Foo Fighters’ Drummer, Taylor Hawkins, Dies at 50
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Taylor Hawkins (Photo via the Foo Fighters’ Facebook page)
Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters, has died. The band announced his death at age 50, via their social media platforms, at around 11 p.m. ET on Friday, March 25, 2022. No cause of death was revealed.
The band is currently on tour in South America and had a performance scheduled on Friday in Bogotá, Colombia. They are scheduled to appear at Lollapalooza Brazil on Sunday.
The band’s complete statement read, “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”
The band is scheduled to perform on the Grammy Awards on April 3. Their North America tour is supposed to begin on April 29 in Memphis, Tenn., and continue through May. They were then scheduled to resume on July 17 with dates well into October.
Related: Music stars are paying tribute to Hawkins
Hawkins was born Oliver Taylor Hawkins in Fort Worth, Tex., on Feb. 17, 1972. In the mid-’90s, he was Alanis Morissette’s drummer for her Jagged Little Pill tour. In 1997, he received a call from his friend, Dave Grohl, who was looking for a replacement drummer for the Foo Fighters. Hawkins surprised his friend by offering to take the gig, a role he held for 25 years.
Hawkins was a frequent lead singer and songwriter as well.
Watch Hawkins perform a Queen classic with the Foo Fighters in 2021
BBC News reports that the BBC’s Beatriz De La Pava was backstage at the Estereo Picnic Festival in Bogotá on Friday when the announcement of Hawkins’ death was made to the crowd.
“While we were backstage, I saw the Foo Fighters team was packing up everything,” she said.
“The organizers of the festival arrived and then they all went on to the stage after Nile Rodgers had finished and said they had some very sad news to share.
“A message was then published on the big screens that Taylor had died and everyone was silent. A few of the other stages started playing My Hero by the Foo Fighters.
“They placed candles on the stage where the Foo Fighters were supposed to play.”
The stage in Bogotá, Colombia, where this Friday night (March 25), the Foo Fighters would play. Candles on stage, in memory of Taylor Hawkins. pic.twitter.com/HT0oN0elN7
— Luis Alcantar (@surrealboy) March 26, 2022
Paul McCartney inducted the Foo Fighters into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Oct. 30, 2021.
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationSo sad and what a great talent, had the great pleasure to witness Taylor pound the skins at Citi Field with Dave singing from the throne when he broke his leg…whata show. They left everything on stage and you couldn’t ask for anything more! R.I. P. bro Godspeed and I’ll see you on the other side!