Veteran musician Phil Collins says he was forced to quit drinking after he was diagnosed with a severe case of pancreatitis.

The 63-year-old says he began drinking heavily after stepping away from the music industry in 2010.

Collins' boozing became so bad, he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous (Aa) meetings and spent a week in rehab, but he did not take his problems seriously until he was diagnosed with pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, which causes internal bleeding and extreme pain.

Collins insists his problems began after his ex-wife remarried and moved from Switzerland to Miami, Florida with their two youngest children, reports contactmusic.com.

He said: "I nearly died. I had pancreatitis... I'd retired to be with the kids... And really, retiring - well not working - and not having the kids, I guess left a big void... I was supposed to be an alcoholic... I went to meetings and I did try rehab - for a week.

`But I couldn't stand it. It was like being at boarding school. So I said to myself, 'I know what I need to do, I'm not a f*****g alcoholic... I was taking medication for this (tendon problems) and for all kinds of different little things. (The prescription pills) were not mixing with the drink, basically...

`The kids were getting a little worried and that's what made me worried... I found myself a great doctor here in America, and I went to a couple of specialists. And I don't drink any more. And I've never fallen off the wagon. I've just been lucky."