be my favorite P.C. tune... The contemplation of suicide... How unfulfilled he
must've felt even with all of his accomplishments. Really makes you think about
what's genuinely important in life, doesn't it?

My hopes and wishes are nothing but the best for Phil Collins.

Yes. This is very, very sad.

Most real drummers know
what a monster player Phil
was, back, in the day. For
me, he was a really great
influence. I will be forever
thankful to him for what
he did with Genesis and
especially Brand X.

What Don talked about
regarding hitting the drums
really hard, I have to chime
in on. It is true that we
can/do pay a price for this
kind of approach and we
should think about and be
sensitive to what our bodies
are telling us. Especially
during a live performance,
I find myself playing un-
usually hard, my hands
way up over my head and
afterwards, I can feel my
arms, near the elbow very,
very sore. Of course, I am
overdoing it. I know.

We have to learn from each
other and through both the
positive and negative.

Get better, Phil and thanks,
Don, for the reminder.



Oh, before I forget... the
value of our instrument as
a therapeutic tool cannot
be overstated. I know that
I go absolutely crazy, when
I do not have to kit to let
my frustrations flow through.
It must be SOOOO hard for
Phil, without it.

Regards,