Tearful Phil Collins receives electrifying ovation at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony amid health battles

Phil Collins gave a tearful acceptance speech and got an electrifying tribute from Cynthia Erivo, Oprah Winfrey inducted the late Luther Vandross, and Wu-Tang Clan made the Peacock Theater a rowdy celebration at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday night. Queen Latifah, Oasis, MC Lyte and Sade were also inducted, and Billy Idol, New Order and Iron Maiden were set to enter the hall later in the evening. Collins, whose mobility issues and other health problems kept him from performing, took the stage slowly using a pair of canes and cried at a huge ovation from a crowd that included his daughter, actor Lily Collins. Phil Collins breaks down as Travis Barker inducts him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Nov. 14, 2026. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker inducted Collins and praised him for his unprecedented dual stardom as a drummer and a hit-making pop singer in the 1980s. “I grew up just wanting to play the drums,” Collins said. “Everything else has been a really happy accident. I can’t believe, when I look back, how life has gone.” Barker said Collins’ song “In the Air Tonight” gave the world “arguably the most badass drum fill of all time.” Minutes later, Barker played that fill himself as Erivo gave a slowed-down, epic rendition of the song that brought the crowd to its feet. Collins was already in the hall as a member of Genesis, but now gets the solo honor. Inductee Phil Collins took the stage slowly using a pair of canes after suffering mobility issues, Nov. 14, 2026. REUTERS He hasn’t been able to take the stage since 2022, but assured the crowd that “you haven’t heard the last of me.” Oprah inducts Luther Vandross Winfrey, whose presence was unannounced, said with relish that Vandross was “the maestro of the love song” and said he was once correctly named “the top artist that people make looove to.” Vandross, an R&B singer with a velvet voice, was one of the definitive singers of the 1980s and ’90s. He died in 2005. Oprah Winfrey inducts the late Luther Vandross during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Nov. 14, 2026. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for RRHOF “Luther Vandross sang with such passion and soul it could reach something deep inside that you didn’t even know needed to be reached,” Winfrey said. Usher then took the stage and sang a sultry medley of Vandross hits, including “Here and Now” and “So Amazing.” Hip-hop acts make their presence known Wu-Tang Clan, the epic hip-hop collective from New York’s Staten Island, filled the stage with its 10 current members, giving a memorable acceptance speech and a performance that had the crowd on its feet and dancing. Backed by a big jazz band, the musical medley included “C.R.E.A.M.,” “Method Man” and late member Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” Inductees Wu-Tang Clan filled the stage with its 10 current members, Nov. 14, 2026. REUTERS “Wu-Tang rewrote the rules of hip-hop and did it without a big machine behind them,” said comedian Chris Rock, who inducted them. “We took Staten Island to the world,” the group’s leader RZA said. “We had a desire to conquer.” He added, “We wanted to make a mark. We made our mark.” MC Lyte, a trailblazing female rapper starting in the late 1980s, was the first artist inducted, with hip-hop star Remy Ma doing the honors and calling her “one of the first women in hip-hop to make sure there was room for the rest of us.” Bono and The Edge of U2 perform during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Nov. 14, 2026. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello MC Lyte said she was a “B-girl from Brooklyn just looking for my chance to inspire and motivate.” She did not perform at the moment of her induction but may be part of an ensemble later in the evening. Her contemporary and fellow groundbreaker Latifah was inducted later in the evening by Megan Thee Stallion, who said Latifah “taught us to recognize royalty within ourselves.” Latifah wore a leather crown that matched her leather trenchcoat and tie. She said, for a long time, she would not have believed this night was possible. Bob Odenkirk inducted Oasis but the Manchester band did not turn up to the ceremony, Nov. 14, 2026. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello “It’s difficult enough being a woman in hip-hop, let alone being a hip-hopper in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she said. Latifah and MC Lyte then took the stage together to perform a medley of their hits, including Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” and Lyte’s “Ruffneck,” as members of Wu-Tang and Chuck D of Public Enemy danced and rapped along in the audience. Latifah and Lyte entered the hall as recipients of the Early Influence Award along with posthumous nominees Gram Parsons, Fela Kuti and Celia Cruz. U2 opens the show U2 was the night’s surprise opener, playing their new single “Silencio” while surrounded by dancers in riot squad gear with helmets and shields. They then launched into their 1984 classic “Pride (In the Name of Love).” Singer Bono alternately raised a peace sign and fist as guitarist the Edge and the rest of the band played the song about Martin Luther King, Jr. on the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. U2 was inducted into the hall in 2005. Oasis and the other no-shows Oasis, the youngest of the inductees, didn’t show up. Guitarist Noel Gallagher is playing a gig back home in Britain, and his little brother, Liam Gallagher, just didn’t want to come. “Anybody surprised they didn’t show up?” asked actor and Oasis superfan Bob Odenkirk, who inducted them. ”It would’ve been out of character if they had. I would’ve been worried about them.” He praised their “bangers that make you sing along even before you finish hearing them for the first time,” before singer-songwriter Stephen Wilson Jr. gave an acoustic rendition of “Wonderwall.” Sade also decided to skip the induction. The singer and her band that’s named after her were inducted by singer Andra Day and celebrated by singer Sienna Spiro, who sang the group’s beloved hit “Smooth Operator.” Iron Maiden, to be inducted later Saturday night, was on tour in Australia. Key members of New Order, getting a joint induction with their previous incarnation Joy Division, will also be out for health reasons. The show is in Los Angeles for the second straight year, and organizers have said it will be here more often while still rotating to New York and Cleveland, where the actual hall resides. After streaming the ceremony live the past few years, the Rock Hall returned to its previous model, where the public won’t see it until an edited version airs on ABC and Disney+ on Dec. 9.