How Duran Duran are honouring former bandmate Andy Taylor, who is battling cancer

Guitarist Andy Taylor may not be part of Duran Duran anymore but the friendship between him and the band has not ended. Duran Duran will be playing at a benefit concert in Andy’s honour.

Andy, 62, revealed in 2022 that he was diagnosed with stage four metastatic prostate cancer. When he was unable to attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction last year, a letter he wrote was shared by Duran Duran at the ceremony. Taylor, who exited the band in 2006, recently shared some hopeful news about his treatment.

The guitarist, who left Duran Duran twice during his career, shared an update about his health recently on the Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt podcast. He said: “I’m starting my nuclear therapy. I’ve been having tests and scans and all kinds of far out science stuff. I have got a wonky gene as well, which was another surprise, but what it is, it’s a nuclear medicine, so the stage I’m at, which was stage four like s*** basically, this therapy came into the UK only recently. It’s very, very new.

“And essentially it’s a nuclear medicine. It’s put into your body and it detects the cancer on the outside of the cells and it only hits cancer cells in your bones, which is mainly where it is with me, and zaps them. But if there’s a healthy cell next to it, it doesn’t touch it. So it’s not curative, but it can knock out and then it’s got to start again and from what was kind of - I’ll not even say the term they used to have on the thing - but I can get back full fitness. I’ll be fine for five years.”

Since Andy announced about his cancer diagnosis, Duran Duran has collaborated with him to record a new album. Lead singer Simon Le Bon, 64, worked with him at the guitarist’s studio in Ibiza, according to Mirror.

Band member John Taylor had said in March 2023: “We’re working on an album right now that is going to be coming out at the end of the year and he’s playing guitar. Had he come to LA and just gone on the TV show, we probably wouldn’t have even thought about it. That [the album] happened as a result of this. There’s a lot of cover songs on the album, songs meaningful to us when we were kids. So having him be a part of that project is great.”

How Duran Duran is honouring former band mate Andy Taylor

The band is doing more than just recording an album together. Duran Duran will be playing at a benefit concert at the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, California, on August 19 with proceeds going to the UK charity Cancer Awareness Trust. The charity helps develop treatments that allow patients like Taylor live longer.

Frontman Simon said in a statement: “We are heading to Northern California to play many of the songs that we wrote together with our dear friend, Andy Taylor, to help him and others in their fight against prostate cancer. It is the right thing to do.”

Drummer Roger Taylor added: “We would like to thank our fans and the organisers of this benefit who have given us the chance to help our longtime friend and colleague Andy Taylor. We have always described ourselves as a ‘band of brothers,’ and that has never been more true than in this very moment.”