Taylor Hawkins: Foo Fighters drummer dies aged 50, band announces

Group led by Dave Grohl says members are ‘devastated’ and ‘musical spirit’ of Hawkins will live on

Taylor Hawkins, the longtime drummer for rock band Foo Fighters, has died at the age of 50, the band has announced.

“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the band’s official account tweeted.

“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 Foo Fighters are on tour in South America and had been due to headline Festival Estereo Picnic in Bogotá, Colombia on Friday evening, 25 March. The festival released a statement on Facebook confirming the band had pulled out of the three-day festival due to Hawkins’s death. “With a broken heart, we are here to let you know of very sad news due to a very serious medical situation the Foo Fighters cannot perform tonight and they have cancelled the rest of their South American tour.”

After performing in Colombia, Foo Fighters had been scheduled to play at Lollapalooza Brasil in São Paulo on 26 March before continuing to tour in the United States.

Tributes have been flowing for Hawkins, who had drummed for 25 of Foo Fighters’ 28 years of existence after taking over from original drummer William Goldsmith in 1997.

Hawkins came from Laguna Beach, California and served as the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette and Sass Jordan before joining Foo Fighters. He landed his first major role as a drummer in experimental band Sylvia.

Musicians, friends and fans took to social media to express their shock at his sudden passing.

After Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl, Hawkins was probably the most prominent member of the group, regularly appearing alongside Grohl in interviews and playing roles in the band’s videos.

He also starred in Foo Fighters’ recently released horror-comedy film Studio 666 in which a demonic force in a house the band is staying in seizes Grohl and makes him murderous.

In the film, Hawkins and other members of the band, Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel,are killed off one by one. The film’s premise came out of their work on their 10th studio album at a home in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.

Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana when Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. Hawkins is survived by his wife, Alison, and their three children.