As Taylor Hawkins’ death investigation continues, preliminary reports allude to a potential cause of death.
As reported on Monsters and Critics, the longtime drummer for the Foo Fighters died suddenly in Bogotá, Colombia, where the band was scheduled to perform. Hawkins was 50 years old.
The famous rock band released a statement after reports of Hawkins’ death that reads:
“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,” they wrote, continuing:
“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.”
Multiple drugs found in Taylor Hawkins system
Officials in Colombia say that the Foo Fighters drummer died in the hotel where he resided, and the initial call to emergency services was for chest pains.
The Attorney General in the Latin American nation revealed a toxicology report taken from Hawkins’ urine revealed ten different substances — including opioids, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines, per Deadline.
The investigation into his untimely death is ongoing, and an official cause and manner of death are yet to be established.
The rockstar has a history with drugs: while the band was on a trip to London in 2001, Hawkins overdosed on heroin, leaving him in a two-week coma.
He spoke about the near-death experience in 2018 with to Beats 1’s Matt Wilkinson, per NME:
“Well, I was partying a lot. I wasn’t like a junkie per se, but I was partying. There was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy, the late drummer said, continuing:
“Thank God on some level this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night and I woke up going, ‘What the f**k happened?’ That was a real changing point for me.”
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Hawkins spoke about the incident in a clip being shared on social media.
The audience and Dave Grohl gives Taylor Hawkins his flowers in his last performance
In what would be his last performance in Lollapalooza Argentina, the audience goes wild for Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl crown the late rockstar, the best drummer in the world.
As numerous tributes poured in for Hawkins, one lamented on the losses the Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has suffered in the two iconic rock bands he performed within different roles.
“I can’t imagine being a drummer and losing your front man, then becoming the front man only to lose your drummer… rest in peace Taylor Hawkins, and peace be with you Dave Grohl, just devastating,” the person wrote.
Taylor Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and three children: Oliver, Annabelle, and Everleigh.