The drummer of the American rock band Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, died at the age of 50 in Colombia.
The news was released by Foo Fighters this Friday through a statement on their Twitter account.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and premature lost from our beloved Taylor Hawkins“says the post.
“His musical spirit and infectious laugh will live with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that his privacy be treated with the utmost respect at this unimaginably difficult time.”
The causes of death, which Colombian media reported as occurring in the South American country, were not immediately released.
According to the website of Semana magazine, which cited local authorities, Hawkins was found dead in a hotel in the north of Bogotá.
The band was on the bill this Friday at the Estéreo Picnic festival, which is held in the Colombian capital.
In a statement on Twitter, the festival announced the cancellation of the Foo Fighters performance due to “a very serious medical situation.”
One of the artists from the band Black Pumas, who had just taken the stage at the Estéreo Picnic, was in charge of communicating the death of Hawkins to the public.
The band was on a tour of Latin America. They had already performed in Mexico, Argentina and Chile and were regarding to perform concerts in Colombia and Brazil.
Just last Tuesday, Hawkins fulfilled the dream of a Paraguayan girl, Emma Peralta, who wanted to meet him in person.
According to Julio Peralta, the father of the 9-year-old girl and who is also a drummer, was able to speak with him and take a photo outside the hotel where the musician was staying in Asunción, where a concert was canceled.
The story quickly went viral.
“We are devastated. I don’t know how to tell this to Emma,” Peralta wrote following hearing the news.
Hawkins was born in Texas in February 1972.
He joined the Foo Fighters in 1997.replacing William Goldsmith.
The first album in which he participated was In your honorin which in addition to the percussions, he participated in the voice of the theme Cold Day in the Sun.
He was one of the visible figures of the band along with former Nirvana Dave Grohl. At concerts he used to leave the drums to sing rock classics like Under Pressureby Queen and David Bowie, or Rock n’ rollthe Led Zeppelin.
Hawkins grew up in Laguna Beach, California, where he began studying conservatory music, and although his specialty was drums, he also played piano and guitar.
Among the artists who inspired his career were Stewart Copeland from ThePolice, and Roger Taylorthe Queen.
