Duran Duran's Andy Taylor Addresses Cancer Diagnosis: 'I’m Gonna Live Life'

Andy Taylor, the longtime guitarist of the English band Duran Duran, has been quietly battling Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer for over four years. Vocalist Simon Le Bon revealed Taylor's diagnosis when accepting the band's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year.

In a new interview with Channel 5 News, Taylor has addressed his diagnosis with the promise, "I’m gonna live life".

Taylor noted that he began to experience symptoms over four and a half years ago. "I was out jogging, and I started to notice what you would think was a kind of arthritic sort of pain, and I never thought more of it than that. I started having these symptoms … and then I noticed on my neck I had what felt like tumours," he told Channel 5 News' Dan Walker and Claudia-Liza Armah. "[The consultant] said it was stage four, metastatic – which is a death sentence."

The guitarist added that due to his absence from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year, he had to tell the band's fanbase what was happening. "I didn’t have any plan, and then afterwards, the amount of love and support of offers of help … I realised that by talking about it - Duran have quite a large female fanbase, so it’s like, your partner, your boyfriend – give them a nudge, get them a test."

Taylor left the band in 2006 and has not performed with them since. While he had planned to attend the ceremony, he opted out due to his condition. Le Bon read a letter from Taylor as part of the group's acceptance speech, which you can read:

"Now to the reason I'm not here:

"Just over 4-years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and of course we are no different; so I speak from the perspective of a family-man but with profound humility to the band, the greatest fans a group could have and this exceptional accolade.

"I have the Rodgers and Edwards of doctors and medical treatment that until very recently allowed me to just rock on. 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, and despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I had to be honest in that both physically and mentally, I would be pushing my boundaries." Read the rest of the letter here.