Phil Collins Reveals That He Nearly Died in 2024

The Genesis legend says his kidneys were failing and loved ones came to say goodbye while he was unaware.

Phil Collins has revealed that he came close to death in 2024 after suffering organ failure linked to alcohol use, telling The Sunday Times he spent seven months in hospital during which doctors reportedly considered whether to keep him on life support. The 75-year-old Genesis and solo star said he has not had a drink since and considers himself fortunate to have survived.

Seven Months in Hospital, Organs Failing

Collins described a harrowing period in which his body began shutting down. “My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up,” he said in the interview. The situation became severe enough that the question of life support was raised among those around him.

“Some decisions [were considered]…’Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” Collins recounted. Friends and family made visits to his bedside that he has no memory of. “People were coming to say goodbye. But I don’t remember them coming – I didn’t have [any] idea this was going on. They were all worried that they wouldn’t see me again. It could all have gone so terribly wrong.”

A Return to Drinking After More Than a Decade Sober

Collins had previously stopped drinking following a health scare in 2012, but he told The Sunday Times he resumed in 2023, which led directly to the hospitalization. He described the grip the habit had on him at its worst: “I’d have wine when I woke up. That was what I’d want for breakfast, a glass of wine.”

He confirmed he is now in significantly better health and has remained sober since the crisis. “I was very lucky to have come out of that,” he said. “Needless to say, I haven’t had a drink since.”

Health Struggles Have Defined Collins’ Later Career

Collins’ physical decline has been well-documented over the past decade and a half. A spinal injury left him unable to play drums, a loss that visibly affected him given that drumming, not singing, was always his first identity as a musician. He had already been using a cane and sitting for performances by the time Genesis mounted The Last Domino? tour beginning in 2021, with his son Nic Collins taking over drum duties for the band.

That tour concluded with a final show in London on March 26, 2022, attended by former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel. The run was widely understood to be a genuine farewell, and Collins’ latest revelations make clear just how precarious his health was in the period that followed.

What we know

• Phil Collins spent seven months in hospital in 2024 after suffering organ failure.
• Collins told The Sunday Times that the possibility of switching off his life support machines had been raised.
• He had stopped drinking after a health alert in 2012 but resumed in 2023, leading to the hospitalization.
• Collins says he has not had a drink since the 2024 crisis and describes himself as much healthier now.
• His son Nic Collins played drums for Genesis during The Last Domino? tour, which began in 2021 and ended in London on March 26, 2022.
• Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel was present at the band’s final show in London.

The take

Phil Collins occupies a singular place in classic rock history, one of the very few artists to achieve sustained commercial dominance both as a band member and as a solo act simultaneously. His drumming on records like Peter Gabriel’s ‘Intruder’ and throughout Genesis’ catalog from the mid-1970s onward set a standard that influenced an entire generation of rock and pop drummers. Losing the ability to play drums was, by most accounts, a blow that went well beyond the professional for Collins.

The broader pattern here is one that has touched a number of classic rock figures of his generation: the intersection of long-term physical decline, the psychological weight of stepping back from the instrument that defined them, and the complications that can follow. Collins has been unusually candid about his struggles compared to many of his peers, and this latest disclosure continues that openness.

The Last Domino? tour was already being read as a bittersweet coda for one of progressive rock’s most commercially successful acts. The revelation that Collins was fighting for his life in the year after it concluded adds a sobering dimension to what that farewell actually meant. At 75, his survival and sobriety represent a genuine second chance, and for fans who grew up with both Genesis and his solo work, the news that he came this close to not making it will land hard.

Why it matters

For classic rock fans, Collins represents a direct line from the art-rock ambition of early Genesis through to the era of arena-filling pop crossover success. His health has been a concern for years, but the scale of this 2024 crisis, organ failure, life support discussions, and a seven-month hospitalization, is far more serious than previously known. His survival and continued sobriety matter not just personally but as a reminder of how fragile the legacy figures of that generation have become, and how much of their story is still being written.

What’s next

Collins has confirmed he is in better health and has not had a drink since the 2024 hospitalization. No touring or recording plans are mentioned in the current reporting. The interview with The Sunday Times represents his most detailed public account of the crisis to date.

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