Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Has Died

Taylor Hawkins, the charming, tenacious drummer of the Foo Fighters, has died. A member of the band for more than twenty years, joining after the The Colour and the Shape released in 1997, Hawkins was 50 years old.

"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," a Friday night post on the band's instagram reads. "His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with 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 has not announced a cause of death, or shared further details. Local media reports that Hawkins was found unresponsive in his Bogotá, Colombia hotel room before the group's Friday night festival appearance. The band has been touring in South America this month; they were scheduled to headline Lollapalooza Brazil on Sunday.

Hawkins accepted the daunting task of manning the drum kit behind Dave Grohl, one of rock music's greatest drummers ever, after the recording of the Foo's 1997 LP. Previously a member of Alanis Morissette's band, he brought a big smile and a hell of a kick to Grohl and co.'s heavy riffs and throat-ripping choruses. An occasional frontman and a deft songwriter, Hawkins co-wrote many of the band's songs, including live show favorite "Cold Day in the Sun," as well as recorded with his own act, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders.

Born in Texas in 1972, Hawkins was inducted alongside the rest of the Foo Fighters into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 by Sir Paul McCartney. Hawkins is survived by his wife, Allison, and their two children.

From: Esquire US