Pop superstar Billie Eilish performed the title track from her album “Happier Than Ever” at this year’s Grammy Awards in a t-shirt paying tribute to the late FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Last weekend, Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, discussed the passing of Hawkins with Access Hollywood‘s Scott Evans and Zuri Hall on the red carpet of the 94th annual Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Finneas said: “Taylor was such a legendary player. We were admirers of his work years before we got to meet him. And we only met him a handful of times — I wish we got to spend more time with him — but he couldn’t have been a kinder, cooler, more generous person as well. And such a deeply inspiring person. We’re just heartbroken.”
Billie added: “It was incredibly heartbreaking. It was right before we went on stage. And we got the news, and it really, really tore us all apart. It’s horribly, horribly tragic.”
Hawkins was found dead on March 25 at the Four Seasons Casa Medina hotel in Bogota, Colombia while FOO FIGHTERS were on tour.
An official cause of death for Hawkins hasn’t yet been released, but Colombia’s attorney general’s office released a preliminary toxicology report, saying that medical examiners found evidence of 10 types of substances in Hawkins‘s body, including opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana and antidepressants.
Before joining FOO FIGHTERS in 1997, Hawking was the touring drummer for Sass Jordan and Alanis Morissette, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band SYLVIA.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison, whom he married in 2005, and their three children: Oliver Shane, Annabelle and Everleigh.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.