Nicole Taylor of Country Trio Taylor Red Dies at 35

Nicole Taylor, country singer and one-third of the identical triplet trio Taylor Red, died on Sept. 28 at her home in Nashville, Tenn. She was 35. Her sisters and bandmates, Nika and Natalie Taylor, announced the death in a video posted Monday, Nov. 2, and in a statement on the group's website.

Taylor had lived with breast cancer for more than three years. Doctors diagnosed an aggressive stage 3 form of the disease in 2022, according to the family's account. Chemotherapy worked, at first. She was declared to have no evidence of disease. Then the cancer returned and progressed to stage 4, the most advanced stage (meaning the disease has spread beyond the breast to other organs). Doctors gave her three months. She lived another year.

"She tried not to live in fear, remained really hopeful," Natalie said in the video. "She traveled, she tried to live life, she worked really hard, she tried to have fun."

Who were Taylor Red?

Born and raised in southern Mississippi, Nicole formed the group with her identical triplets, performing from 2010 under the name Red Roots. The sisters released three albums under that name before rebranding as Taylor Red in 2018. Their sound blended country with other genres, built on tight sibling harmonies and a multi-instrumental lineup: guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.

The trio then found its largest audience not on Nashville's Music Row but on a phone screen. Synchronized performances, cover songs and comedy bits earned them millions of followers on TikTok and YouTube — a path Variety examined in a 2020 report on how female country and pop groups, including Avenue Beat and Four Diamonds, were building audiences outside traditional industry channels. Their 2021 song "Country Money" became one of their best-known releases.

What did her sisters say?

In their tribute, Nika and Natalie remembered Nicole — the oldest of the three, by minutes — as the group's "fearless leader." They kept her words plain and their grief plainer.

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

"Nicole, the oldest of us three sisters, will be greatly missed," they wrote on the group's website. "She was our leader and our best friend. We are heartbroken, but we know she is in Heaven and will see her again."

The sisters said Nicole stayed devoted to her Christian faith throughout her illness, and kept exercising, traveling and working even while undergoing treatment. A doctor's three-month estimate does not always get a rebuttal this stubborn.

The family has held a private funeral service. In lieu of flowers, they ask fans to donate in Nicole's memory to Samaritan's Purse, one of her favorite charities. Whether Nika and Natalie continue Taylor Red as a duo remains, for now, an open question — the statement says nothing about the group's future, only about a sister.