Phil Collins Says at Rock Hall Induction “The Door’s Not Closed” to New Music and Performing Live

Phil Collins won’t give up his dream of making music and performing live, saying at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction event that “the door’s not closed” to creating new tunes and doing some shows despite health issues that have battered him and limited his ability to play music.

Answering journalists’ questions on Saturday at the Rock Hall induction, when he joined the institution for a second time as a solo artist after being inducted with Genesis, Collins said of making new music, “I can’t believe that I’m not going to do something. I’m not very good at doing nothing.”

He added that he’s “being drawn” into his home studio. “I would like to get down to my studio to just have some fun, and write some music that I hope would be good enough for people to hear and enjoy,” he told journalists. “It’s a work in progress, but the door’s not closed.”

He also said, “It’s not beyond the realm of possibility” that he will perform live, though he added, “I think my drumming days are probably done.”

In February 2025, Collins revealed in a rare interview with MOJO that he’d been too sick to make new music, saying he’s “not hungry” for creating songs. A year later, he elaborated in a BBC interview, discussing knee operations, kidney failure and drinking problems that had derailed his life, but also expressing a desire to get into the studio, saying that’s “something on my horizon.”

Throughout 2026, the Genesis singer-drummer talked about making new music, telling the BBC in May, “I’ve got lots of lyrical ideas that I write down, and there are things that are half-formed and a couple of things that are finished.” In August, he expressed a similar sentiment and talked about his sobriety, saying, “There are some things I could finish. And other things which are finished,” in an interview with Prog.

In his acceptance speech at the Rock Hall ceremony, Collins told fans, “I grew up wanting to play drums. Everything else has been a happy accident.” Despite his health issues, he said, “You haven’t heard the last of me. I promise you that.”

Travis Barker inducted Collins into the Rock Hall.

See where Collins landed in Consequence’s list of The 100 Best Drummers of All Time.