Phil Collins says he’s “not hungry enough” to make new music

Phil Collins has said he is “not hungry” enough to make any new music.

The soloist and former Genesis singer/drummer hasn’t released an album of original music since Disney’s Brother Bear soundtrack in 2003. His seventh and latest solo record, ‘Testify’, arrived the previous year. In 2010, he shared an LP of Mowtown and soul covers titled ‘Going Back’.

Collins has been suffering from health issues in recent years, following a spinal injury back in 2007. At Genesis’ final shows in 2022, he performed from a chair while his son Nic took on drum duties. He also uses a cane to help him walk.

However, it was reported last summer that Collins was working on new music for the first time in over two decades after having his studio revamped. This update came from producer and journalist Simon Napier-Bell, who posted an image of himself with Collins.

“For sure, before too long we’re going to hear some new music,” he wrote in the caption (see below).

But in a new interview for MOJO‘s April issue, Collins revealed that he currently does not have the appetite to create amid ongoing struggles with his health.

“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens,” he told the magazine. “But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick, I mean very sick.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Collins remembered responding to the advert Genesis had posted in Melody Maker after the departure of their third drummer John Mayhew.

Collins previously gave an update on his health during an interview for his 2024 documentary …Drummer First – though the conversation had been recorded two years prior.

He 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.”

The interview was accompanied by a video of Collins being reunited with his classic Gretsch drum kit – which had been in storage for over a decade.

In early 2023, ex-Genesis guitarist and bassist Mike Rutherford explained that Collins was “much more immobile than he used to be” and was “enjoying his time at home”.

Last September, Collins released a 30th anniversary box set of his 1993 album ‘Both Sides’.

In 2022, Collins’ daughter and Emily In Paris star Lily paid tribute to her father after Genesis performed their final-ever live show together at The O2 in London. “Tonite marks the end of an era,” she wrote.

“To have witnessed this last show was truly the memory of a lifetime and an event I shall hold in my heart forever.” She went on to thank Genesis “for the memories”, and called her dad “such an inspiration”.

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