Nerve disability makes picking up the sticks a remote dream in the future
Phil Collins
Phil Collins is back to singing because he can’t drum anymore. His hands won’t hold the sticks let alone perform complex drumming patterns. At the young age of 59, Phil Collins has a disability.
Collins had been the lead singer and drummer of Genesis, a soloist and collaborator with many musicians including Eric Clapton. He has a long time musical partnership with Peter Gabriel. Collins hits include You Can’t Hurry Love, Sussudio and In the Air Tonight.
Years of poor posture on a drumming stool is blamed for damage to the nerves in the spine. The vertebrae damaged the nerves permanently.
“Susan Sontag said we all carry two passports: one for the land of the well, one for the land of the ill,” Mia Farrow noted. “Any minute, the passport for the land of the well can be revoked, and you’re in another land entirely.” Passport to Land of the Well is Revoked
“There isn’t any drama regarding my disability and playing drums. Somehow during the last Genesis tour I dislocated some vertebrae in my upper neck and that affected my hands. After a successful operation on my neck, my hands still can’t function normally. Maybe in a year or so it will change, but for now it is impossible for me to play drums or piano. I am not in any distressed state—stuff happens in life.”
