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.”

“I’ve got a condition that means I can’t play any more,” he told Britain’s Daily Mirror. “After playing drums for 50 years, I’ve had to stop. Obviously I’m very sad about it. My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in. I can’t even hold the sticks properly without it being painful,” Collins said. “I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through.”

“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 told Rolling Stone Magazine. “When I play, I’ve had to tape the sticks to my hand…. It’s very strange. It really cramps your style.”

“I can’t let go of the spoon or the knife when I eat,” he told the magazine. “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.”

“My hands are way down to picking the order of that possibility,” he said. “Three years ago I didn’t know I’d be in this position and three years from now it may not be like this.

Phil Collins and Eric Clapton on tour 1986

Musicians are susceptible to many disabilities. Arthritis can impact guitarists and piano players. Virtuoso’s can no long play with the same speed and skill as they age. Red Shea, who was Gordon Lightfoot’s guitarist for decades, lost his ability to play due to arthritis. On the other hand guitar wiz Les Paul was playing almost to the end of his life at 94 years old.

Some say Dylan’s change from guitar to keyboards is due to arthritis but that has not been confirmed. Certainly his guitar playing at the White House this year indicated he was holding back. His left hand wasn’t even on the neck sometimes and it is obvious he’s not playing the way he did in the past.

Quotes and story from Disaboom and Denver Post