Phil Collins said in a new interview with BBC Breakfast that he declined the opportunity to perform at his forthcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but that he would not rule out future live performances while sharing a positive health update.
During the Friday interview, the Oscar-winning musician was asked if he’d perform again, to which he replied, “I can’t really see it happening. But I’m healthier now than I have been for quite a while.”
Collins has faced several health issues over recent years, including kidney issues and five knee surgeries. After enduring a spinal injury in 2007, the “In the Air Tonight” singer has faced health struggles that have prevented him from performing.
The “In the Air Tonight” singer further revealed that he was asked to perform at the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Collins has already been inducted into the esteemed musical museum with Genesis in 2010, and now joins a rare group of two-time inductees.
“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.”
However, Collins said he would “contemplate” another live performance in his future. “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.
The eight-time Grammy Award winner shared in a five-part interview on BBC Two’s Eras that he was living under 24-hour care in January.
“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.”
He also explained that his past drinking contributed to kidney problems. (Collins 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.
