Nearly a year after revealing that he is battling stage 4 prostate cancer, former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor has started a new drug treatment that he believes may extend his life another five years.
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After going public with his diagnosis in 2022, which prevented him from attending his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction with Duran Duran, Taylor said that he was contacted by a scientist. The scientist offered him “a nuclear medicine, Lutetium-177,” which specifically targets cancer cells.
“It can’t see healthy cells,” said Taylor. “It kills stage 4 cancer in your bones, and so what it’s effectively done is extend my life for five years.”
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In order to start the new treatment six weeks ago, Taylor said that he had to get in “very, very good health.” He added, “And then after the first round of treatment, I said, ‘If I’m OK, and you guys [his doctors] say I’m OK and do your blood test, is it OK to start work again — light work — and get out?’”
The 62-year-old guitarist recently revealed that he’ll be releasing a solo album, Man’s a Wolf to Man, which marks his first new material since Dangerous in 1990, on September 8. “When I started writing this album, it was the beginning of the chaos – 2016, 2017,” said Taylor in a statement. “‘Man’s A Wolf To Man’ is pretty apt now. Having lived there, had kids there, had an amazing career there, I know America very well. And when you watch the breakdown, and the extremes of it, how quickly people became vicious enemies.”
Taylor, who shared a new song “This Will be Ours” several weeks ago, continued, “’Man’s A Wolf To Man’ is about how man is his own worst enemy and will behave like a pack of wolves towards his other human enemy. What we saw bubbling when I started writing, it was all about getting even. Why do you get so mad trying to get even? Why do people get angry? Why don’t they just do better themselves? I was getting back to making records that are human, about something that mattered or matters, that are in the moment.”
[RELATED: Former Duran Duran Guitarist Andy Taylor’s First Solo Album in 33 Years]
In addition to his forthcoming album, Taylor will also appear on Duran Duran’s upcoming album, which features a collection of cover songs that influenced the band early on.
On Saturday (August 18) Duran Duran will perform a benefit concert in honor of Taylor, which will take place at a more intimate venue, The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, California, and benefit the U.K. charity The Cancer Awareness Trust. The charity will support a life-extending treatment for cancer patients like Taylor.
He said that he hopes others who are battling cancer will find some inspiration in his news. “I don’t want to be a patient stuck here,” said Taylor. “I want to be a working patient, a little beacon of hope because this stuff, cancer, just drags you and your family down in the darkness.”
Taylor added, “It’s been a hell of a journey.”
Photo: Courtesy of Andy Taylor / Shore Fire Media
