Nicole Taylor, who sang and played banjo alongside her identical triplet sisters in the country trio Taylor Red, died September 28 in Nashville. She was 35. Her sisters, Natalie and Nika, announced her death from breast cancer in a November 2 video on the band’s YouTube channel.
Nicole was one minute older than Natalie and two minutes older than Nika. When the three needed someone to speak for them, her sisters said, it was usually Nicole who spoke up. “She was our leader and our best friend,” they wrote on the family’s memorial page.
Natalie and Nika had pictured Nicole sitting beside them to tell fans herself that she had recovered. In the video they eventually made, the sisters included a recording of Nicole speaking about the Christian faith she relied on during treatment.
The family held a private funeral before the sisters made their announcement. For listeners who want to honor Nicole, the family set up a memorial fund through Samaritan’s Purse, one of her favorite charities.
Natalie Remembers the Call About Nicole’s Biopsy
Natalie was with Nicole in 2022 when a nurse called with her biopsy results. They were out in public, and Nicole put the call on speaker. Before giving Nicole the news, the nurse asked if she had family with her. Natalie remembered understanding where the conversation was going as soon as she heard the question.
Nicole had stage 3 breast cancer. Her sisters recalled that she kept working and even went to CrossFit during chemotherapy. When Natalie and Nika were frightened, Nicole would reassure them. For a time, doctors found no evidence of disease, and the sisters remembered Nicole ringing a bell to mark the end of treatment. The cancer later returned and reached stage 4, as Country Rebel reported.
Nicole Remembered the Crowd That Cheered the Sisters on at 13
Years before listeners heard the sisters harmonize on their 2021 single “Country Money,” the three were kids in Mississippi figuring out how to play together. Nicole learned by ear and played banjo and percussion. Natalie liked to follow the book. Nika, Nicole said, fell somewhere in between.
At 13, the sisters played for residents at Home of Grace, a faith-based recovery center. They were still finding their voices. Nicole told Folio Weekly in 2016 that “those guys would cheer us on like we were rock stars.”
Word spread, and by 16 the sisters were playing up to 150 dates a year as Red Roots. They went on to open for Amy Grant and Josh Turner and, as Taylor Red, found millions of listeners and viewers through TikTok and YouTube. What Nicole wanted that first audience to know, years later, was how much its encouragement had mattered. “They probably don’t realize how much they helped us.”