Andy Taylor “not giving up on” life despite cancer diagnosis

Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor revealed last year that he’s been battling stage four prostate cancer, and in a new interview he reveals how he’s not letting it affect his daily life.

The guitarist tells People that while he knows his diagnosis is a “death sentence,” it’s a “slow burn” and he’s currently doing okay thanks to a drug called abiraterone acetate. And while he is still here, he plans to make the most of life, and that includes focusing on his music.

“Music’s never had a greater value to me,” Andy says. “One of the things that I learned early was, if you keep your mind active and you’re there and physically active, it really does [make a difference]. You’re carrying this grim reaper of a weight.”

Taylor went public with his diagnosis in a letter that his Duran Duran bandmate, Simon Le Bon, read at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last November, which Taylor says wound up being a “massive relief.” He’s also hoping his public disclosure will help motivate other men to get checked for prostate cancer.

“A lot of this has happened as a consequence of not going to the biggest night of my life. Strange irony,” Taylor says, noting that “if I could get a genie out of a bottle and make one wish, it’s that nobody ever has to go through what I went through.”

Up next: Taylor is planning to release a new solo album, Man’s a Wolf to Man, this spring. He notes, “[I’m] trying to stay alive and live a life, which I am absolutely not giving up on.”