Queen’s Roger Taylor Dedicates England’s OBE Honor to Late Friend Taylor Hawkins
During his lifetime, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins often shared his love for Queen's music and he even had a friendship with members of the band. So as longtime Queen drummer Roger Taylor was preparing to accept his Officer of the Order of the British Empire honor earlier this week, he felt the desire to honor his late friend Taylor Hawkins in accepting the award.
As Taylor wrote in a social post that showed him receiving his OBE designation, “My whole family and his whole family were very close. He was, my wife, called him, sunshine in human form. He was the most wonderful man and I can’t quite believe that I’m not going to see him again.”
The Queen drummer also thanked Hawkins for the impact that he had on his son Rufus who is the drummer for The Darkness. “He’s done a lot to help my son, who’s a great drummer, and he actually sort of mentored him. We’re going to miss him so much,” stated Taylor.
Taylor received the honor on March 30 at Windsor Castle from the Prince of Wales. While speaking about the receiving the honor, he expressed his desire to dedicate it to Hawkins. Taylor had initially been included on the 2020 New Years Honours list in the U.K. which celebrates the country's most well-known figures from the sports and art worlds.
Hawkins often covered Queen while in concert with the Foo Fighters, stepping out from behind the drum kit in order to front the band. You can revisit Taylor Hawkins singing Queen's "Somebody to Love" from their 2021 concert return at the Canyon Club just outside of Los Angeles below. You can also check out Hawkins and Dave Grohl taking on Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" with the help of Roger Taylor's son Rufus Taylor from a 2017 performance below