Culture
26 Mar 22

Taylor Hawkins, drummer with Foo Fighters, has died, aged 50

Taylor Hawkins.

Hot Press was deeply saddened to read that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has passed away suddenly. The announcement came through a social media post from the band late last night.

pic.twitter.com/ffPHhUKRT4

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) March 26, 2022

The band were on tour in South America, promoting Medicine At Midnight, and were due to hit Europe during the summer. Taylor has been with Foo Fighters since their third album, 1999's There Is Nothing Left To Lose. He took up drumming at the age of 10 and had his head completely turned at a Queen gig in 1982. "It was the beginning of my obsession with rock n' roll," he told Kerrang last year. "I knew that I wanted to be in a huge rock band."

Hawkins' first break was playing with Alanis Morissette, drumming with her on the massive Jagged Little Pill world tour, which is when he first met Dave Grohl, and the pair immediately hit it off. On top of his drumming, Hawkins also added guitar and keyboards to various Foo Fighter recordings and even took over lead vocals on the odd occasion, such as 'Cold Day In The Sun' and Sunday Rain, from In Your Honor and Concrete And Gold respectively. He also recorded three albums with side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. He was known, and admired, for his powerful drumming style - well, he did have to take over from Grohl - his good looks and affable personality, which was evident when he spoke to Stuart Clark for Hot Press last year.

Hawkins is survived by his wife and three children. No cause of death has been announced at this time.

So heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins’ passing, what an incredible talent, who didn’t also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway. The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did, Rest In Peace

— FINNEAS (@finneas) March 26, 2022

God bless Taylor peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love. 😎✌️🌟❤️🎶🌈☮️ pic.twitter.com/wn2izxn4Vd

— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 26, 2022

. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side - Ozzy

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022