Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas on February 17, 1972. His family moved to Laguna Beach, California in 1976, where Hawkins grew up. Hawkins has a brother, Jason, and a sister, Heather. He attended Thurston Jr. High School and later went to Laguna Beach High School. After leaving the Orange County-based band Sylvia (later emerging as ANYONE), he joined up as the drummer for Sass Jordan. In an interview with BBC Radio 6, Hawkins revealed that playing drums for Jordan was his “first real gig”. He then left to act as the drummer for Alanis Morissette.

Between 1995 and 1996, Hawkins was the drummer for Canadian musician Alanis Morissette for her Can’t Not tour. He appeared in Morissette’s videos for “You Oughta Know”, “All I Really Want” and “You Learn”. He also appeared on Morissette’s VHS/DVD Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997). Hawkins played for Alanis Morissette for 18 months prior to joining Foo Fighters.

After touring through the spring of 1996, Foo Fighters entered a Seattle studio with producer Gil Norton to record its second album. Conflict during studio recording reportedly erupted between Dave Grohl and drummer William Goldsmith, eventually causing Goldsmith to leave the band. The band regrouped in Los Angeles and almost completely re-recorded the album with Grohl on drums. The album, The Colour and the Shape, was released on May 20, 1997. Grohl called up Hawkins to recommend a new drummer, thinking that Hawkins would not leave Alanis Morissette since it’s a bigger band compared to Foo Fighters, which was only starting at the time. But to Grohl’s surprise, Hawkins volunteered himself, explaining that he wanted to be a drummer in a rock band, not a solo act which Alanis Morissette is. He then auditioned for and subsequently joined the band. On March 18, 1997, Hawkins’ joining of the band was announced. Hawkins made his debut in time for the album’s release.

Hawkins overdosed on heroin in 2001, which put him in a coma for two weeks. Speaking to Beats 1 host Matt Wilkinson in 2018 about the incident, Hawkins said: “I was partying a lot. I wasn’t a junkie per se, but I was partying. There was a year where the partying just got a little too heavy. Thank God on some level this guy gave me the wrong line with the wrong thing one night and I woke up going, ‘What the fuck happened?’ That was a real changing point for me.”

In 2006, Hawkins released a self-titled LP with his side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. He occasionally plays with a Police cover band alternately called “The Cops” and “Fallout.”

Hawkins and his wife, Alison Hawkins, have three children. Their son, Oliver Shane, was born in 2006; their daughter, Annabelle, was born in winter, 2009; and their second daughter, Everleigh, was born in November 2014.

At Live Earth in 2007, Hawkins was part of SOS Allstars with Roger Taylor of Queen and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

When Hawkins joined the band, they were only playing at clubs or opening slots for other bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Now they have been touring for nearly 25 years, playing at sold-out stadium concerts. Their biggest concert was reportedly a two-night sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in London, where they performed for approximately 86,000 people in 2008.

Hawkins played “YYZ” with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush on stage at a concert in Toronto on March 22, 2008.

Hawkins was commissioned to complete an unfinished recording of a song by Beach Boys’ drummer Dennis Wilson titled “Holy Man” by writing and singing new lyrics. The recording was released in June 2008 as part of a deluxe edition of Wilson’s lone 1977 solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue.

Hawkins appears on Slash’s solo album Slash, released in 2010, providing backing vocals on the track “Crucify the Dead,” featuring Ozzy Osbourne.

In 2011, Hawkins recorded drums for songs by Vasco Rossi.

In June 2012, it was announced that Hawkins was cast in the role of Iggy Pop in the rock film CBGB.

They reside in Hidden Hills, California after moving from Topanga Canyon in 2012.

Hawkins recorded the drums on Vasco Rossi’s last song, “L’uomo più semplice.” This song was released on January 21, 2013 in Italy.

In March 2014, Hawkins announced his new side project called The Birds of Satan. It features Hawkins’ drum technician and bandmate from Chevy Metal, Wiley Hodgden on bass guitar and vocals as well as guitarist Mick Murphy also of Chevy Metal. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in April 2014, with a release party at ‘Rock n Roll Pizza’ featuring the Foo Fighters guesting on some of the cover tracks.