The drummer of the American rock band Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, died at the age of 50 in Bogotá, Colombia.
The news was released by Foo Fighters this Friday through a statement on their Twitter account.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and premature lost of our darling taylor hawkins“says the post.
“His musical spirit and infectious laugh will live with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that his privacy be treated with the utmost respect at this unimaginably difficult time.”
Millions of admirers in the world and outstanding artists mourned the death of who they considered one of the most brilliant drummers of today.
What is known about his death?
Hawkins was staying in a hotel in the north of Bogotá in which the emergency occurred.
According to a first report from the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, the toxicology screen practiced the musician preliminarily found “10 types of substancesamong them: THC (marijuana), tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opioids”.
“The National Institute of Forensic Medicine continues the medical studies to achieve full clarification of the events that led to the death of Taylor Hawkins,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
However, no cause of death has been established and the authorities continue with the investigation.
Hours earlier, the Bogotá Health Secretariat reported having received a notice that Hawkins was suffering from chest pain.So an ambulance was dispatched.
But upon arrival there was already an emergency team from a private company. “The health professional who attended the emergency indicated that performed resuscitation maneuvers; however, there was no response and the patient declared passed away (sic),” reads a statement.
“A lot of people were crying”
The band was on the bill this Friday at the Estéreo Picnic festival, which is held in the Colombian capital.
One of the artists from the band Black Pumas, who had just taken the stage at the Estéreo Picnic, was in charge of communicating Hawkins’ death to the public.
image source, Getty Images
BBC Minute’s Beatriz de la Pava was backstage at the festival when Hawkins’ death was announced to the crowd.
“While we were in the backstageI saw that the Foo Fighters team was packing everything,” explained the Colombian journalist.
“The festival organizers arrived and then everyone took the stage after Nile Rodgers finished, and they said they had very sad news what to share“.
“Then the message was posted on the giant screens that Taylor had died and everyone went silent. Some of the other stages started playing my hero, of Foo Fighters”.
“They put candles on the stage where the Foo Fighters were supposed to play. A lot of people were crying and some DJs who were supposed to play the sets canceled even though people just wanted more and more Foo Fighters music.”
The band was in a Latin America tour. They had already performed in Mexico, Argentina and Chile and were about to perform concerts in Colombia and Brazil.
Just last Tuesday, Hawkins fulfilled the dream of a Paraguayan girl, Emma Peralta, who wanted to meet him in person.
According to Julio Peralta, the father of the 9-year-old girl and who is also a drummer, was able to speak with him and take a photo outside the hotel where the musician was staying in Asunción, where a concert was canceled.
The story quickly went viral.
“We are devastated. I don’t know how to tell this to Emma,” Peralta wrote after hearing the news.
Hawkins was born in Texas in February 1972.
He joined the Foo Fighters in 1997.replacing William Goldsmith.
He was one of the visible figures of the band together with the ex of Nirvana, Dave Grohl, who formed the Foo Fighters in 1994 after his group disbanded following the suicide of lead singer Kurt Cobain. While playing drums for Nirvana, Grohl took over lead vocals and guitar in Foo Fighters, so Hawkins had the daunting task playing drums in a group founded by one of rock’s most famous drummers.
Sometimes, they would switch roles during the band’s concerts, with Hawkins taking over the vocals.
The first album in which he participated was in your honorin which in addition to the percussions, he participated in the voice of the theme Cold Day in the Sun.
“I was a bit nervous at first, but I got over it”, he told OC Weekly shortly after joining the band. “Nobody can play better than Dave Grohl. He just has a vision in his head.”
image source, Getty Images
Caption,
Taylor Hawkins performing with the Foo Fighters on March 4 in Geelong, Australia.
At concerts, Hawkins often ditched the drums to sing rock classics like Under Pressureby Queen and David Bowie, or rock’n’rollby Led Zeppelin.
He grew up in Laguna Beach, California, where he began studying music at the conservatory and, although his specialty was drums, he also played piano and guitar.
Before joining the Foo Fighters, Hawkins played drums for Alanis Morissette.
Among the artists who inspired his career were Stewart Copeland from ThePolice, and Roger Taylorfrom Queen.
“A great person and an amazing musician”
paying homage to him, Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, tweeted: “God bless you Taylor Hawkins. Loved your spirit and unstoppable rock power. Rest in peace my friend.”
Ozzy Osbourne he said that Hawkins was “a great person and an amazing musician”.
Miley Cyruswho was part of the festival’s programming in Colombia, said he would dedicate his Saturday show to Hawkins.
“My favorite memory of Taylor is dancing around the drums while playing this song…” he posted on Instagram, with a photo of the song Brass In Pocket, of Pretenders.
“I listen to it on loop, imagining us (with Hawkins) laughing forever.”
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, also expressed his condolences. “God bless Taylor,” she said. “Peace and love to all of his family and the band, peace and love.”
The member of Kiss, Gene Simmons, he said he was “shocked and saddened” by the news of Hawkins’ death.
billy idol shared a photo of Hawkins on Twitter with the words: “Very tragic. Rest in peace Taylor.”
Other bands that paid tribute to the Foo Fighters drummer include the Smashing Pumpkins, Nickelback and The Offspring.
Analysis by Mark SavagandBBC music journalist
If you’re going to play drums for Dave Grohl, one of the greatest musicians in rock history, you better be good. And Taylor Hawkins was.
I could spray the (drum) kit in The Pretenderplay it like a song on Learn To Fly or add a funky touch to a track like Shame Shame. She was more than Grohl’s equivalent, she was his accomplice. The rock star once said that Hawkins was “too qualified” for his band.
It wasn’t just the one who kept the times. He also had lyric credits on Grammy Award-winning hits like best of you, Learn To Fly Y All My Life; and at almost every Foo Fighters concert, he would come out from behind the equipment and sing a song by his favorite band, Queen.
In his last show, a week ago in Argentina, that song was Somebody To Love.
Born in Texas but raised in California, Hawkins had the easygoing demeanor of a surfer. He was introduced to music by his brother and started out playing guitar but, inspired by Roger Taylor of Queen and Stewart Copeland of The Police, he soon switched to drums.
image source, Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images
Caption,
Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins during the first day of Lollapalooza Chile 2022, at Parque Bicentenario Cerrillos on March 18.
At the age of 10, he sat behind a “rickety and noisy” piece of equipment for the first time in his neighbor’s garage. “And then,” he said, “my life became drums, drums, and more drums.”
He first rose to fame in Alanis Morissette’s touring band and joined the Foo Fighters in 1997, after a studio dispute led to the departure of original drummer William Goldsmith.
Although he was “super intimidated”, he joined the band directly. In his autobiography, Grohl called their partnership “a kind of love at first sight.”
“From the first meeting, our bond was immediate and we grew closer every day, with every song, with every note we played together,” he wrote. “We are absolutely meant to be and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime.”
Hawkins’ death at the age of 50 is devastating, for Grohl, his bandmates and his fans, but most of all, for his wife Alison and their three children. Rest in beats.
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