Hard-hitting and influential Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away last week aged 50. The band made the announcement via Instagram. “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the announcement read. “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.”
Understandably the band canceled all of their previously announced concerts. “It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins,” the band said in a statement. “We’re sorry for and share in the disappointment that we won’t be seeing one another as planned. Instead, let’s take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate all the music and memories we’ve made together. With Love, Foo Fighters.”
The band also pulled out of their planned performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday. The Grammy telecast plans to pay tribute to Hawkins on the show. “We will honor his memory in some way,” said CBS executive Jack Sussman. “We want to figure out what is the right thing to do that is respectful to everyone involved. We’re patient. We’ll be planning.” Foo Fighters are nominated for three Grammys this year — Best Rock Performance (for “Making a Fire”), Best Rock Song (“Waiting on a War”) and Best Rock Album (last year’s Medicine at Midnight).
Frontman Dave Grohl previously said that it was “love at first sight” when he met Hawkins. “Tearing through the room like an F5 tornado of hyperactive joy was Taylor Hawkins, my brother from another mother, my best friend, a man from whom I would take a bullet,” Grohl wrote in his memoir, “The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. “Upon first meeting, our bond was immediate, and we grew closer with every day, every song, every note that we played together. I am not afraid to say that our chance meeting was a kind of love at first sight, igniting a musical ‘twin flame’ that still burns to this day. Together, we have become an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure we can find. We are absolutely meant to be, and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime.”
Hawkins joined the Foo Fighters in 1997 after touring with Alanis Morissette for her hit album “Jagged Little Pill.” Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl reached out to Hawkins for an opinion on a replacement drummer, and Grohl was surprised when Hawkins recommended himself saying he preferred to drum in a rock band and not for a solo act.
