Andy Taylor will team up with a host of big-name musicians for a one-off charity concert later this month.
The former Duran Duran star will be joined by Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!, David Palmer of ABC, Ella Henderson and guitarist Phil X, who will play some of their greatest hits to selected guests.
Funds raised will go to the Cancer Awareness Trust with Taylor – who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in 2018 – saying: “I felt lost and frustrated by my diagnosis. I was unclear on my options and what I should do.
“Prostate cancer is one of the biggest killers of men despite multiple ways to get tested, easily, and then treated appropriately.
“People need to be able to find this information fast and easily. It exists, it’s just difficult to find.
“There also needs to be a revolution in men’s healthcare about prostate cancer, a breaking down of the stigmas associated with getting tested,” he added (via BBC).
The event will take place at Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds on October 21.
Speaking in RETROPOP’s October issue, the guitarist opened up on how the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame saved his life after he was forced to miss Duran Duran’s induction last November due to his illness.
The guitarist – who appeared in the group’s classic line-up alongside Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor – had planned to reunite with the band for a hits performance and to collect the accolade, but missed the event at short notice when his condition worsened.
“I bought a hat and put a new guitar together, because we were going to do some old Duran numbers – and the first time I saw it was this Monday,” he shared. “At the time, I was on palliative end of life care, which is when the medication starts and you’re onto the not so nice stuff,” he recalls, admitting: “I didn’t really understand my options until I didn’t go to the biggest night of my life.”
Now, he’s feeling much more sprightly since trialling a revolutionary new treatment, revealing opening up about the condition led to several doctors and specialists reaching out to him with alternatives.
“I started a new treatment several weeks ago, which is pretty incredible. It’s a nuclear medicine and it only targets cancer cells,” he said. “Treatments like chemotherapy can’t distinguish, so this makes quite a difference because there’s no real side effects.”
Naturally, health was Andy’s first priority, but he had other considerations while selecting the best treatment. “This is very sophisticated because it works without injuring the rest of your body,” Andy added. “As a guitarist, [other treatments] can ruin your fingers and I’ve had to avoid that for five years. Otherwise, what would I do…”
In September, Andy returned with ‘Man’s A Wolf To Man’ – his first solo studio album in over 30 years – with RETROPOP calling the LP “a fine showcase of the Duran Duran legend’s faultless musicianship” and “a long-overdue reintroduction to a musician who, as one-fifth of a defining band of the ‘80s, helped shape the landscape of pop music for decades to come.
