FALSE ALARM! PHIL COLLINS STILL IN BUSINESS

(eonline.com) Phil Collins' fans have another day in paradise to look forward to. The British pop star "is not, has no intention of, retiring," says Collins' rep in the U.K., a few days after an interview the artist gave to FHM went public in which he revealed plans to take "some real serious time off." Technically he never said the word retire, but what is "I'm much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely" supposed to mean, then? MORE: Congrats, Phil! Your daughter could teach young Hollywood a thing or two Asked if he was ready to be known as an ex-rocker, Collins replied, "It feels like a good time to stop for a while. David Letterman wanted me to go on his show on a Monday night recently but I said, 'No. Can't do it. I have the kids on a Monday.' And my label said, 'But this is Letterman!' And I was like, 'Guess what? I. Don't. Give. A. F--k!'" With aggression like that, too bad he can't bang on his drums anymore, an unfortunate development he appears to be taking in stride. "I'm not worried about not being able to play the drums again," he said, noting the nerve damage diagnosed in his hands and the dislocated vertebra in his neck. "I'm more worried about being able to cut a loaf of bread safely or building things for my kids. My doctors tell me it's a work in progress, that it'll take about a year for me to recover. [My hands are] not strong enough to play the drums. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that again." Addressing his seeming ubiquity over the years, starting with his time in Genesis (they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year) and moving on to his solo career and various collaborations, Collins only semi-joked that he had become the "pop star nobody likes." "Around the time that the music was being played so incessantly people wanted to strangle me," he said. "It's hardly surprising that people grew to hate me. I'm sorry that it was all so successful. I honestly didn't mean it to happen like that!"