Drummer Taylor Hawkins, of the band Foo Fighters, has died at age 50 in Bogotá, Colombia. The news was shared on his social media accounts. It is not yet known the cause of death of the musician, who would play in Brazil this Sunday (27).
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the band said on their Twitter account. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect at this time of unimaginable difficulty.”
According to the first news, which appeared in the early hours of Saturday (26) in the Colombian press, Hawkins was found lifeless in his hotel room in Bogotá, on Friday (25). Employees of the establishment would have entered the room after he did not show up as the band prepared to go to the Estéreo Picnic festival, where it was one of the main attractions.
According to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the first police report on the case says that the cause of death is still under investigation, and experts are still at the scene of death in search of clues.
In a statement, the Estéreo Picnic festival said the band had “canceled their tour of South America”. The band had a show scheduled for Sunday (27) at the Lollapalooza festival in São Paulo. Festival organizers have yet to comment on who will replace the band.
On social media, Lollapalooza said they were “absolutely devastated by the loss of our friend, Taylor Hawkins. There are no words to describe what he meant to us and all music fans around the world.”
Taylor Hawkins was born in 1972 in Texas, United States. In his career as a musician, he was drummer for singers Sass Jordan and Alanis Morissette, with whom he played for two years, before joining Foo Fighters, a band led by vocalist and guitarist Dave Grohl, former drummer for Nirvana.
Hawkins also had other musical projects of his own, in periods of hiatus from the Foo Fighters, such as the band Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders and the cover group Chevy Metal.