Oliver Taylor Hawkins was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he recorded eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021.
38 Facts About Taylor Hawkins
2.
Taylor Hawkins formed the supergroup NHC with Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney in 2020, where he took on lead vocal and drumming duties.
3.
Taylor Hawkins was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the British drumming magazine Rhythm.
4.
Taylor Hawkins died at the age of 50 on March 25,2022, in Bogota, Colombia.
5.
Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 17,1972.
6.
Taylor Hawkins's family moved to Laguna Beach, California, in 1976, where Hawkins grew up.
7.
Taylor Hawkins was the youngest of three, with an older brother and sister, Jason and Heather.
8.
Taylor Hawkins graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1990, where he had been friends with current Yes lead vocalist Jon Davison.
9.
Taylor Hawkins played in the Orange County-based band Sylvia before he became the drummer for Sass Jordan.
10.
From June 1995 until March 1997, Taylor Hawkins was Alanis Morissette's drummer on the tour supporting Jagged Little Pill and her Can't Not tour.
11.
Grohl was under the impression that Taylor Hawkins would not leave Morissette's touring band, given she was a bigger act than Foo Fighters at the time.
12.
The band announced Taylor Hawkins would be its new drummer on March 18,1997.
13.
Taylor Hawkins first appeared with the Foo Fighters in the music video for the 1997 single "Monkey Wrench", although the song was recorded before he joined the band.
14.
Taylor Hawkins performed the lead vocal on a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar".
15.
Taylor Hawkins sang lead vocals for the band's cover of Joe Walsh's "Life of Illusion".
16.
Taylor Hawkins contributed to the band's songwriting, and was listed as a co-writer on at least one song on every Foo Fighters album from There Is Nothing Left to Lose to Medicine at Midnight.
17.
Taylor Hawkins posthumously won three Grammys with the Foo Fighters on April 3,2022.
18.
Taylor Hawkins occasionally played with a Police cover band alternately called "The Cops" and "Fallout".
19.
Taylor Hawkins recorded the drum tracks for the Coheed and Cambria album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow as the band's regular drummer, Chris Pennie, could not record because of contractual reasons.
20.
Taylor Hawkins toured with Coheed and Cambria shortly during the months of the album.
21.
Taylor Hawkins can be heard drumming on Eric Avery's first solo effort, Help Wanted and on Kerry Ellis's album, Wicked in Rock.
22.
Taylor Hawkins played on the track "Cyborg", from Queen guitarist Brian May's 1998 solo album, Another World; he played drums at VH1's Rock Honors 2006 while Queen performed "We Will Rock You".
23.
Taylor Hawkins sang backing vocals on the Queen + Paul Rodgers single, "C-lebrity".
24.
Taylor Hawkins was commissioned to complete an unfinished recording of a song by Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson titled "Holy Man" by writing and singing new lyrics.
25.
Taylor Hawkins appeared on Slash's solo album Slash, released in 2010, providing backing vocals on the track "Crucify the Dead", featuring Ozzy Osbourne.
26.
Taylor Hawkins recorded the drums on Vasco Rossi's last song, "L'uomo piu semplice".
27.
In March 2014, Taylor Hawkins announced his new side project called The Birds of Satan.
28.
In October 2021 Elton John released The Lockdown Sessions, which featured Taylor Hawkins playing drums on the song "E-Ticket".
29.
Taylor Hawkins posthumously appears on select tracks on Ozzy Osbourne's 2022 album Patient Number 9 and Iggy Pop's 2023 album Every Loser.
30.
Taylor Hawkins gets a really bad rap from some people for 'daring' to take over after Peter Gabriel quit, but you just hear the way he sounds here.
31.
Taylor Hawkins reported that listening to these two drummers' different styles showed him a wide spectrum of drumming style.
32.
Taylor Hawkins mentioned that he would play along with songs on the radio or records, like Queen's News of the World, to enhance his skills when he was young.
33.
Taylor Hawkins overdosed on heroin in August 2001, which left him in a coma for two weeks.
34.
Grohl said he was ready to quit music while Taylor Hawkins was in the hospital.
35.
Taylor Hawkins revealed in the 2011 documentary Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, that he wrote the song "On the Mend" from the band's 2005's album In Your Honor, about Hawkins while he was in a coma.
36.
On March 25,2022, Taylor Hawkins was in Bogota, Colombia, where he was scheduled to perform with the Foo Fighters later that evening.
37.
On June 8,2022, the Foo Fighters and the family of Taylor Hawkins announced two shows in tribute to Taylor Hawkins.
38.
Shane Taylor Hawkins was awarded the 'Drum Performance of the Year' at the Drumeo Awards for this performance.