“This was the moment of the show when I was supposed to be introducing the Foo Fighters,” ceremony host Trevor Noah announced somberly during the third hour of the 64th annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Garden Arena. “We would have been celebrating with them, as they won three Grammy Awards earlier today. But they are of course not here due to the tragic passing of their legendary drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Our thoughts go out to Taylor’s family, his friends, the Foo Fighters family, and all the fans around the globe. We would like to take a moment now to remember Taylor and those in the music community we lost this past year.”
The Foo Fighters had won three Grammys during Sunday’s pre-show Premiere Ceremony — Best Rock Album for Medicine at Midnight, Best Rock Song for “Waiting on a War,” and Best Rock Performance for “Making a Fire” — making them officially the most-awarded American band in Grammy history, with 15 total wins. The Foo Fighters’ three Grammys were bittersweetly accepted by Premiere Ceremony presenter Jimmy Jam, who sent “prayers” to the band and their loved ones.
Sunday’s In Memoriam segment at the Grammy was preceded by a highlight reel of charming Hawkins moments, but that was not the only onstage tribute that evening. When Billie Eilish performed her hit “Happier Than Ever,” she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with Hawkins’s photo.
The Foos had been scheduled to perform on the Grammys’ prime-time CBS telecast April 3, but then 50-year-old Hawkins shockingly died nine days earlier during the group’s South American tour, just hours before they were set to perform at the Estéreo Picnic Festival in Bogotá, Colombia. The Foo Fighters subsequently canceled all upcoming performances, including their Grammys appearance, “in light of the staggering loss of our brother.” A cause of death has still not been revealed.
Hawkins’s final performance with the Foo Fighters was at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 20, five days before his passing. The band’s scheduled performance at Bogotá’s Festival Estéreo became a vigil instead, as candles were placed on the stage and Colombian fans gathered to mourn.
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