Phil Collins Ditches Retirement To Write Tell-All

Phil Collins, the well-known former Genesis drummer and singer, has stepped out of retirement to write an autobiography. ABC News shared the excitement on October 12, reporting that Collins announced on Monday that his memoir is to be published in October, 2016. Collins spoke of how he had received several requests for him to write a personal reveal about his life “but never felt that the time was right — until now.”

The exciting news about the book came on the heels of Phil Collins revealing a recent back surgery. On October 8, WENN reported that Collins had to miss the Waldorf Astoria’s Sports Legends Dinner on October 6 because of surgery on his back the week before in Florida. Collins was supposed to make a live appearance and receive an award for his work, raising money for the charity Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.

Phil sent a video message that he recorded from the hospital.

“Yes, I’m supposed to be with you tonight, but (my doctor) Dr. Green had other ideas,” he told the audience.

“I’ve had back surgery the last week and I’m literally just recovering. I’m stuck here in a Miami hospital.”

Phil Collins has been suffering from severe back issues for some time, forcing him to retire from performing his famed music back in 2011. A March 3, 2011, report in the Telegraph revealed that Phil Collins had decided to end his career as a rock star as a result of major health problems, which were keeping him from being able to play the drums ever again.

Due to playing drums his entire life, Collins suffered a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands, along to issues with his hearing. Collins had revealed that he was told that his hands did not have the strength to play drums. As reported, “Collins once disclosed that the only way he could play was by taping his drumsticks to his hands.”

Excitement for fans came May 30, 2014, with the news that Collins decided to perform on stage once again. Billboard reported the news that after four years of retirement, Phil Collins made a surprise appearance, taking the stage to sing in Florida at his two sons’ school, the Miami Country Day School.

Before performing his “In the Air Tonight” and “Land of Confusion,” Collins made a statement.

“I was nervous you know, I’ve been doing this all my life but how good can it be? How good can it be tonight? All of these kids came up to me yesterday and were very pleasant and nice and polite and made me feel like part of the band.”

Unfortunately, his return to the stage was short-lived when Collins was forced to cancel his appearance to sing at a gala for Little Dreams Foundation just a few months later, in December, 2014. Miami.com detailed that Collins was forced to bow out of the Fillmore Beach event due to a “neurological affliction.” Phil did come out on stage to voice his apologies. That show did offer a glimpse of a possible future Collins stardom with Phil’s young teen son, Nick, rocking the stage, drumming with his own band, The Lost. The younger Collins also did a five-minute solo, teaming up with another drummer.

No title has been set for the Phil Collins book. ABC News reported the Penguin–Random House-owned publishers will be Century in Britain and Crown Archetype in the U.S. The editorial director of Crown Archetype, Tricia Boczkowski, stated that readers of Collins’ book will get a look at “a Phil Collins that not many people know.”

[Featured Image by Isaac Brekken / Getty Images]