What happened between Andy Taylor and Duran Duran to cause their split up?

Question

It was announced yesterday that Andy taylor was leaving the lineup of the original Duran Duran

Answer 1

I saw them on tour twice last year at different venues and you could clearly sense Andy's distance from the group. He seemed to purposefully maintain little interaction with the others onstage (except with John or the back up singer) and he and Simon both seemed to ignore each other as they performed. Andy was always such an outspoken "individual" member of the group - I love his energy and he always was very vocal about how he loved to "rock out." He had a different view from the others as to the direction of Duran's music. I'm sorry that he has left the band because he definitely made their music stand out from the other groups. He gave Duran Duran's music it's "edge."

The official Duran Duran website posted this message on 10/25/06 regarding the break up:

A Message to our Fans
To Our Fans

We know that there has been a tremendous amount of speculation over the past few weeks regarding Andy Taylor's continued involvement with the band and we are sorry that we've been unable to provide you with more information until now. The past five years have been an incredible journey for us all - and having the original five back together was something that we had wanted to see happen for some time. As of last weekend, however, the four of us have dissolved our partnership and will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf between us and we can no longer effectively function together. Although obviously disappointed and saddened about this, we are excited about the next chapter of the Duran Duran story and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Simon, John, Nick and Roger

Answer 2

according to the official announcement there was a "gulf" that developed between Andy & the management company, my best guess is that he was not happy with collaboration w/ Timberlake and the fact that new material was not being worked on. Until we actually hear from Andy though we may never know.