Music star returns to his roots ahead of charity gig

The North East born star of one of the world’s most famous pop bands returned to his roots ahead of a one night charity fundraising gig.
Andy Taylor and Sir Graham Wylie.Andy Taylor and Sir Graham Wylie.
Andy Taylor and Sir Graham Wylie.

Duran Duran and Power Station star Andy Taylor left his home town of Cullercoats aged just 19 after seeing his friend Brian Johnson leave to join rock band AC/DC just weeks earlier.

And he returned to Tyneside earlier this month ahead of a one-off Rock n Raise gig at Newcastle’s Wylam Brewery on September 15.

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Taylor and his Duran Duran bandmates shot to fame with their first single Planet Earth, but the star, who has worked with a host of industry legends such as Robert Palmer and Sir Rod Stewart since leaving the band, said he still thinks of the North East as home.

He said: “I don’t come back very often because none of my family are here any more but Cullercoats and the coast will always feel like home to me – it’s in my DNA.

“I was playing working mens’ clubs right round the region for four or five years before I answered an ad in the Melody Maker for a guitarist for a new band – Duran Duran.

“We used to play in the slot before Bobby ‘The Little Waster’ Thompson came on and we would do the opening slots at the Top Rank Clubs as well – it was a great training ground.”

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The Rock n Raise gig will raise funds for its organiser, the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation, along with Teenage Cancer Trust and Newcastle’s Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy.

Doors open at 7pm and tickets, which cost £25, are available online from https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/rock-n-raise-with-andy-wylam-brewery-tickets/11260545?pl=wylam