Phil Collins said he turned down the chance to perform at his own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but stopped short of saying he will never perform again. The announcement came during a Friday interview on BBC Breakfast, where the musician offered his most detailed public health update in some time.
Collins is set to be inducted as a solo artist, making him one of a rare group of two-time inductees. He was previously inducted with Genesis in 2010. When organizers asked him to take the stage this year, he said no.
"They asked me if I would perform and I said no, because you've got to be match fit to do something like that," he said. "You can't just go on stage and — you're gonna have to rehearse and then by that point, if you've not been singing, your voice is going to be shot and then that's not gonna be good. So I'd rather not do it."
Despite declining, Collins did not close the door entirely. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the musician said he would consider getting back out there under the right circumstances. "But whether I would go out again, I would contemplate, yeah. I'm constantly saying to myself, I better go back down into my studio at home," he said. He also added that he is "healthier now than I have been for quite a while."
The update is notable given how difficult the past several years have been for Collins physically. A spinal injury in 2007 started a long stretch of health complications. He has undergone five knee surgeries and dealt with kidney problems, and at one point was living under around-the-clock medical supervision. In a five-part interview series on BBC Two called Eras, Collins revealed that as recently as January he had a full-time live-in nurse.
"It's an ongoing thing," Collins said of his health. "I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should. I've had challenges with my knee. I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me. I got COVID in hospital — my kidneys started to back up, you know, everything that started that could, all seemed to converge at the same time. I had five operations on my knee now — I've got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever."
Collins also spoke candidly about how alcohol contributed to his kidney problems. He is now sober. "I'd probably been drinking too much, and so my kidneys were messed up, you know. I enjoyed coming off tour, coming off the road, but I thought, right, I'm gonna do all those things that I couldn't do. I wasn't one of those guys that sort of stayed up all night drinking. I'd drink during the day, but I guess I had too much of it. I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times. But, it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me and I spent months in hospital," he said.
Collins has won eight Grammy Awards over his career and received an Oscar for the Tarzan soundtrack. The 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony has not yet taken place, meaning his absence from the stage will be one of the more discussed moments of the event when it arrives.
