Andy Taylor, founding member of Duran Duran, missed the group’s induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this past weekend due to health reasons … his bandmates revealed that Andy has been suffering from Stage 4 Metastatic Prostate Cancer for the past four years and apparently had suffered a recent medical setback.
He sent a letter to be read at the ceremony in his absence that said:
Dear Simon, John, Roger, Nick, my fellow inductees and countrymen,
I wanted to send a personal note to pass along my sincerest respect to you all for what’s been an amazing career, and to also share what has happened to me.
Firstly, can I say what an absolute honour it was to be nominated let alone be inducted into the RRHOF. There’s nothing that comes close to such recognition. I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved together and of the way you have continued. As a guitar player in a progressive band from the synth days of the early eighties, literally from the day I met Nick, John, Simon and Roger they truly valued the contribution of a rather noisy, versatile Northern brat. We all grew up on the same vinyl records and live gigs, from David Bowie to Roxy Music, The Sex Pistols and of course CHIC. I could go to all those places as a player and developed a hybrid guitar style that fitted this amazing concept OF A BAND …
I loved going into the studio and recording our material; nobody else sounded like us. We were ripe to absorb what was the art of analogue recording, but with some different kit, Nick’s artful obsession with synth technology was something I’d never seen before and I was introduced to layers. Because we were instinctively the right fit, we evolved very quickly, writing RIO as our second album with the confidence our very early success with ‘Girls On Film’ and ‘Planet Earth’ inspired.
You can dream about what happened to us but to experience it, on one’s own terms, as mates, was beyond incredible.
I would like to thank each of my brothers in this great band.
My family: my incredibly sane wife of 40 years – Tracey – my amazing children, Andy, Georgie, Bethy and Izzy, not forgetting my grandson Albie, who’s probably online listening or on Fortnite!!!
The original believers: Paul and Michael Berrow, Dave Ambrose, Terry Slater, Rob Hallett.
The Producers: Colin Thurston, Alex Sadkin, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers – I’ve also really dug the work with Mark Ronson – I particularly admire ‘All You Need Is Now’, that’s a DD melody if ever I heard one.
Thanks also to Merck, Andrew and Wendy.
Now for the bad blood, well the good news is that there is none, just pure love and respect for everything we wrote, recorded and achieved together. What’s the point? There’s no stopping this 44-year thing called “Duran Duran.”
Now to the reason I’m not here:
Just over 4-years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and of course we are no different; so I speak from the perspective of a family-man but with profound humility to the band, the greatest fans a group could have and this exceptional accolade.
I have the Rodgers and Edwards of doctors and medical treatment that until very recently allowed me to just rock on. Although my current condition is not immediately life threatening there is no cure. Recently I was doing okay after some very sophisticated life extending treatment, that was until a week or so ago when I suffered a setback, and despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I had to be honest in that both physically and mentally, I would be pushing my boundaries.
However, none of this needs to or should detract from what this band (with or without me) has achieved and sustained for 44 years. We’ve had a privileged life, we were a bit naughty but really nice, a bit shirty but very well dressed, a bit full of ourselves, because we had a lot to give, but as I’ve said many times, when you feel that collective, instinctive, kindred spirit of creativity mixed with ambition, armed with an über cool bunch of fans, well what could possibly go wrong?
I’m truly sorry and massively disappointed I couldn’t make it. Let there be no doubt I was stoked about the whole thing, even bought a new guitar with the essential whammy!
I’m so very proud of these four brothers; I’m amazed at their durability, and I’m overjoyed at accepting this award. I often doubted the day would come. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.
All My Love
AT
Andy is one of THREE guys named Taylor that made up the original line-up of the band … NONE of whom are related to each other. (Andy played guitar, John Taylor played bass and Roger Taylor played drums.) The group was rounded out by keyboardist Nick Rhodes and lead singer Simon LeBon.
Duran Duran was one of the first “poster children” of the then new MTV … and they were a very video friendly band, which added greatly to their success.
Between 1983 and 1993, the group scored FIFTEEN Top 40 Hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart, including eleven Top 10’s, two of which (“The Reflex,” 1984, and “A View To A Kiss,” 1985, which was also the theme song to the James Bond film of the same name) went all the way to #1. Other popular Top Ten Hits included “Hungry Like The Wolf” (my personal favorite), “Is There Something I Should Know” and “Union Of The Snake” (all from 1983), “New Moon On Monday” and “The Wild Boys” (from 1984), “Notorious” (1987), “I Don’t Want Your Love” (1988) and then, after a brief absence from The Top Ten for about five years, a couple of comeback hits of sort, “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone,” both from 1993. The band wrote the majority of their own material (including all of the aforementioned hits) and toured and played to sell out crowds all over the world.
I am SO glad that Andy was able to be around to enjoy the joy and honor of being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Sadly, FAR too often this isn’t the case. (Duran Duran has been eligible for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction since 2007 … and FINALLY made it in some fifteen years later.) While we all know that there are far more deserving artists who have been waiting even longer for recognition by The Rock Hall, we still congratulate ALL of this year’s Class of ’22. (kk)
More great Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Ceremony coverage here …
(You’ll find lots of other great coverage on their website as well)
HBO will begin airing the ceremony on Saturday, November 19th … and it sounds like this may be a great one to watch, especially with so many surprise guests on hand to honor the inductees. (kk)
Guys, got this today about the word being sang over and over during ELO's "Don’t Bring me Down" and it was interesting, I thought I'd share:
MICHAEL:
Mystery solved: The word is not "Bruce," nor is it "gross." It is the German word, "gruss" (which means "greetings.") This short explanation also proves the theory (delved into in detail in another video) that the drum track on the song was taken from a segment of the drum track on the previous track on the record which was slowed down and heavily compressed, then looped, and that's how it got its distinctive sound. Lynne then did all of the other parts and vocals himself over the looped drum track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJdBDS_aww
MY REPLY:
That's a funny clip because it shows how sometimes artists seem to overthink songs and also how he just put silly words into them and it worked and people think they are saying something else. I love that song, but knowing he was using tracks from other songs makes it seem a bit odd at the same time. In the next clip that came up, he said Lennon liked "Showdown," which was interesting. The Bruce Willis bit was so funny, too.
Thanks for sending, Michael
Personally, I have really tired of ELO songs over the years now after previously loving every one. I still like the Out of the Blue and Time LP cuts, but most of the hits, I don’t listen to intentionally anymore.
Clark Besch
I remember covering the “gruss” thing a couple of years ago when it came up in a Jeff Lynne interview. (“Bruce” never made any sense … but I think it’s what everybody always sang because they thought that’s what he was saying. I just figured it was some kind of message thing to either a band member or engineer in the studio!) I didn’t know about the “slowing down the drums” thing … you’ve kinda gotta wonder how somebody even thinks that up … let’s take this other song that we’ve just finished, reuse the drum part, slow it down and beef it up … and then build a whole new song around it. Not sure if that crazy or genius … but probably somewhere in between.
I have been a lifetime ELO / Jeff Lynne fan. I love the guy and think he’s EXTREMELY talented and long campaigned for their inclusion in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (I had mixed feelings a few years back, too, when Lynne decided to rerecord all of the ELO hits by himself, playing all of the instruments and handling all of the vocals, because he was never really satisfied with any of the records the way they came out.
John Lennon used to say the same thing – when asked once which records he would do over, he replied “All of them.” The studio was just never able to capture the music the way he heard it in his head.
That being said, there are a few ELO songs that I can live without … but for the most part, I still love off of them. We went to see Jeff Lynne’s ELO the last two times the band came thru Chicago … and absolutely LOVED the concert. His live show in Hyde Park (often shown on some the cable music channels) is brilliant. The guy really IS a genius when it comes to arranging all of these things. A God-Given Talent to be sure. He didn’t LEARN that from anybody … he just heard what he heard and then went about producing it. (kk)
We watched Part 1 of the new Phil Spector documentary on Showtime last night. (I've got a feeling that with all the election coverage that will be filling every channel this evening, we'll watch at least another part or two tonight as well.)
It seems to be very well done ... with lots of vintage footage and commentary from those who worked with him. The fact that Spector ultimately went to prison for murder isn't glossed over or ignored ... it remains an undertone (thus far anyway) to a history of his career ... and his skyrocketing success in the early '60's. (I'm quite sure that as this thing plays out over its four episodes, more details will be revealed.) Because a police officer at the scene at the time the murder was called in was sharp enough to place a tape recorder on Spector's staircase, a lot of the commentary of that night's events are told in Spector's own words ... delirious and spaced out as they might be.
The guy was a complete, gun-crazy loon ... anyone who every worked with him will attest to that ... but he also was an extremely talented producer who heard and conceived things that took rock and roll in a direction it hadn't explored before. Hopefully, this documentary will continue to tell BOTH stories moving forward. (kk)
Catch OUR Forgotten Hits Phil Spector story here:
