Steve Hackett says former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins ‘doesn’t deserve what happened to him’

Phil Collins’ Genesis bandmate Steve Hackett apparently grew emotional at the subject of the drummer and singer, whose health has declined in recent years due to a recurring spinal condition.

The British rock legend suffered a spinal injury in 2007; he is unable to play drums and walks with a stick or uses a wheelchair.

In 2022, he appeared with his band at the O2 Arena in London, at a gig billed as Genesis’s last ever show. Collins appeared on stage in a wheelchair to sing and play tambourine, as he joked that he’d have to get “a real job now”.

In an interview with The Telegraph, guitarist and songwriter Hackett “showed visible emotion” when asked about Collins, who left Genesis in the Eighties to pursue a solo career that led to millions of records sold and multiple Grammy Awards.

“I mean, my God. I’ll always love Phil.” Hackett said. “Sorry, I’m without words. He doesn’t deserve what happened to him.”

At the final Genesis concert, Collins was joined by bandmates Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. His son, Nic, the drummer for the band Better Strangers, stood in for his father on drums.

Following his injury in 2007, Collins was left with damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and lasting nerve damage.

He told BBC Breakfast in September: “I can barely hold a stick with this hand. So there are certain physical things that get in the way.”

“I’m kind of physically challenged a bit, which is very frustrating because I’d love to be playing up there with my son.”

In March last year, Rutherford made an appearance on BBC Breakfast to discuss his tour with Mike + the Mechanics, for which Nic Collins also stood in for the band’s regular drummer.

Speaking about Phil Collins’ condition, Rutherford said: “As you know, Phil is a bit... He’s much more immobile than he used to be, which is a shame, but at the tour, he was in good spirits.

“He’s fine now at home, enjoying life. He’s worked so hard over the years. I think he’s enjoying his time at home.”

Collins joined Genesis in 1970 after answering a classified ad for a drummer in music magazine Melody Maker, later auditioning at frontman Peter Gabriel’s family home in Chobham, Surrey.

“We weren’t on the same planet as Phil,” Mike Rutherford wrote in his memoir The Living Years: The First Genesis Memoir. “He always had a bloke-next-door, happy-go-lucky demeanour about him: let’s have a drink in the pub, crack a joke, smoke a cigarette or a joint.”