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[UPDATED] Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead Two Hours Before Showtime

<font color=red>[UPDATED]</font> Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead Two Hours Before Showtime
Taylor Hawkins - 2019 Bottlerock (Photo: Shutterstock)
Stacy Simons Santos  Contact MePosted on
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(CelebrityAccess) – Taylor Hawkins, the hard-pounding, wrist-snapping drummer for the legendary rock band Foo Fighters, has died, per an announcement by the band. He was a young 50. The cause of death was not announced. However, local reports show that he was found in his hotel room approximately two hours before the band was set to perform.

[UPDATED – March 29 at 7:36am] – New information continues to slowly come in regarding the untimely death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. The Daily Mail reports the drummer suffered from a “cardiovascular collapse” after mixing several drugs together including heroin, marijuana, benzos, and opioids. Forensic experts are said to have discovered his heart weighted approximately 600 grams, double the average of 300 to 350 grams.

Colombia’s Attorney General’s office has released the following statement regarding his death and subsequent examination.

‘After concluding an initial forensic examination of the body the AGO would like to communicate the following:

‘1) Preliminary results of the urine toxicology test indicate the presence of 10 different substances: THX (Marihuana), tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids among others.

‘2) The National Institute of Forensic Medicine continues to conduct the necessary medical studies to ascertain the cause of death.

‘3) The AGO will continue to investigate and will duly inform the findings of forensic examinations in due time.’

[UPDATED – March 27 at 11:11am] – Music Legend Stevie Nicks has penned an emotional tribute to her friend Taylor Hawkins via her social media accounts. See the beautiful post to her friend below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Stevie Nicks (@stevienicks)

[UPDATED – March 26 at 6:30pm] – In August 2001 in London, Hawkins was hospitalized for a heroin overdose and spent two weeks in a coma. During an interview with Beat 1′s Matt Wilkinson in 2018, Hawkins said, “There was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy. On some level, thank God, this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night, and I woke up thinking, ‘What the f**ck happened?’ That was a watershed moment for me. And then Dave went and played with Queens of the Stone Age, and it looked like the end was near.”


After the overdose, Hawkins adopted a healthy lifestyle per the 2011 documentary, Foo Fighters – Back & Forth. He said, “I thought to be a rocker, you had to be Keith Richards. I realized that to be a good drummer; I needed to be an athlete. I needed to take care of myself and have a good life.”

Unfortunately, that life has now been snuffed out as reports from Colombian authorities (where Hawkins was found) state his death could be tied to drugs.

Approximately one hour ago, Colombian journalist Luis Carlos Velez tweeted, “In a toxicological test on #TaylorHawkins, 10 substances were preliminarily found, including THC (marijuana) and tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opioids. At least ten different substances found.” Velez cited Fiscalia Colombia, the national attorney general’s office. That same journalist just ten minutes before presstime tweeted that Fiscalia Colombia’s report “does not mention [the] word overdose. investigation continues.”

A police officer said a “cocaine looking powder” was seen in the hotel room, as reported by The Daily Mail, while national newspaper El Tiempo reported that authorities “found hallucinogenic drugs” but “no signs of violence in the luxury hotel room.”

“Colombian police found: an empty beer can, an opened bottle of vodka, a Coca-Cola bottle, and some ‘other articles’ being analyzed by authorities,” Velez reported.

The Bogota Secretary of Health media release noted that “The Emergency Center received a report about a patient with pain in the chest in a hotel in the north of the city” and stated an ambulance was dispatched to that location. The report continues, “However, when the teams from the Secretary of Health arrived, they found another emergency responder from the company EMI. The health care professional who attended to the emergency said that he performed all re-animation maneuvers. Still, he did not receive a response and that the patient was declared dead.”

The investigation continues until an official cause of death is released. This story will be continually updated.

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW (Posted March 26 at 6:34 am)

(CelebrityAccess) – Taylor Hawkins, the hard-pounding, wrist-snapping drummer for the legendary rock band Foo Fighters, has died, per an announcement by the band. He was a young 50. The cause of death was not announced. However, local reports show that he was found in his hotel room approximately two hours before the band was set to perform.


“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever,” the band said via Twitter. “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.”

The band was scheduled to play in Bogotá, Colombia, for the Festival Estereo Picnic on Friday night (March 25), followed by Lollapalooza Brazil on Sunday. According to a report by Romeo Reyes, Friday’s performance was canceled as fans were gathering, who reported to CNN. “We were getting into position when they announced that the Foo Fighters would not be performing, but they didn’t say why. About 10 minutes later, the news broke that Taylor had died,” Reyes reported to CNN. Later, candles were placed on the main stage as a vigil for Hawkins, and the screens on five stages projected the message, “Taylor Hawkins Por Siempre,” which translates as “Taylor Hawkins Forever.”

Born Oliver Taylor Hawkins in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1972, his family moved to Laguna Beach when he was four, and he grew up there. After playing with several bands as a teenager, he left to join Alanis Morissette on tour supporting her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill. He played with Morissette until March 1997 and is featured in the 2021 HBO documentary about the singer.

Foo Fighters, whose 1995 debut was recorded entirely solo by Dave Grohl, had enlisted a full band to record their second album, The Colour and the Shape, but drummer William Goldsmith left the band during the sessions; with the parts re-recorded by Grohl. The frontman called Hawkins, whom he’d met in the past, asking for recommendations, thinking he would not want to leave Morissette. But Hawkins volunteered himself, joining in March of 1997. He had been a tireless and highly visible member of the band ever since, eagerly participating in in the band’s eight studio albums — the most recent of which is last year’s Grammy-nominated Medicine at Midnight — hundreds of concerts, and many Grohl-led side-projects like the Bee Gees parody/tribute act the DeeGees and the group’s recent mock horror film, Studio 666. An offshoot of that project, a heavy metal EP called Dream Widow, was released last night.

Foo Fighters have canceled the remaining date on their current tour, an appearance at Lollapalooza Brazil. However, they are still scheduled to perform at the Grammy Awards on April 3, with tour dates planned for the remainder of the year in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

After Grohl, who rose to infamy while drumming for the legendary and iconic band Nirvana, Hawkins was the most recognizable group member, often appearing alongside Grohl in interviews. In his 2021 memoir, The Storyteller, Grohl called Hawkins, his “brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet.” This isn’t the first time Grohl lost a bandmate, as the world mourned when Kurt Cobain, the frontman for Nirvana, died in 1994.

The Foo Fighters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, their first year of eligibility. Paul McCartney inducted the band, and several musicians appeared in a video package ahead of the band’s induction. Jack Black stated, “Taylor has the hardest job because he’s the drummer in a band that includes the greatest drummer alive. And he’s got a technique that Dave only dreams about.”

Tributes have poured out on social media for Hawkins as news of his death spread throughout the music community. Please see below for some of those tributes.

Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and three children; Everleigh, Oliver, and Annabelle.


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