Former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor recently gave an interview and opened up about his feelings when he was unable to attend Duran Duran’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Andy mentioned how his health was declined dangerously, a few days before the induction:
“I’ve had stage four prostate cancer for around eight years, and it caught up with me quite badly around last September. When you do something like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — which is basically like getting knighted for a guitar player — you’ve kinda got to be on 11. You can’t saunter in, and a few days before I couldn’t really stand up and play. I had to deal with the denial, but it was sad.”
Taylor continued by telling that he cared Duran Duran too much to keep the bad news only to himself:
“No one really knew. Just the family and a few friends. I just sort of kept it because once it goes public, I knew it would be sort of extensive. I could’ve picked a quieter moment for it to go public, but I didn’t want to make a fool of the band and just be on half and not be able to do this. It’s quite an intense three days.”
Andy previously talked about how the treatment wore him down, in a separate interview. He mentioned the details with the following word:
“I was due to rejoin Duran Duran. We were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles on November 5. I did a lot of preparation. I’ve got fabulous people and a great doc. I just didn’t have that [excitement], you know, and I was like, ‘Whoa’ because you lose all of your testosterone in treatment. I mean, just that in itself. I bet most men don’t have a clue.”
Duran Duran members were vocal about Andy’s absence, and how they felt over the course of time. Their drummer Roger Taylor talked about this recently, in a separate interview:
“We were fully expecting Andy to join us. We had the rehearsal room all set up, ready to go. We were very excited about it. We’ve not played with Andy for 17 years. It was a very exciting prospect. We got the call literally the day before the rehearsal. It floored us. A very difficult moment.”
Duran Duran announced they will include a one-off benefit concert in honour of Andy Taylor, and support Cancer Awareness Trust. The concert will take place on August 19, in Menlo Park, California.
You can watch the entire episode below.