Taylor Dayne Says Performing Live Is 'Humbling' After Colon Cancer Diagnosis: 'Gratitude Is Immeasurable' (Exclusive)

The Grammy-nominated singer is more present and vulnerable now — but she’s still ready to take fans on the ride of their lives

Taylor Dayne is ready to get back on the road.

Two years after what she has described as a “dark” journey with colon cancer, the Grammy-nominated singer tells PEOPLE that she’s busy prepping an international tour set to launch in March of next year — not to mention a Sept. 7 performance alongside fellow ’80s pop icon Tiffany at the Agua Caliente Casino in Cathedral City, Calif.

“I’m known as the singers’ singer, so it’s very important for me to make sure that I tell a story in a way that takes fans on a journey, but also they should reimagine me,” Dayne tells PEOPLE of her preparation for her upcoming live shows. “You want to be in the artist’s head.”

Dayne’s resilience is, frankly, staggering. After being diagnosed in July of 2021, the singer underwent surgery to remove 10 inches of her colon. While she was immediately declared cancer free, a post-op infection saw her hospitalized for nearly a month. But she was back onstage by late August of that year and has continued to perform consistently over the past two years, releasing a new E.P., The Capitol Session, this past April. In July, she wrapped her recent Love Me Tour.

Related: Taylor Dayne Reveals 'Dark' Battle with Colon Cancer: 'This Has Challenged Me Mentally, Emotionally'

“I made a decision,” Dayne says. “I was lying in the hospital after surgery. I got really, really sick, and it gave me a new sense of purpose. I said, ‘I’m not ready to go. I’m going to fight this.’ ”

Being able to perform live over the past two years, she says, has been “very humbling.”

“The gratitude is immeasurable. I weighed 98 pounds by the end of my treatment. And I even walked weird. But that’s one trial and tribulation. That’s not the story,” Dayne says.

The 62-year-old singer knows that her songs have been the soundtrack to her fans’ lives, and she aims to give them that experience at her shows. But while songs like “Tell It to My Heart” may act as time machines for her audience, taking them back to their youth, that’s not the case for Dayne when she’s performing live.

“I don’t think like that,” she says. “I’m completely in the moment. I’m working hard, I’m right there. I see people who are living through it and I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’ ”

Related: Nearly 40 Years After 'I Think We're Alone Now,' Tiffany Reimagines Her '80s Hits for a New Era (Exclusive)

Her concerts, she explains, are “carefully curated to get the most powerful punch and also reimagine it. So, you’re not listening to 35-year-old music stale.”

“Let’s be honest,” Dayne adds: her audience wants to hear the hits. “But it’s my job to challenge that mentality and do that creatively and take them on the journey with me.”

Of course, Dayne isn’t immune to nostalgia. But it’s other artists’ work that takes her back in time. The eclectic soundtrack to Dayne’s life includes Depeche Mode, Boy George, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Earth Wind & Fire’s “Can’t Hide Love,” The Carpenters’ “Close to You,” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

“Play ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ today for me, for John Mayer, Chappell Roan — we’ll all cry!” she says. “Because that’s the power of such a great song.”

And Dayne is keenly aware that her music has the same effect on her audience. “I play ‘Love Will Lead You Back,’ people just stand there and cry,” she says. “But that’s your job to bring them there.”

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Nearly four decades into her career, when fans tell her about the place her music has had in their lives, she says, “I just hold my hands on my heart now. And I say, ‘Thank you.’ And I say, ‘I understand.’ ”

It’s all part of her journey of gratitude for still being able to do what she loves.

“I’m so much more present, and I’m so much more vulnerable now,” Dayne says. “I went through hell and back, but it’s not the first hell. Probably not gonna be the last. But, I’m saying to you, I hold my hands on my heart, I look at my audience and then I go for it. I go for the guts. That’s me. That’s what you’re gonna see onstage.”

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