Queen’s Roger Taylor dedicates OBE to Foo Fighters drummer and friend Taylor Hawkins

Queen legend Roger Taylor has dedicated his OBE for services to music to fellow drummer and “great friend” Taylor Hawkins, who died over the weekend

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Roger Taylor receives his OBE award at Windsor Castle

Queen’s Roger Taylor dedicated his OBE to the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Taylor was found dead in a Colombian hotel room last Saturday at the age of 50.

Early reports suggest he died of a heart attack, possibly caused by a drug overdose, as white powder was said to have been found in the room.

A post-mortem found he had a cocktail of 10 different drugs in his system when he died and his heart was twice as heavy as it should have been.

Roger received an OBE for services to music from Prince Charles at Windsor Castle on Wednesday and said he dedicated his award to “one of his greatest friends ever”.

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The 72-year-old described Taylor as “sunshine in human form” and revealed he counts the Foo Fighters member among his biggest musical influences.

He revealed the rock ‘n’ roll star had even acted as a mentor to his own son Rufus, 31, who is the drummer for English rock band The Darkness.

Roger added that he and the rest of the music world were still resigned to the news that Taylor was gone.

Speaking to his wife Sarina after the OBE ceremony, he said: “We are still so upset about this and absolutely devastated.

“My whole family and his whole family were very close. He was, as my wife called him, sunshine in human form.

“He was the most wonderful man and I can’t quite believe I won’t be seeing him again.

“He’s done a lot to help my son, who’s a great drummer, and even mentored him in a way. We will miss him so much.”

Queen legend Roger is often ranked as one of the greatest drummers in rock history for his unique sound – and was undoubtedly a hero of Taylor’s.

When asked how he felt about being made an OBE, Roger replied that he reacted with “disbelief,” adding, “But it was a nice job.”

During his visit to the royal residence, he joked: “It’s a nice gaff, isn’t it?” and said it was “nice” to receive the honor from Prince Charles.

Along with frontman Freddie Mercury, Roger was one of the founding members of Queen in 1970 and spawned big hits like Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock You.

But his music career could have ended very differently if he had accepted the offer to join Genesis as a drummer that same year.

Queen became one of the greatest rock bands the world has ever seen and continues to perform to this day.

However, since Freddie Mercury’s death from AIDS in 1991, the band has featured a new frontman, Adam Lambert, who has been touring with them since 2011.