Rufus Tiger Taylor

Rufus Tiger Taylor (born 8 March 1991) is an English musician. He is best known as the drummer for the rock band the Darkness since May 2015, and as a touring drummer for the Queen + Adam Lambert stage shows. He is the son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor.

Early life Taylor was born on 8 March 1991 in London,

Career

Taylor's first notable appearance was the 2008 Royal Variety Performance, where he played drums for Kerry Ellis and his father Roger Taylor's Queen partner Brian May to an audience including Charles III, then-Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, then-Duchess of Cornwall. In 2009, he played with Queen touring musician Spike Edney as part of his SAS (Spike's All-Stars) band.

In 2011, Taylor performed alongside his father, when he joined the Queen + Adam Lambert collaboration as a touring musician, providing drums and percussion for the stage show. Some of his notable moments on the tour were his "drum battles" with his father, and taking over as lead drummer on Queen classics such as "Tie Your Mother Down", or on "A Kind of Magic" while his father left the kit to provide lead vocals. Taylor has joined the band on both of their world tours, and remains a mainstay of their live show.

In May 2015, following the departure of Emily Dolan Davies, Taylor became the drummer for English rock band the Darkness, with guitarist Dan Hawkins confirming the news on a UK radio show. He has drummed on the Darkness albums Pinewood Smile (2017), Easter Is Cancelled (2019), Motorheart (2021) and Dreams on Toast (2025).