Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the rock band Foo Fighters, died Friday at the age of 50 shortly before the band was set to perform at a festival in Bogotá, Colombia, The Associated Press reports.
A reporter on the scene for BBC said crowd members began placing "candles on the stage where the Foo Fighters were supposed to play."
Hawkins was the touring drummer for Alanis Morrisette before joining Foo Fighters in 1997. In addition to his drumming work for the band, Hawkins also had writing credits on Foo Fighters hits like "Best of You" and "Learn to Fly" and was known for singing covers of Queen songs at concerts, per BBC.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In his 2021 memoir, Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl described Hawkins as a "brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet."
AP notes that Hawkins' death marks the "second time Grohl has experienced the death of a close bandmate." Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died in 1994.
No cause of death has been reported. Hawkins is survived by his wife, Alison, and their three children.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
