Phil Collins, the British singer, songwriter, pianist and drummer, best known as the drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis, and later on as a solo artist, has decided to exit the music business due to health problems.
Collins says after years of hunching over his drum kit, he now suffers from hearing problems, a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands.
Collins, now 60 and living in a small town in Switzerland, has 13 hit singles to his credit, won seven Grammys and even took home an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1999 for his work on Tarzan. But if the legend wanted to make more music today, he would now have to compete with much younger musicians like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
“I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think: ‘I can’t be in the same business as this.’ I don’t really belong to that world and I don’t think anyone’s going to miss me. I’m much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely,” Collins tells FHM.