(Photo by EMI) On Saturday – as they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles – Duran Duran announced that guitarist Andy Taylor is battling stage four prostate cancer. Taylor wasn’t present at the ceremony due to ongoing treatment but he disclosed the news in a letter of which parts were read out by frontman Simon Le Bon at the ceremony.

Taylor, 61 years old, received his diagnosis four years ago. In the letter he says: “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.”

Taylor joined Duran Duran in April 1980 and left in 1986 to pursue a solo career. He then rejoined in 2001 for a string of concerts and their 2004 album “Astronaut” before quitting again in 2006.

Taylor’s condition is incurable, but he stressed in the letter that he was receiving “sophisticated life-extending treatment” that had allowed him to “just rock on”, but that he suffered a “setback” recently which apparently is rather serious. After reading parts of the letter Simon Le Bon said: “It is devastating news to know and find out that a colleague… Not a colleague, a mate, a friend, one of our family is not going to be around for very long. It’s absolutely devastating. We love Andy dearly and you know, I’m not going to stand here and cry. I don’t think that would be very appropriate but that’s what I feel like.”

Below you can see a video of Duran Duran playing “Ordinary World” during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction at the Microsoft Theater in LA on November 5th.

And here’s the band talking about Andy Taylor.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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(Photo by John Taylor) In a facebook post Duran Duran’s John Taylor has announced that he tested positive with the Corona Virus almost 3 weeks ago. Taylor, 59, is amidst the target group that often develops more serious health problems when getting infected, but likes to think that “perhaps I am a particularly robust 59 year old or was blessed with getting only a mild case of Covid 19.”

As far as the symptoms, he describes it as a ‘Turbo-charged Flu’ and he came out of it feeling okay unlike ten thousands of others who died after being infected.

In a further reaction he says: “My heart goes out to everyone who has had to deal with real loss and pain. But I want to let you know that it isn’t always a killer, and we can and will beat this thing.”

Musician & actor

Nigel John Taylor is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of new romantic band Duran Duran. Duran Duran was one of the most popular bands in the world during the 1980s due in part to their revolutionary music videos which played in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. Taylor played with Duran Duran from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career.

He recorded a dozen solo releases (albums, EPs, and video projects) through his private record label B5 Records over the next four years, had a lead role in the movie “Sugar Town”, and made appearances in a half dozen other film projects. He rejoined Duran Duran for a reunion of the original five members of the group in 2001 and has remained with the group since. The current permanent members of Duran Duran are Simon Le Bon (singer), John Taylor (bass guitar), Nick Rhodes (synthesizer) and Roger Taylor (drums).

Taylor was also a member of two supergroups: The Power Station and Neurotic Outsiders.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Duran Duran has lost a High Court fight to reclaim the US rights to some of their backs catalogue (including the albums “Duran Duran”, “Rio” and “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” but also the 1985 James Bond tune “A View to a Kill”). Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor, John Taylor and former member Andrew Taylor were all involved in the legal action.

Bad news for the Duran Duran headquarters, but good news for Sony/ATV who owns Gloucester Place Music Ltd (formerly part of EMI Music Publishing). It all depends how you look at it of course. The band lost the fight after Sony/ATV’s lawyers used English contract law to overturn their US rights.

The group had argued in 2014 that US copyright laws gave them the right to call for a reversion of copyright after 35 years. That 35-year rule in America gave artists from the late 1970s onwards a chance to escape their old contracts and claim back ownership of their copyright. And although US artists successfully got hold of their copyright ownership, it seems now it’s a little bit more complicated for British acts. Their move in generated a lawsuit against them and the band members’ various holding companies.

Sony/ATV argued that the original publishing agreements between the band’s members and their publishing company made those agreements subject solely to British law, and that the contracts also reverted any stateside copyrights back to the (UK-based) publishing company, essentially making the copyright term on their songs subject to the UK’s terms. Currently, publishers in the UK can benefit from the global success of some of their songwriters from the very beginning of their careers until 70 years after their death.

Duran Duran released a statement saying that they are “particularly surprised and disappointed by this judgment”. Founding member and keyboardist Nick Rhodes said: “We signed a Publishing Agreement as unsuspecting teenagers, over three decades ago, when just starting out and when we knew no better. Today, we are told that language in that Agreement allows our long-time publishers, SonyATV, to override our statutory rights under US law. This gives wealthy publishing companies carte blanche to take advantage of the songwriters who built their fortune over many years, and strips songwriters of their right to rebalance this reward. We are shocked that English contract law is being used to overturn artists’ rights in another territory. If left untested, this judgment sets a very bad precedent for all songwriters of our era and so we are deciding how properly to proceed.”

Simon Le Bon added: “What artist would ever want to sign to a company like SonyATV as this is how they treat songwriters with whom they have enjoyed tremendous success for many years. We issued termination notices for our copyrights in the US believing it simply a formality. After all, it’s the law in America. SonyATV has earned a tremendous amount of money from us over the years. Working to find a way to do us out of our rights feels like the ugly and old-fashioned face of imperialist, corporate greed. I thought the acceptability of this type of treatment of artists was long gone – but it seems I was wrong. SonyATV’s conduct has left a bitter taste with us for sure, and I know that other artists in similar positions will be as outraged and saddened as we are. We are hopeful this judgment will not be allowed to stand.”

It’s expected that some more UK acts will start questioning their rights after Duran Duran has now hit a legal brick wall.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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