Phil Rudd was born on May 19, 1954 in Melbourne, Australia. Phil made his name with the Colored Balls, a skinhead band formed by guitarist Lobby Lloyd and singer Angry Anderson (who went on to form Rose Tatoo), which terrorized the club circuit during the early Seventies with a ferocious brand of yob-rock.

Two singles ('Liberate Rock' and 'Mess Of Blues') were the only recognized fruits of Phil Rudd's time with the Colored Balls who, in 1974, changed their name to Buster Brown and went on to record one album ('Something To Say') for the indie Mushroom Records later the same year. But by the beginning of 1975 Phil had had enough, and hardly hesitated when AC/DC offered him the gig.

In 1983, at the end of the recording sessions of 'Flick Of The Switch', there were personal difficulties between Phil and Malcolm Young. Their relationship progressively deteriorated, to the point where a physical confrontation eventually took place. Two hours later Phil was out, flying home. Phil elected to retire to New Zealand where he bought a helicopter business and gave up professional music completely.

In 1991, when AC/DC were playing in New Zealand, Malcolm and Angus Young gave Phil a call. They hadn't seen him in about ten years. Then, around May 1994, they asked Phil to come and jam with them. He was back in the band. AC/DC welcomed Rudd back following Chris Slade's term as the band's drummer. The band praised Slade for his performance and technical ability, but maintained that a certain groove had been missing from AC/DC's music since Rudd's departure in 1983. Since rejoining the band, he has performed on four AC/DC studio albums, Ballbreaker, Stiff Upper Lip, Black Ice, and Rock or Bust, with Black Ice being the band's biggest hit on the charts since For Those About to Rock We Salute You in 1981.

In 2010, Rudd was convicted of possessing 25g of marijuana, but later had his cannabis conviction quashed on the grounds that it would have stopped him from continuing to tour with AC/DC.

His ongoing legal problems led to the recruitment of AC/DC's former drummer Chris Slade in time for the band's Rock or Bust World Tour. In May 2015, Rudd stated that he hoped to return....

It was officially confirmed on 30 September 2020 that Rudd had rejoined AC/DC, after two years of rumours that he, along with fellow band mates Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams, returned

On 7 October 2020, the band confirmed the upcoming release on 13 November 2020 of their new studio album "Power Up".