Singer Taylor Dayne talks about recovery from colon cancer

Before Taylor Swift, there was Taylor Dayne. Photo: TNS

The most famous Taylor in the late 1980s and early 1990s was Taylor Dayne.

More than three decades later, the now 62-year-old Long Island dance diva is feeling good and grateful to be alive after a bout with colon cancer two years ago.

The woman who belted big hits like Tell It To My Heart and Don’t Rush Me is now on tour.

“It will be all the hits and all the bits, baby!” Dayne said in a brief interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on her way to a show in New Jersey last week. “I will play new music and my Capitol Records stuff. Everyone is pumped. I just did a duet with Kelly Clarkson of I’ll Always Love You. It’s the soundtrack of people’s lives.”

She said she made it through colon cancer in 2022 in part because of early detection.

“I develop polyps so I had been getting them checked every six months” with colonoscopies, she said. “They get biopsied. During one of those times, they found a very aggressive polyp. They had to cut 12 inches out of my colon.”

Unfortunately, she said she had a tough recovery. “I was pretty much gutted right down the centre,” she said. “Then I had an infection. When you’re cut open, that can happen. I had issues around my spleen and pancreas. My recovery was slow. I just had to find the right antibiotics to cut the cancer out. I was very sick.”

She said this cancer battle made her appreciate her own self-worth and tenacity. “I came back a fighter,” she said. “I had ketamine treatments. My body was so traumatised. I was in so much pain for so many months. I feel bad for people who are much older than me who can’t get through this.”

Dayne now focuses on a cleaner diet and plenty of Pilates. “I need stamina so I can be me on stage and keep my energy and focus,” she said.

She has never met the most famous Taylor of today, the one whose last name is Swift.

“I’m sure I will sooner than later,” Dayne said. “I’d love to know how her mum gave her that name. [Sorry: she was named after singer songwriter James Taylor.] God bless her! She’s a great voice for women in music.” – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Tribune News Service