Taylor Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, has died during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50.
There were few immediate details on how Hawkins died, although the band said in a statement Friday that his death was a "tragic and untimely loss."
Colombia's Prosecutor's Office released a statement on Saturday saying toxicological tests on urine from Hawkins' body preliminarily found 10 psychoactive substances and medicines, including marijuana, opioids, tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines. It did not provide a cause of death and investigations are continuing.
Earlier, Colombian Police issued a statement about what they believe killed Hawkins, speculating that drugs may have been involved.
"The cause of death has yet to be established," the statement, carried in a number of Colombian newspapers, read.
"According to those close to him, the death could be related to the consumption of drugs."
Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, was 50.
Foo Fighters had been scheduled to play at a festival in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday night. Hawkins' final concert was Sunday at another festival in San Isidro, Argentina.
"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever," said a message on the band's official Twitter account that was also emailed to reporters. "Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family."
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) March 26, 2022
The Bogota municipal government issued a statement on Saturday that the city's emergency centre had received a report of a patient with "chest pain" and sent an ambulance, though a private ambulance had already arrived at the hotel in northern Bogota.
Health workers tried to revive him, but were unable to do so.
After Grohl, Hawkins was the most recognisable member of the group, appearing alongside the lead singer in interviews and playing prominent, usually comic, roles in the band's memorable videos and their recent horror-comedy film, Studio 666.
Hawkins was Alanis Morissette's touring drummer when he joined Foo Fighters in 1997. He played on the band's biggest albums including One by One and In Your Honor, and on hit singles including My Hero and Best of You.
In Grohl's 2021 book The Storyteller, he called Hawkins his "brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet".
"Upon first meeting, our bond was immediate, and we grew closer with every day, every song, every note that we ever played together," Grohl wrote. "We are absolutely meant to be, and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime."
It's the second time Grohl has experienced the death of a close bandmate. Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana when Kurt Cobain died in 1994.
As news of Hawkins' death spread, numerous musicians, celebrities and fans took to social media to pay tribute to the late drummer.
In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad. pic.twitter.com/2AUeqpaN94
— Nickelback (@Nickelback) March 26, 2022
God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend. pic.twitter.com/AkiRLF2L3e
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) March 26, 2022
Forever missed. pic.twitter.com/PkzEAKvryN
— Guns N' Roses (@gunsnroses) March 26, 2022
"In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins," rock band Nickelback wrote on Twitter.
"Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad."
Sharing a photo of himself and Hawkins alongside Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell, Rage Against the Machine frontman Tom Morello tweeted: "God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I love your spirit and your unstoppable power. Rest In Peace my friend."
"So very very sorry to hear of the passing of our friend Taylor Hawkins," Canadian musician Todd "Dammit" Kerns wrote.
"Honestly no words. Big love brother Taylor. Thinking of his family and the guys in his band. Absolutely heartbreaking."
. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. 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 - Ozzy
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022
Ozzy Osbourne described Hawkins as "truly a great person and an amazing musician".
"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 – Ozzy," Osbourne said.
Born Oliver Taylor Hawkins in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972, Hawkins was raised in Laguna Beach, California. He played in the small Southern California band Sylvia before landing his first major gig as a drummer for Canadian singer Sass Jordan.
Hawkins told the Associated Press in 2019 that his early drumming influences included Stewart Copeland of The Police, Roger Taylor from Queen, and Phil Collins, who he said was "one of my favourite drummers ever. You know, people forget that he was a great drummer as well as a sweater-wearing nice guy from the '80s, poor fella."
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When he spent two years in the mid-1990s drumming for Morissette, he was inspired primarily by the playing of Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins.
"My drums were set up like him, the whole thing," Hawkins told the AP. "I was still sort of a copycat at that point. It takes a while and takes a little while to sort of establish your own sort of style. I didn't sound exactly like him, I sound like me, but he was a big, huge influence."
He and Grohl met backstage at a show when Hawkins was still with Morissette. Grohl's band would have an opening soon after when then-drummer William Goldsmith left. Grohl called Hawkins, who was a huge Foo Fighters fan and immediately accepted.
"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," Grohl wrote in his book. "Together, we have become an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure we can find."
Hawkins first appeared with the band in the 1997 video for Foo Fighters' most popular song, "Everlong," although he had yet to join the group when the song was recorded. He would, however, go on to pound out epic versions of it hundreds of times as the climax of Foo Fighters' concerts.
In another highlight of the group's live shows, Grohl would get behind the drums and Hawkins would grab the mic to sing a cover of Queen's Somebody to Love.
WARNING: Strong language
"The best part of getting to be the lead singer of the Foo Fighters for just for one song is I really do have the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer on the planet earth," Hawkins said before the song in a March 18 concert in Chile.
Grohl can be heard telling him to shut up.
Hawkins also costarred in Foo Fighters' recently released film, Studio 666, in which a demonic force in a house where the band is staying seizes Grohl and makes him murderous. Hawkins and the other members of the band are killed off one by one. The premise came out of their work on their 10th studio album at a home in Los Angeles.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
- with news.com.au