Taylor Hawkins, the drummer of the iconic rock band Foo Fighters, died on Friday in Bogotá, Colombia, at the age of 50, the musical group reported on its official Twitter page.
"
The Foo Fighters family is devastated
by the tragic loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laugh will live with us forever," the band tweeted Friday night.
Hawkins was one of the most prominent members of the band along with its founder and vocalist Dave Grohl.
He was its drummer for 25 of the 28 years of existence of the group, one of the longest in rock music in recent times.
He replaced William Goldsmith with the batacas in 1997.
In this file photo, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins performs at the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival at The Park at Harlinsdale on Sept. 22, 2019, in Franklin, Tenn.Al Wagner/Al Wagner/Invision/AP
This is the
second time Grohl has suffered the death of a
close bandmate.
Grohl was the drummer for the band Nirvana when founder Kurt Cobain died in 1994.
In a hotel in the north of Bogotá
Reports in local media indicate that Hawkins was found dead Friday night in his hotel room, located in the Chapinero neighborhood, in the north of Bogotá.
At first, the causes of his death were unknown.
Local authorities said Saturday they were investigating what happened.
The city's emergency teams received
a call for "a patient with chest pain
," reported the District Health Secretariat, but when the ambulance arrived at the scene, there was a private service that indicated that the maneuvers had already been performed. resuscitation to Hawkins, without being able to save him.
The Colombian Prosecutor's Office, meanwhile, indicated that it had sent a team to support the investigation of what happened.
South America tour canceled
Hawkins and the band were scheduled to hit the stage Friday night in Bogotá at the Estéreo Picnic 2022 festival
.
The organizers of the event announced that their presentation was canceled as well as the rest of the tour that the band had planned in South America.
Sergio Urbano was one of dozens of fans who gathered outside the hotel on Friday night at the news of his death.
“This has left me speechless;
It's a terrible thing, no one expected this, we expected to see them as the main act in Estéreo Picnic," Urbano told NBC News in Spanish.
“
This is devastating
,” he pointed out.
[Save the mariachi, the goal of this world conference]
Madison Square Garden reopens its doors with the Foo Fighters.
The concert was only for vaccinated people
June 21, 202100:21
Foo Fighters was also due to play Sunday in São Paulo, Brazil.
Last week they had performed at the San Isidro festival in Argentina, and on March 15 they were playing at the Foro Sol in Mexico City.
The band asked in their Twitter post that Hawkins' passing be treated with privacy "and the greatest possible respect for his family at this unimaginably difficult time."
a soul of music
Fans placed candles and created a space in tribute to the drummer at the doors of the hotel.
Ricardo Rodríguez, a Colombian drummer, said that he "grew up listening to Foo Fighters and Taylor Hawkins."
“He was a musician, a composer with a lot of creativity.
He misses a whole soul, a soul in music, popular rock,” he noted.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins at the Innings Festival in Temple Beach Park on Feb. 26, 2022. Amy Harris / Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
Christened Oliver Taylor Hawkins, he was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972, and grew up in Laguna Beach, California.
He played in the small band Sylvia from Southern California before landing his first big gig as the drummer for Canadian singer Sass Jordan.
Then,
in the mid-1990s he was the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette, before Grohl asked him to join the Foo Fighters, an Associated Press review indicates.
