Phil Collins cries in acceptance, Oprah inducts Vandross at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

Detailed summary

I grew up just wanting to play the drums,” Phil Collins said. “Everything else has been a really happy accident." ...

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.

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.

He hasn’t been able to take the stage since 2022, but assured the crowd that “you haven’t heard the last of me.”

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.”

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Boston Globe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.