Drummer passed away on Friday night

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has passed away aged 50.

The drummer passed away hours before the band were due to perform a concert at Festival Estéro in Colombia.

The news was announced at 3am Irish time, with a statement from the band reading "the Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins".

"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever."

Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997, with his first album with the group released in 1999.

The Foo Fighters' most recent album, 2021's Medicine at Midnight, hit number one on the Irish, British, Australian, German and various European album charts.

'There Is Nothing Left To Lose' served as the first of eight albums that Hawkins played on, and Foo Fighters have gone on to sell over 35 million albums worldwide.

Frontman Dave Grohl has often spoken of his closeness with Hawkins, with Grohl saying in his recent book 'The Storyteller' that Hawkins was his "brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet.”

Tributes have poured in from the world of rock music, with Ozzy Osbourne taking to Instagram to pay tribute to the drummer.

Osbourne called the drummer "a truly great person and an amazing musican".

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello posted a photo of himself and Hawkins, with Morello saying "I loved your spirit and unstoppable rock power."

Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher shared a photo of himself and Hawkins when the band toured together, with the English drummer saying "I was lucky enough to get to watch him shred every night on tour," adding that Hawkins was an inspiration "on & off stage".

Foo Fighters were scheduled to play a concert in Bogota, Colmbia on Friday night, with the concert cancelled in the wake of the news.