Duran Duran are reportedly in the process of working with former guitarist Andy Taylor on a new album.
Taylor ā who played with the band on-and-off between 1980 and 2001 ā was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer four years ago.
He was set to reunite with Duran Duran last yearĀ when they wereĀ inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame but a setback with his treatmentĀ forced him to miss the occasion.
Bassist John Taylor has now confirmed that the band are working with the guitarist again. āWhen he dropped the bomb two days before the Hall of Fame, it was really shocking and terribly sad,” he said (via The Mirror). “Weāre working on an album right now that is going to be coming out at the end of the year and heās playing guitar.
“Thereās 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.ā
Taylor continued: “LeBon is flying to Ibiza to work with Andy. I kind of wish I was there. I think itāll be great. Itāll be really profound for them. They havenāt been in the studio together in maybe 10 to 20 years.ā
Andy Taylor opened up about his ongoing battle with cancer earlier this year.Ā
Speaking withĀ 5 News, Taylor explained that heād learned of his cancer shortly after heād noticed āwhat you would think was an arthritic sort of painā during a jog. āI never thought more of it than that,ā he said of the first symptoms, assuming the pain was due to his age, before heād begun noticing other symptoms ā such as āwhat felt like tumoursā on his neck.
He continued: āI went and had a biopsy done, and I came back for the results ā and no-one could be prepared for that mistake. And actually, the consultant was a little late, and he sat down and said, āIām sorry, Iām so sorryā ā and I thought he was apologising because he was late. And he said, āItās prostate [cancer],ā and Iām like, āYeah, well, my dad had that. I understand.ā He said, āBut itās stage 4, metastaticā¦ which is a death sentence.āā
Meanwhile, Duran Duran are gearing up to embark on an arena tour of the UK and Ireland at the end of April. Theyāll perform (without Taylor) in Manchester, London, Leeds, Birmingham, Dublin and Glasgow.
Scissor SistersĀ frontman and solo artistĀ Jake Shears will be joining the band as a special guest opening act at the concerts along with Lia Lia. You can find any remaining tickets for Duran Duranās 2023 āFuture Pastā tourĀ here.
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