Last year, longtime Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage four metastatic prostate cancer. Now, in a new interview with Channel 5 News, the artist shared a positive outlook on the situation, promising that “I’m gonna live life” despite dealing with an incurable disease.
Taylor was diagnosed with prostate cancer about four years ago, and said he originally didn’t think much of the pain he was experiencing before getting it checked out. “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,” he recalled. “I started having these symptoms, didn’t recognize them for what they could be, and then I noticed, on my neck, I had what felt like tumors.”
Upon receiving his diagnosis, Taylor implied that he wasn’t too worried because his father had prostate cancer. “[The consultant] said, ‘But it’s stage four, metastatic,” the artist recalled. “Which is a death sentence.”
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“No one could be prepared for that day,” Taylor said.
The guitarist only went public with his diagnosis last year, when his health kept him from attending Duran Duran’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Still, despite that setback, Taylor said he tries to focus on getting the most out of life. “I just thought, ‘I’m gonna live life,’” he said. “I’ve made three albums since then, I went on the road with some friends of mine, the band Reef, and played some shows, which were fantastic. I often say to people, every minute’s like an hour, every day’s like a week. You really wanna get the most out of life.” Watch Taylor’s full interview with Channel 5 below.
Taylor played guitar for Duran Duran from 1980 to 1986, then again from 2001 to 2006. Last year, the band entered the Rock Hall alongside Eminem, Dolly Parton, Eurythmics, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie, and Pat Benatar.