Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor must withdraw from the band due to worsening tinnitus.
In a statement, Taylor said: “This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. Playing drums in this band has been the joy of my life, and I will never be able to properly thank the fans for the love they have shown us over the years. But the truth is, my tinnitus keeps getting worse and I have reached the point where I now have to listen to my body and my doctors.”
Taylor spoke warmly about Duran Duran’s recent tour of the UK and Europe, his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a return to the studio with Chic band leader Nile Rodgers, with whom the band has previously collaborated on songs such as Notorious.
“Figuring out the timing of all of this hasn’t been easy, but I’m leaving on a very good note,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better final chapter, with so many special moments that I will cherish forever. I move forward with immense pride.”
He added that he had “nothing but love” for his bandmates Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor.
Taylor was an early member of the band along with Rhodes and John Taylor, later joined by Le Bon and guitarist Andy Taylor. He played on the group’s sensationally popular first three albums between 1981 and 1983, which were transatlantic hits and helped usher in a whole style of glossy new wave pop.
But after playing Live Aid with the band, Taylor left, later explaining: “It sounds like a cliché, but I needed to get to know myself. Because when you’re in a band like that, you get a lot of credit for being part of the whole thing. You can get lost.”
He joined the group briefly in 1994, then permanently in 2001, recording six more albums starting with Astronaut in 2004 and culminating with Danse Macabre in 2023.
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