Phil Collins, 75, has spoken out about his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
The “In the Air Tonight” singer shared a reflective statement to his Instagram page earlier Saturday before walking the red carpet at the 2026 ceremony in Los Angeles. “I always appreciated it and I always realised that I was lucky to have that kind of success, but when it actually happens, it’s a pat on the back, it’s like ‘you done good,'” he wrote. “I was thrilled because I’d turned 75 this year and I thought, ‘It’s all coming together at a certain time.'”
Collins was photographed in a classic tuxedo using two canes as he made his way down the red carpet. He was joined by three of his five children for the occasion: “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins, his middle child, along with daughter Joely Collins and son Nicholas “Nic” Collins.
The British music icon is being honored in the performer category alongside Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan. He was announced as an inductee in April, a recognition he called “pleased and honored” to receive in a separate Instagram statement at the time. “It wraps up what has been a wonderful life in music,” he added then.
This individual honor follows Genesis’s group induction in 2010. The progressive rock band, which Collins co-founded with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford in 1967, concluded its farewell tour in March 2022. During that final performance, Collins performed seated and subsequently retired from live performing.
Years of health complications have marked Collins’s later life. He first dislocated a vertebra in his neck while touring with Genesis in 2007, resulting in severe nerve damage to his hands that ended his drumming career. A 2015 back surgery left him with “drop foot,” and he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2017. He has also undergone several knee surgeries.
The health crises reached their most severe point around 2023 and 2024, when Collins was hospitalized for several months in a Swiss hospital due to organ failure brought on by relapsing into heavy drinking. During an August chat with the Sunday Times, he revealed that his children had given him what they believed were their final goodbyes. “I was very lucky to have come out of that,” he told the publication. “Needless to say, I haven’t had a drink since.”
Despite his physical limitations and retirement from the stage, Collins suggested in May that he had not ruled out creating new music. Saturday’s ceremony offered a different kind of return, one he seemed to welcome on his own terms. “I’m glad it’s happened now,” he wrote on Instagram of the induction.
The 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place in Los Angeles on Saturday evening.
