Former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor is returning to the band to work on a new album. Andy was recently in the news when his Duran Duran bandmates were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and revealed during their speech that the guitarist had been battling stage 4 prostate cancer for the past five years.
Videos by American Songwriter
“When he dropped the bomb two days before the Hall of Fame, it was really shocking and terribly sad,” said bassist John Taylor of Andy’s return. “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.”
During a brief hiatus from Duran Duran in 1984, Andy and John Taylor, along with late Chic drummer Tony Thompson and Robert Palmer, formed the power group Power Station and released their self-titled debut in 1985 and follow up—their final album together—Living in Fear more than a decade later in 1996.
In 2006, Taylor eventually parted ways with Duran Duran after recording the band’s 12th album, Red Carpet Massacre.
While the rest of the band record their parts for the new album in London and Los Angeles, singer Simon LeBon will travel to Ibiza, Spain where Andy lives, to record at his studio.
“LeBon is flying to Ibiza to work with Andy,” revealed John Taylor. “I kind of wish I was there. I think it’ll be great. It’ll be really profound for them. They haven’t been in the studio together in maybe 10 to 20 years.”
The new Duran Duran album is set to include a number of covers of songs that inspired the band in their younger years, while a working documentary on them may feature some of footage of LeBon and Taylor in the studio together again.
“There’s a lot of cover songs on the album, songs meaningful to us when we were kids,” said John. “So having him be a part of that project is great.”
Duran Duran released their 15th album, Future Past, in 2021 and is set to kick off their summer tour on April 29 in Manchester, England with dates across the U.K. throughout most of May, before returning to North America, where they will wrap shows up on Sept. 19 in Toronto.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
