Taylor Red singer Nicole Taylor dies at 35 after battle with breast cancer

Nicole Taylor, the lead singer of the country trio Taylor Red, died on September 28 at her home in Nashville after a battle with breast cancer, five weeks before her triplet sisters announced her death publicly. She was 35.

Her sisters, Nika and Natalie Taylor, said in a video posted on November 2 that Nicole was diagnosed in 2022 with an aggressive stage three breast cancer that later advanced to stage four.

Nicole responded well to chemotherapy and was told at one point that she had no evidence of disease. The cancer came back at stage four, and she was given three months to live, E! News reported. She lived another year, dying on September 28.

A video, five weeks later

The sisters delivered the news themselves, posting to the group's TikTok and YouTube accounts. Natalie said it was not a video they had ever expected to make and that it was hard to talk about, but that they would do their best to tell some of her story.

Natalie said they had expected to be telling fans a story of earthly healing and were instead telling one of heavenly healing. Both sisters described Nicole as at peace and no longer suffering, and Nika said they were still shocked that it had happened. Nika also thanked the doctors and nurses who had cared for her.

We're heartbroken to announce the passing of our sister Nicole Taylor. We honestly thought she'd be healed here on earth, but now she's healed in heaven.

On a page for Nicole on the group's website, the sisters wrote that the oldest of the three would be greatly missed, calling her their leader and their best friend. They said they were heartbroken but believed she was in Heaven and would see her again.

The family has already held a private funeral service, according to the page it set up for Nicole on the group's website.

The sisters did not say why the announcement came five weeks after the death. Nor did they say where the service was held or who attended.

Gospel roots in Mississippi

Nicole Helen Taylor was born on March 18, 1991, minutes ahead of Nika and Natalie. The identical triplets grew up in Hurley, in south Mississippi, and learned guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin as children.

Nicole sang lead and played banjo, guitar and violin. Her sisters have described her as the rocker of the trio, the one with an edgy streak, who often took the banjo and helped steer the group's creative direction. The sound blended country, bluegrass and Southern gospel under three-part sibling harmony.

As Red Roots, the sisters built an audience in Christian music, with songs including 'Christian Country Girl' and 'Lord I'm Listening.' The group formed in 2010 and released a self-titled debut album in 2011. The Middle of Nowhere followed in 2012 and Triplicity in January 2014, on Red Hen Records.

Jubilee Cast reported that Red Roots won Favorite New Trio at the 2013 Singing News Fan Awards and drew a 2014 Dove Award nomination for Country Album of the Year. Citing an announcement from Daywind, it said five singles from the group's first two albums reached the Singing News Top 40, and that 'Seven Days,' the first single from Triplicity, gave the trio its highest radio debut to that point.

The group's official biography counts more than 1,000 live shows in the United States and abroad, including dates in Canada and Norway. The biography lists Amy Grant, Charlie Daniels, Diamond Rio, Don Williams, High Valley, Josh Turner and Michael W. Smith among the acts the sisters opened for.

Inpop, TikTok and brand deals

In Nashville the sisters widened their songwriting and worked with established writers, drawing on influences that included Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. They signed with Inpop Records and in 2018 changed the act's name to Taylor Red. That Eric Alper put their following at more than 30 million across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat.

Their single 'Country Money' came out in March 2021. It was written by J.T. Harding, Matt Jenkins and Andrew DeRoberts and produced by Ilya Toshinsky. The song passed 100,000 streams in under a month and reached Spotify's Wild Country, New Music Nashville and Fresh Finds playlists. Apple Music listed it among the Best New Songs on its country homepage.

It's crazy how social media has allowed us to get our music out there to millions of people. We are so excited about the doors that our social media and new single are opening for us

Taylor Red appeared in national Sonic Drive-In commercials in 2020 and 2021 and worked on more than 500 brand campaigns, with partners including Disney, Coachella, Crocs, Lipton, Skittles, Wrangler, Taylor Guitars, Build-A-Bear and Universal Studios. The sisters also worked on campaigns with Bruno Mars, Meghan Trainor and Luke Combs. E! News dated the group's wider popularity to 2021, when 'Country Money' went viral.

People and Business Insider featured the sisters, and Variety named them one of six all-female groups taking off on TikTok. Billboard described Nicole as a fixture of the group's jokey YouTube videos. AOL put the group's YouTube channel alone at more than 16 million subscribers and reported that no full-length album had followed Triplicity.

The 2022 diagnosis

Natalie was with Nicole when she received the diagnosis. In remarks reported by E! News, she said she broke down in absolute shock, because the three had been blessed with good health their whole lives, and that she was crying when she ran into the hallway to tell Nika.

Nicole's own first response, as Natalie recalled it, was that God was going to use the diagnosis for his glory. Nika said her sister refused to spend the treatment living in dread.

She kept up CrossFit workouts through her chemotherapy. Family and friends prayed for her every day at 3:18 p.m., a reference to the triplets' March 18 birthday, That Eric Alper reported. She pressed the people around her to keep having fun.

When the cancer returned at stage four, she went on traveling and working, and told her sisters she had a great deal of peace.

What the memorial page says

The page the family set up for Nicole carries the memorial statement and directs anyone wanting to make a donation to a list of the charities she supported. That Eric Alper named Samaritan's Purse as one of her favorites.

The sisters also shared a recording of Nicole giving her Christian testimony, so that fans could hear her convictions in her own voice.

For the memorial they chose Acts 20:24: 'But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace.'

Natalie said in the video that a loss like this can either draw a person closer to God or push them away, and that for her it had drawn her closer. She said she did not know how anyone could get through it without God.

Neither Nika nor Natalie said whether Taylor Red would keep performing as a duo, and the memorial page says nothing about the group's plans.