An emotional tribute. Taylor Hawkins, the late drummer of the Foo Fighters, was awarded the 2022 Grammy Award with a touching video celebrating his contribution to music.
“So that was the moment in the show when I had to introduce the Foo Fighters. We would have celebrated with them when they won… three Grammy Awards today. But of course they are not here because of the tragic death of their legendary drummer Taylor Hawkins,” host Trevor Noah told an audience in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 3. — Our thoughts go out to Taylor’s family, his friends, the Foo Family of Fighters and all their fans around the world. We would like to take a moment to remember Taylor.”
A tribute video dedicated to “My Hero” — one of the band’s most popular hits — showed clips of Hawkins behind the drums, performing with his bandmates and smiling at the camera. The segment, which led to part of the evening In Memoriam, ended with footage of a huge crowd at the Foo Fighters show singing the hit.
Hawkins died on Friday, March 25, during the band’s tour of South America. According to the Colombian authorities, the musician, who was 50 years old at the time of death, had 10 substances in his body at the time of death. His sudden demise occurred nine days before the Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Before the awards, the band released two statements following the death of Taylor Hawkins and the founder of Coattails.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the Foo Fighters tweeted on March 25. — His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live with us all forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect during this unimaginably difficult time.”
Four days later, the band took to the social media platform to announce that they had cancelled the remainder of their world tour following Hawkins’ tragic death.
“It is with great sadness that the Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming concerts in light of the stunning loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins. We regret and share the disappointment that we will not see each other as planned,” the band said in a statement on Tuesday, March 29, urging fans to mourn and celebrate the life of the Texas native: “Instead, let’s take this time to mourn her, pull our loved ones to us and appreciate all the music and the memories we created together.”
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl had previously lost another bandmate when Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April 1994. After the death of the “Come As You Are” singer, Grohl considered quitting music, as he told Hot Press in 2017.
“I could no longer imagine going on stage or sitting at the drum and playing music. It will just take me back to the heartbreaking place of Kurt’s loss,” the multi—instrumentalist said. “It’s been a long time since I felt that music would break my heart again. Then I realized that, in fact, music is the only thing that can heal him.”
