The world has lost a rock legend.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has died at age 50, the band shared. "The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," read a note posted on their Instagram March 25. "His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. 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."
The legendary band—including Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee—is currently on tour in South America. However, as Festival Estero Picnic shared March 25, "it is with a broken heart that we are here to tell you some very sad news, due to a very serious medical situation, Foo Fighters will not be able to perform tonight and have canceled the rest of their South American tour." The band is scheduled to perform at the 2022 Grammys April 3, however any changes have not yet be announced.
Back in 1997, Hawkins joined the rock band (founded by Grohl) after original drummer William Goldsmith left the group. Prior to the Foo Fighters, he had made a name for himself touring with Alanis Morissette.
Of course, he was far more than just a drummer. Throughout his time with the Foo Fighters, he proved to be a strong singer and songwriter, helping co-write many of the group's most iconic hits.
However, everything he worked for almost came crashing down in 2001 when he overdosed on heroin, which left him in a coma for two weeks. "I wasn't like a junkie per se, but I was partying," he later recalled on Apple Music's Beats 1. "Here was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy. Thank God on some level this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night and I woke up going, ‘What the f--k happened?' That was a real changing point for me."
Indeed, more would change for the better: In 2005, he married his wife Allison and the two later welcomed kids Oliver, Annabelle and Everleigh, who continually inspired his later work. "When I was 25, I never thought, ‘I'm going to be a suburban dad someday,'" he told Billboard in 2019. "But that's what I am, so I can't write about being young and going to clubs, and I'm not very political. It's all sort of tongue-in-cheek though."
Now, following news of his tragic passing, musicians are paying tribute to one of their own. "@taylorhawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician," Ozzy Osbourne wrote. "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."
Shared FINNEAS, "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."