Drummer Taylor Hawkins of the multi-Grammy award-winning rock group the Foo Fighters has died, his bandmates said in a statement Friday. He was 50. "The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," the band said in a statement on Twitter.

"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever," they added. The statement did not say the cause of Hawkins' death, news of which emerged the same day the band was due to play at the Festival Estereo Picnic in Bogota, Colombia.

Taylor had played with the Foo Fighters -- one of the US' most influential and critically-lauded alternative rock bands -- since 1997, providing percussion on some of the group's biggest hits including "Learn to Fly" and "Best of You." He previously drummed for Canadian indie songstress Alanis Morissette.