Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins' Life in Photos

Taylor Hawkins' Southern California Beginnings

Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on Feb. 17, 1972. He was raised in Laguna Beach, California, and got his first big break as the drummer for Grammy-winning artist Alanis Morissette. He officially joined Foo Fighters in 1997, replacing William Goldsmith, and spent the last 25 years with the group until his death on March 25, 2022. He was 50.

"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," his bandmates wrote in a statement. "His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever."

The statement continued, "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."

Taylor Hawkins Goes on Tour with Alanis Morissette

From 1996 to 1997, Hawkins manned the drums on Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill tour. The musician talked about his experience joining Morissette's newly assembled band in HBO's Music Box documentary, Jagged.

Hawkins explained that once he was chosen, he got a cassette tape in the mail that had three songs he needed to learn for the tour, and one of them became Morissette's biggest song of all time.

"The first song is 'You Oughta Know' — and that's all you needed to hear," Hawkins said. "That's going to be f------ huge."

Here, the two artists, who were in their early 20s at the time, rock out on stage in 1995 during the now-iconic tour that launched both of their careers.

Taylor Hawkins Joins the Foo Fighters

After a whirlwind tour with Morissette, Hawkins replaced William Goldsmith and joined the Foo Fighters with bandmates Franz Stahl, Nate Mendel and Dave Grohl.

In a 2021 oral history for EW, Hawkins recalled his audition to join the band.

"I said, 'Hey, I heard you guys are out of a drummer right now.' And Dave said, 'Yeah. Do you have any good recommendations?' And I was like, 'Well how about me, you asshole?' " Hawkins recalled.

The beloved rock band would go on to tour all over the world, win 15 Grammys, earn 31 Grammy nominations and get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl's 25-Year Friendship

The friendship between bandmates Hawkins and Dave Grohl went far beyond just music. Hawkins called Grohl his "f---in' life partner" in a chat with EW prior to his death.

While Grohl was looking for a drummer to join the Foo Fighters, the band he founded after Nirvana ended, he was surprised to hear that Hawkins would consider joining.

"Taylor was playing with Alanis Morissette, who was selling out stadiums all over the world," Grohl told Radio X in 2017. "I imagined that for him, to play drums in the Foo Fighters would be considered a demotion."

Grohl later said that when Hawkins eventually did join the band, "we were like, in love with each other."

"The first time we had a beer together, we were like, 'We're gonna be best friends for the rest of our lives,' " Grohl told Radio X in 2018. "And it's true, really. We're still ... we're like this."

Dave Grohl Calls Taylor Hawkins His 'Brother' and 'Best Friend'

In Dave Grohl's memoir The Storyteller, he described Hawkins as "my brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet."

"Upon first meeting, our bond was immediate, and we grew closer every day, every song, every note that we played together. I am not afraid to say that our chance meeting was a kind of love at first sight, igniting a musical 'twin flame' that still burns to this day," he wrote. "Together, we have become an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure we can find."

He added, "We are absolutely meant to be, and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime."

Taylor Hawkins' Struggles

The musician struggled during his lifetime with drug addiction, and in 2001, a heroin overdose put him into a coma.

"I was partying in London one night, and I mistakenly did something and it changed everything," Hawkins told Kerrang! magazine in 2019. "I believed the bulls--- myth of live hard and fast, die young. I'm not here to preach about not doing drugs, because I loved doing drugs, but I just got out of control for a while and it almost got me. I was heading down a road that was going to lead to even worse paths. I'm glad it got knocked on the head at that point. I go mountain biking now."

In an interview with Rolling Stone shortly before his death, Hawkins said he didn't want that story to be the one that followed him.

"For anyone out there who has problems, and their life is a mess, yeah, I get it. My life has been there plenty of times," Hawkins said, adding that he wasn't interested in discussing his sobriety. "I get it, but I don't want that to be the centerpiece of my story ... basically, I got the message."

Taylor Hawkins Marries in 2005

Hawkins married Alison (with him at a 2015 party) in 2005 and with her had three children, Oliver, Annabelle and Everleigh. In 2019, he shared a video about a song he wrote for Annabelle called "Middle Child" (and added that he had written a song for his eldest, "Son of Mine," but that his son demanded it get cut because it didn't rock hard enough).

Foo Fighters Documentary Premieres at SXSW

In 2011, Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, a documentary directed by James Moll, premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The bandmates posed with Moll at the Paramount Theater to celebrate the release of the film that chronicled the ups and downs of the band throughout their career.

Foo Fighters Win Best Album at the 2012 Grammys

At the 54th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in 2012, Dave Grohl and Hawkins accepted the award for best album for Wasting Light.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl Honor Rush at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Who better than Hawkins and Grohl to introduce Rush at their induction ceremony at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, 2013?!

Taylor Hawkins Meets Prince Harry

Hawkins and his bandmates met Prince Harry at the Invictus Games reception at the American Ambassador's Residence, Winfield House, on Sept. 9, 2014, in London.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl Get Silly on Set

The best friends and bandmates loved to have fun on set, including during their photo shoot at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney, Australia, in August 2017.

Taylor Hawkins Reunites with Alanis Morissette

The stars were brought back together again to share the stage at the One Love Malibu festival in 2018, to help raise funds for those who lost their homes and loved ones to the tragic Woolsey Fire.

"reunion in service. ✨✨," Morissette captioned her sweet selfie in December 2018, before adding hastags, "#taylorhawkins" and "#sofuntosharethestagewithyouagain"

Taylor Hawkins Presents Icon Award to Alanis Morissette

One year later, the two reunited again — this time at the 2019 Billboard Women in Music Awards, where Hawkins presented Morissette with the Icon Award.

Foo Fighters Get Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In 2021 the Foo Fighters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Fall of Fame by Paul McCartney during the 36th Annual induction ceremony at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on Oct. 30, 2021.

Taylor Hawkins Brings Daughter Annabelle to 'Studio 666' Premiere

One month before he died, Hawkins brought wife Alison and daughter Annabelle to the Foo Fighters' debut horror-comedy film, Studio 666, at TCL Chinese Theatre on Feb. 16 in Hollywood.

Taylor Hawkins Dies

On March 25, 2022, the Foo Fighters confirmed Hawkins died while they were on tour in South America. He was 50.

A toxicology test found 10 types of substances, including: THC, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opioids in the musician's body.

At the Grammy Awards one week later, Hawkins was honored in a special segment set to the band's hit "My Hero." Later in the year, an all-star group of musicians came together for a tribute concert in L.A., and in 2023, the Foo Fighters will return to the stage at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.