Duran Duran reunites with terminally-ill Andy Taylor to record new album

Angelique Agarap

March 20, 2023

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  Photo: United Press International

  Duran Duran bassist John Taylor has announced that former guitarist Andy Taylor will rejoin the rock band for its upcoming new album. 

  The reunion comes after Andy left the band in 2006, before the release of the album ‘Red Carpet Massacre.’ In November 2022, shortly before the band was inducted into the music Hall of Fame, the 62-year-old announced he had been battling stage 4 prostate cancer for the last five years.

   

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  Speaking at a charity event in LA, John mentioned Andy’s health issues. “When he dropped the bomb two days before the Hall of Fame, it was really shocking and terribly sad. 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.”

  “Had he come to LA and just gone on the TV show, we probably wouldn’t have even thought about it. That [the album] happened as a result of this. There’s 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,” he added.

  While the rest of the band will be recording in London and Los Angeles, lead vocalist Simon LeBon will travel to Lebanon to record in Andy’s studio. The new album will feature a number of cover songs that inspired Duran Duran as children. John also hinted that a documentary centered on the album might include footage of him reuniting with Andy.

  Set to be released later this year, the impending album will be the band’s first in two years. It will also be the first album to feature Taylor in nearly two decades.

  Duran Duran rose to prominence in the 1980s with hits such as “Save A Prayer,” “Ordinary World,” “The Reflex,” “Rio,” and “Hungry like the Wolf” among others.

  Wind down with top tracks of Duran Duran here:

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