In 1997, drummer Taylor Hawkins joined the Foo Fighters for their tour supporting the album The Colour and the Shape. Hawkins remained in the band ever since, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with his bandmates in 2021.
His long history with the band made the group’s announcement of Hawkins’s death on Friday, March 25 that much more surprising. In a post on social media, the group spoke of “the tragic and untimely loss” of Hawkins. “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.”
As Pitchfork noted, the Foo Fighters recently completed a tour of South America.
Before his time in the Foo Fighters, Hawkins spent nearly two years as the drummer in Alanis Morissette’s band. His work outside of the Foo Fighters included playing on recordings by Slash, Queen guitarist Brian May and Coheed and Cambria, among a legion of others.
Hawkins also fronted his own group, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, who released their first album in 2006. Writing at AllMusic about the band’s 2019 album Get the Money, Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed that “[t]he elements are familiar, but Hawkins assembles fuzz guitars, glam beats, New Wave synths, and operatic harmonies with flair and wit.” Hawkins would play with many of his musical heroes throughout his career, while establishing himself as an iconic musician in his own right — impressive achievements all.
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