Former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor is urging women to push their boyfriends and husbands to get checked for prostate cancer.
“Duran Duran have quite a large female fanbase,” the 61-year-old musician said in an interview with 5 News. “So it’s like, your partner, your boyfriend – give ‘em a nudge. Go and get a test.”
Taylor recalled noticing “arthritic sort of pain” when he was jogging but thought nothing of it because of his age. Later, he noticed “what felt like tumours” on his neck. He went in for a biopsy, and then got what he called “a death sentence” from his doctor: Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer.
“No one can be prepared for his day,” Taylor said.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian men. Some of the symptoms of prostate cancer include more frequent urination, a weak urine stream, blood in the urine or semen, painful ejaculations, difficulty getting an erection, stiffness in back or hips that doesn’t go away and fatigue.
He didn’t go public with his diagnosis until last November, when he was unable to join his former bandmates as Duran Duran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Taylor told 5 News that music has helped him “live with the pessimism of an incurable disease. He explained: “It’s like every minute’s like an hour, every day’s like a week. You really want to get the most out of life.
“And I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had so much in terms of living the dream.”
Andy Taylor, pictured with John Taylor in 1985. Paul Natkin / Getty Images
Taylor played in Duran Duran from 1980 to 1986 and again from 2001 to 2006.
He played on the band’s early hit studio albums but left after recording their fourth, 1986’s Notorious. He was also part of The Power Station with Robert Palmer, Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Chic's Tony Thompson. The band had success with “Some Like It Hot” and a cover of “Get It On (Bang a Gong).”
Taylor then focused on music production before reuniting with his Duran Duran to record 2004’s Astronaut. While recording a follow-up, the band announced it “will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf between us and we can no longer effectively function together.”
In his statement last November, Taylor insisted there was no bad blood, "just pure love and respect for everything we wrote, recorded and achieved together."
In the press room at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, frontman Simon Le Bon said: “It is devastating news to find out that a colleague — not a colleague... a mate, a friend — is not going to be around for very long. It is absolutely devasting.
"We love Andy dearly. I’m not going to stand here and cry. It wouldn’t be appropriate, but that’s what I feel like."