() — Andy Taylor, original guitarist for British new wave group Duran Duran, has revealed he has stage four cancer.
The band read a letter from Andy Taylor as he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday in Los Angeles, an event the guitarist did not attend due to ongoing treatment.
“A little over four years ago I was diagnosed with stage four metastatic prostate cancer,” Taylor, 61, said in the letter posted on the Duran Duran website.
“Although my current condition is not immediately life-threatening, there is no cure,” he added.
“Recently I was doing well after a very sophisticated treatment to prolong my life, that was until a week ago when I suffered a setback, and despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I had to be honest that both physically and mentally, I would be overcoming my limits,” Taylor wrote.
On missing out on the band’s induction into the Hall of Fame. Taylor said: “I am truly sorry and hugely disappointed that I was unable to attend. Make no mistake about it, I was ecstatic about the whole thing, I even bought a new guitar with the essential pedal!”
Reacting to Saturday’s letter, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon said: “It is devastating news to learn and find out that a colleague… Not a colleague, a colleague, a friend, one of our family is not going to be here for a long time. It’s absolutely devastating. We love Andy so much and you know, I’m not going to stand here and cry. I don’t think that’s very appropriate, but that’s how I feel.”
