Phil Collins to Play at US Open

The ceremony and Collins’ performance will celebrate the addition of a massive retractable roof to the iconic tennis venue.

Collins’ appearance is particularly significant, though, because the rocker has largely remained out of the public eye in recent years. He last released an album of original material in 2002 and has since only hit the road for Genesis’ 2007 reunion tour and a 2010 string of solo dates supporting his album of Motown covers from that year, Going Back.

But, after years of personal turmoil — Collins’ wife left him 2008 and he underwent back surgery in 2015 — the former Genesis frontman appears poised for a comeback. At the U.S. Open event, he’ll perform his debut solo single, “In the Air Tonight,” which appears on his retrospective collection The Singles, due out in October. He’s set to release his memoir, Not Dead Yet, the same month. Collins also returned to the stage in March for an appearance at a benefit gala in Miami.

Late last year, Collins told Rolling Stone he was “no longer officially retired,” and in February he discussed the possibility of a return with EW. “People ask me, ‘When are you going to make another record? When are you going out on tour again?’” he said. “And that makes me want to work. I feel, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that. S—, if there’s an audience…’”

Collins has recently been releasing deluxe, remastered versions of his eight solo albums.

© EW, by Eric Renner Brown