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Foo Fighters cancel all tour dates after drummer Taylor Hawkins' death

The late drummer Taylor Hawkins, performing with Foo Fighters in Malibu, California in 2018.
Scott Dudelson
/
Getty Images for ABA
The late drummer Taylor Hawkins, performing with Foo Fighters in Malibu, California in 2018.

The multi-platinum rock band Foo Fighters has canceled all of its upcoming tour dates after the death of its drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

"It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins," the band said in a brief statement sent to NPR on Tuesday.

"We're sorry for and share in the disappointment that we won't be seeing one another as planned. Instead, let's take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate all the music and memories we've made together. With Love, Foo Fighters."

The band is scheduled to perform at the Grammy Awards in Las Vegas this Sunday, where it has been nominated for three awards. NPR has asked Foo Fighters' representatives if the band will still appear on the telecast, but did not receive an immediate reply.


Hawkins died at age 50 in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday, where the group had been scheduled to perform. An official cause of death hasn't yet been released.

On Saturday evening, Colombia's attorney general's office released a preliminary toxicology report, saying that medical examiners found evidence of 10 types of substances in Hawkins' body, including opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana and antidepressants. It said that its forensics report on Hawkins continues.

Hawkins had been in Foo Fighters since 1997, three years after the band began. Before that, he had been the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette. During Hawkins' time with Foo Fighters, the band won 12 Grammy Awards and scored four No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Anastasia Tsioulcas is a reporter on NPR's Arts desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards and the myriad accusations of sexual misconduct against singer R. Kelly.