Phil Collins has told fans they “haven’t heard the last of me” in a tearful rare public appearance.

Collins turned out in Los Angeles on Saturday night (local time), to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Collins, whose mobility issues and other health problems kept him from performing, took the stage slowly using two canes and cried at a huge ovation from a crowd that included his daughter, actor Lily Collins.

The 75-year-old – who was already in the hall of fame as a member of Genesis – hasn’t been able to take the stage since 2022. On Saturday, he assured the crowd that his situation was “really not as bad as it looks”.

Collins has type 2 diabetes and complications from a spinal injury dating back to 2007. He also revealed earlier this year that a relapse of serious alcoholism had left him on life support, with decisions being made about whether to keep him alive.

Collins told Britain’s Sunday Times the relapse led to him drinking wine at breakfast and triggered a serious health crisis in 2023-2024. He spent seven months in a Swiss hospital with damage to his pancreas and kidneys.

In the press room afterwards, Collins joked that he’s “not very good at doing nothing”.

“I’ve got a studio in my house. It’s a small house in Switzerland. I’ve got a little studio that I run on my own. I’ve got to get back in there because that was fun. It wasn’t work, it was fun,” he said.

“I used to operate everything myself, I did it on my own. And that’s where some good stuff comes out of it. So I would like to get back in there.”

Collins said he had avoided his studio in recent years but now felt drawn back to it.

“In terms of playing live, I think my drumming days are probably done. I had a really bad knee, left knee that I had five operations on. It was replaced five times, and that meant I was in hospital for quite a while,” he said.

He also admitted thinking he would not survive once his kidneys and liver “started failing”.

“Everything started to go wrong,” Collins said.

“At one point I didn’t think I’d live, let alone go on the road again. But just the other night I was talking to the kids about it, and everyone got excited, including myself, that it’s not beyond the realm of possibility of doing some shows.”

On Saturday, he was among 18 luminaries at the class of 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hall of fame ceremony that opened with a surprise performance by U2. Others included Billy Idol and Wu-Tang Clan, Queen Latifah, Oasis, MC Lyte, Sade and Joy Division/New Order and Iron Maiden and producer Rick Rubin – who received a long-bearded tribute from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Idol was one of the few artists the audience knew for sure would show up and perform. During his induction, they leapt to their feet to sing along with White Wedding. 

“I say to all the young people out there who can barely tune a guitar and work a sampler, ‘now it’s your turn’,” Idol said.

“Now, I’m gonna party with the Wu-Tang Clan.”

Oprah Winfrey, who was there to induct Luther Vandross, said he was “the maestro of the love song” and once correctly named “the top artist that people make looove to”.

Vandross, an R&B singer with a velvet voice, was a definitive vocalist of the 1980s and ’90s. He died in 2005.

-with AAP