Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dies at 50

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."

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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.

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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.

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Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.