Andy Taylor Announces Cancer Diagnosis After Missing Duran Duran’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Duran Duran was honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night, but the band was unfortunately not complete as its former guitarist Andy Taylor announced via a letter read by Simon Le Bon at the Los Angeles induction ceremony that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer years ago.

“I loved going into the studio and recording our material; nobody else sounded like us,” Taylor nostalgically reflected at the top of the letter, and also thanked his family, bandmates and other supporters over his long tenure in Duran Duran.

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He eventually revealed that four years prior, he was diagnosed with “stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer,” and also clarified, “Although my current condition is not immediately life threatening there is no cure. Recently I was doing okay after some very sophisticated life extending treatment, that was until a week or so ago when I suffered a setback.”

Taylor said he concluded that going to the ceremony would be “pushing my boundaries,” and the 61-year-old should be prioritizing his health. He also joked that he has the “Rogers and Edwards of doctors” to take care of him, in reference to the members of the Big Apple Band.

On his bandmates, Taylor wrote, “I’m so very proud of these four brothers; I’m amazed at their durability, and I’m overjoyed at accepting this award. I often doubted this day would come. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.”

Taylor was a founding member of Duran Duran when they were signed in 1985, though they drifted a part and back together several times over the decades as Taylor played in other bands and the bandmates had interpersonal issues that they worked through. Taylor had most recently taken a ten-year departure from any music over the 2010s, but returned in 2019 with a new single.

His latest single “Man’s A Wolf To Man” released this year and is available on YouTube.