After the announcement that Taylor Hawkins, the powerhouse drummer for Foo Fighters for more than two decades, had died at the age of 50, musicians and rock fans across the world were left paralysed by shock.
Taylor Hawkins, who died suddenly on March 25th, 2022, while on tour with Foo Fighters in South America, had been a member of the band since 1997. His first album with the group was There is Nothing Left to Lose (1999), which reached the Top 10 in the US and the UK and brought them their first Grammy for best rock album.
Hawkins was behind the drum kit for seven further Foo Fighters albums, as they established themselves as one of the world’s most successful rock groups, attracting hordes of devoted fans internationally. Their latest album, Medicine at Midnight (2021), is nominated for three Grammys, with the awards ceremony due on April 3rd.
The US rock band announced Hawkins’ death, saying they are “devastated by the tragic and untimely loss” of their bandmate and friend. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever,” they added.
As news of Hawkins’ death spread, numerous musicians and celebrities took to social media to honour the late drummer: “God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power,” wrote Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Slash wrote that Hawkins’ death left him devastated, saying, “I’ve no words to express all the feelings I have about his passing.”
“Taylor, you were family to us. Our friend, our brother, our beloved child,” wrote Brian May of Queen in an Instagram post. Ozzy Osbourne wrote in a tweet Hawkins “was truly a great person and an amazing musician.”
Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Liam Gallagher, and Travis Barker were among others who also shared tributes.
Back when Taylor Hawkins’ first joined the band, he could have been forgiven for suffering from stage fright. After all, the band was led by Dave Grohl, one of the most celebrated drummers in rock history.
Hawkins was the drummer in a drummer’s band. But not just any old percussionist’s band, Grohl is heralded as one of the best drummers of the 90s having played in the legendary grunge three-piece, Nirvana, for nearly four years. There was unquestionably a lot of pressure on Hawkins’ shoulders when he sat down at the kit for every Foo Fighters show in those early days.
Yet, despite all that, Hawkins never failed to impress crowds by his supreme technical ability. There was little doubt in people’s minds that Grohl had made the wrong choice, it was clear this was the right man for the job. In later years, Grohl would say he was “overqualified for the job.”
It was their shared interests, mutual love for the drums, and respect for all styles of music that formed the most iconic bromance in rock history. Grohl and Hawkins were best friends and practically inseparable, and their bond was no more evident than when they were on stage together.
At what would become Hawkins’ final show, at the Lollapalooza festival in Argentina on March 20th, Hawkins lovingly spoke: “I f***ing love Dave Grohl man, I’d be delivering pizzas if it wasn’t for Dave Grohl. I’d be managing the drum department at a Guitar Center if it wasn’t for Dave Grohl.”
Hawkins was known for his passionate, arm-flailing intensity behind the drums, with his blond hair and slim frame that gave him the air of a surfer fresh off a Californian beach.
Tragically, this is now the second time Dave Grohl has lost a close friend, having lost Kurt Cobain in 1994. “When you have a drummer like Taylor Hawkins in your band, I don’t necessarily miss being the drummer – because I have the greatest drummer in the world.” He said in an interview with Andersson Cooper in 2014.
In Grohl’s 2021 autobiography 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 we found eachother in this lifetime.”
In addition to his technical skill and musicianship, Hawkins brought enthusiasm, humour and personality to the group. He would also sing on a number of Foo Fighters tracks, including ‘Cold Day in the Sun’ and ‘Sunday Rain’, and was a regular songwriting contributor and backing vocalist on all of their albums.
Alongside his Foo Fighters work, Hawkins formed his solo band, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in 2006. The group released two albums over sixteen years and their latest album titled Get The Money, released in 2019. Both Hawkins and Grohl also played in a covers band named Chevy Metal.
In February of this year, Hawkins co-starred in Foo Fighters’ own feature length film titled Studio 666, which can still be viewed in select cinemas. In the film, a demonic force in a house where the band is staying possesses Dave Grohl and turns him murderous. Hawkins and other band members are killed off one by one. The idea came out of their work on their 10th album in a house in Los Angeles.
Recent live shows with Foo Fighters featured Hawkins grabbing the mic and stepping into Freddie Mercury’s shoes – an ambitious task in its own right – and performing a variety of popular Queen songs including ‘Somebody To Love’ and ‘Under Pressure’.
He was a very vocal Queen fan, and he once looked back on a Queen concert he attended in 1982 (at just 10 years old) as a life-changing experience, saying in an interview with Kerrang from 2021; “it was the beginning of my obsession with rock’n’roll, and I knew that I wanted to be in a huge rock band.”
Naturally, one of his main inspirations was Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor. Others include the Police’s Stewart Copeland, Phil Collins, and Rush’s Neil Peart. He also picked up some tips from jazz drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.
Taylor Hawkins was born in 1972 in Fort Worth, Texas, to Terry Hawkins, and his wife, Elizabeth Ann. He had two older siblings, Heather and Jason. In 1976 the family moved to Laguna Beach, California, and Hawkins graduated from Laguna Beach high school in 1990. When he was 10 his parents bought him a drum kit, which proved to be a pivotal moment and a turning point in his life.
In the 90s, he began performing with local groups around California. Having established himself as a drummer, his profile received a major boost when he was recruited to join Alanis Morissette’s band as she toured her 1995 breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill.
It was while he was touring with Morissette that Hawkins got to know Dave Grohl, founder of Foo Fighters, since they would often be on the same festival bills. The pair immediately struck up a close rapport on both a personal and musical level, as Grohl described: “Our musical relationship – the foundation of that is our friendship, and that’s why when we jump up on stage and play, we’re so connected, because we’re best friends.”
When Foo Fighters needed a drummer in 1997, after William Goldsmith quit during the making of the band’s second album, The Colour and the Shape, Hawkins was the obvious choice. The drummer’s last song was an encore of ‘Everlong’.
Oliver Taylor Hawkins will be remembered as one of the greatest rock and roll drummers of all time. His legacy will live on, and his music will continue to rock the souls of millions of fans around the world.
He is survived by his wife Alison, whom he married in 2005, and their children, Oliver, Annabelle, and Everleigh.
Words by Kristian Bayford
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