Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters, aged 50, has died during a South American tour with the rock band.
"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," the band said in a statement.
"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.
"Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time."
No cause of death was mentioned in the statement.
The announcement came just hours before the band were due to take the stage at a Colombian music festival in Bogota.
The Bogota municipal government issued a statement on Saturday that the city's emergency centre had received a report of a patient with "chest pain" and sent an ambulance, though a private ambulance had already arrived at the hotel in northern Bogota.
Health workers tried to revive him, but were unable to do so.
It said the cause of death was under investigation.
"We have begun an investigation to establish the cause of death of the musician, but for now we don't have any available information to share. As the investigation advances we will," a source at the attorney-general's office, who was not authorised to speak to the press, told Reuters.
Hawkins played with the Foo Fighters at a one-night-only gig in Geelong's Kardinia Park earlier this month.
The band was set to perform as a headline act at the Estéreo Picnic music festival on Saturday evening.
Festival attendees posted images and video from the festival, showing a large video screen displaying a message announcing the band had cancelled their performance and the rest of their South American tour. The stage was adorned with an arrangement of lit candles.
Police vehicles, an ambulance and fans gathered outside the hotel in northern Bogota where Hawkins was believed to have been staying.
After Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl, Hawkins was probably the most prominent member of the group, appearing alongside Grohl in interviews and playing prominent roles in the band's videos.
Hawkins was Foo Fighters' drummer for 25 of the band's 28 years of existence, taking over for original drummer William Goldsmith in 1997.
Joining the band a few years after they had formed, Hawkins played on the Foo Fighter's biggest albums including One by One and On Your Honor, and on hit singles including My Hero and Best of You.
Born Oliver Taylor Hawkins in Fort Worth Texas in 1972, Hawkins was raised in Laguna Beach, California.
He played in the small Southern California band Sylvia before landing his first major gig as a drummer for Canadian singer Sass Jordan.
He then spent the mid-1990s as the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette before Grohl asked him to join the Foo Fighters.
It's the second time Grohl has experienced the death of a close bandmate. Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana when Kurt Cobain died in 1994.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
'A great person and an amazing musician'
Former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne was among the fellow rock stars to pay tribute to Hawkins on social media.
Osbourne described Hawkins as "truly a great person and an amazing musician".
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello posted a picture of him and Hawkins and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell to Twitter, saying of the drummer "I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power".
Drummers Ringo Starr and Mike Portnoy, Queen guitarist Brian May and record producer Steve Albini were among a raft of other music stars to pay tribute to Hawkins.
Drumming influences ranged from Queen's Taylor to Phil Collins
Speaking to the Associated Press in 2019, Hawkins enthusiastically spoke about the influences on his drumming style.
"Major influences for me as a drummer were Roger Taylor, Stewart Copeland from The Police, obviously," he said.
"I loved Larry Mullen. Like in the early, the first four or five U2 records, you know. You know, it's like Unforgettable Fire. I was a huge, huge U2 fan, those early records.
"And Alex Van Halen, of Van Halen, obviously."
Along with listing Phil Collins among his favourites, Hawkins said Jane's Addiction's Steve Perkins was a major influence on his drumming set-up and sound.
"Phil Collins, one of my favourite drummers ever. You know, people forget that he was a great drummer as well as a sweater-wearing nice guy from the '80s, poor fella. He's a great drummer, unbelievable drummer," he said.
"Steve Perkins from Jane's Addiction, was a big I mean, I wanted to be him when I… if you watch video of me playing with Alanis Morrisette back in the mid '90s, I just, my drum set up like him, the whole thing. Like, I was still sort of a copycat at that point.
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