Longtime Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has tragically passed away, aged 50. #60Mins was lucky enough to meet the energetic and affable Hawkins in 2017, where he opened up about his close friendship with frontman Dave Grohl.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dead at 50: ‘Found unresponsive in his hotel room in Colombia’ while on tour with the Dave Grohl-led band who say they are ‘devastated’
The Foo Fighters longtime, charismatic drummer, Taylor Hawkins, has died at the age of 50.
Hawkins was found dead in a hotel room in Bogota, Colombia where the band were due to play at a festival on Friday night. No cause of death was immediately announced.
The group were scheduled to play at the Festival Estéreo Picnic in the Colombian capital where an announcement told concert-goers that the band would not be playing due to a ‘serious medical condition’.
Hawkins had just completed a host of tour dates in South America with the band last playing in San Isidro, Argentina, last Sunday.
Taylor Hawkins Cause of Death Maybe Drug-related: Police
Who is Taylor Hawkins?
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Hawkins’s family moved to Laguna Beach, California when he was four-years-old. He started his music career in the 1990s, drumming for prog rock band Sylvia and the rock singer Sass Jordan. He left the Jordan gig to join Alanis Morissette from1995-1997 during her tour supporting her monster album Jagged Little Pill, which sold more than 10 million units.
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From there, he joined the Foo Fighters in 1997, a daunting challenge since the band is fronted by legendary drummer Dave Grohl, who switched to guitar after Nirvana ended.
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) March 26, 2022
In addition to playing drums on every Foo Fighters album starting with 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose, he also contributed vocals and other instrumentation. He is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Foo Fighters.
Hawkins, who joined the band in 1997 after two years as Alanis Morissette’s drummer, was a key element of the Foo Fighters’ sound and image. An imaginative and rock-solid drummer, he had the seemingly thankless task of playing drums behind Foos singer-guitarist Dave Grohl, who is one of the greatest drummers in rock history. Hawkins filled that role with aplomb, bringing his own muscular, time-juggling style to the band’s straight-ahead rock sound without trying to emulate Grohl, even though they shared countless influences, primarily from hard rock, punk and new wave. He was indisputably one of the best rock drummers of the past 25 years.