Singer, songwriter Phil Collins tells German newspaper he’s not playing the drums _ for now

Phil Collins not pounding the skins

HAMBURG — Phil Collins is drumming no more, for now.

The former singer and drummer for Genesis told a German newspaper that since he had surgery in April to repair a dislocated vertebra in his neck, he doesn’t have feeling in his fingers and isn’t able to pick up his sticks.

The 58-year-old musician was quoted by Hamburger Abendblatt on Monday as saying the only way he could drum is if he were to “glue drumsticks to my hands.”

But that’s not stopped his recording aspirations. He told the newspaper he plans a new CD that will feature covers of 30 songs from the Motown label in 2010.

“I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals,” the paper quoted him as saying.

Collins, who lives in Switzerland, was in Hamburg to celebrate the first anniversary of the debut of “Tarzan” the musical. The show features music Collins composed for the 1999 animated Disney film, including the Oscar-winning song “You’ll Be in My Heart.”