Taylor Hawkins

Taylor Hawkins (born Oliver Taylor Hawkins at Harris Hospital, Fort Worth, TX, on 17 February 1972; died 25 March 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters. He released a solo EP, "Kota", in 2016 and also recorded as Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders. He was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the United Kingdom drumming magazine Rhythm. Hawkins has said that his drumming was influenced by Roger Taylor of Queen and Stewart Copeland of The Police. Prior to joining Foo Fighters in 1997, Hawkins was the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette on her Jagged Little Pill tour, as well as the drummer for a short-lived experimental band called Sylvia. In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders, in which he played drums and sang, and, in 2014, The Birds of Satan. After touring through the spring of 1996, Foo Fighters entered a Seattle studio with producer Gil Norton to record its second album. Conflict erupted between Dave Grohl and then drummer, William Goldsmith, eventually causing Goldsmith to leave the band. The band regrouped in Los Angeles and almost completely re-recorded the album with Grohl on drums. The album, The Colour and the Shape, was released on May 20, 1997. In need of a drummer, Grohl contacted Alanis Morissette's touring drummer Taylor Hawkins to see if he could recommend anybody. Grohl was surprised when Hawkins volunteered himself. Hawkins made his Foo debut in time for the album's release. He has remained the band's drummer until his death. In addition to his drumming duties with the Foo Fighters, Hawkins co-wrote and sang on the band's double-album, "In Your Honor". He also occasionally provided backing vocals during the band's live performances and oftened play guitar and provided lead vocals for several songs while Dave Grohl took over on drums. Hawkins provided lead vocals on the track "Cold Day in the Sun" on the acoustic side of In Your Honor. While the Foo Fighters were on break, Hawkins played in a three-piece cover band, Chevy Metal. in 2014, Hawkins formed a new side project The Birds of Satan. The band's self-titled debut album was released in April 2014. Hawkins invited other stars to sing in the Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders album Get the Money, such as LeAnn Rimes, who sang on one of his songs titled "C U In Hell". Loudwire named the album one of the 50 best rock efforts of 2019. Other musicians who appeared on his projects included Roger Taylor, Brian May, Dave Grohl, Nancy Wilson, Joe Walsh, Chrissie Hynde, and many more. In 2021, Hawkins and Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney formed a supergroup called NHC. Described by Hawkins as being "somewhere between Rush and the Faces", the band made its live debut in September 2021 at Eddie Vedder's Ohana festival, with Taylor's Foo Fighters bandmate Pat Smear on additional guitar. The band recorded an album in 2021, which is due for release in 2022. Oliver Taylor Hawkins died on March 25, 2022 in the Casa Medina hotel in Bogotá, Colombia. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.