Nicole Taylor, Triplet Singer of Taylor Red, Dies at 35

Nicole Taylor, the oldest of the red-haired identical triplets who performed as the country trio Taylor Red, died Sept. 28. She was 35 and lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her sisters and bandmates, Nika and Natalie Taylor, announced the death in a video posted Nov. 2, more than a month after she died. They said Nicole had been diagnosed with an aggressive stage 3 breast cancer in 2022, responded well to treatment at first, and later learned the cancer had returned and progressed to stage 4.

A private funeral service has already been held, the sisters confirmed on the group's website.

Nicole's answer to the diagnosis

Natalie was with Nicole when she got the news in 2022. She described the moment in the announcement video: "I just remember breaking down in absolute shock. I was just so surprised. We've been blessed with good health our whole life so this was a big shock and it wasn't what we were expecting."

She said she left the room crying to find Nika. Her sister's reaction was the opposite. "I was crying and ran out to the hallway to tell Nika and I just remember Nicole said, 'God's going to use this for his glory,'" Natalie said.

Three months, and then another year

Chemotherapy worked. At one point doctors told Nicole there was no evidence of disease, her sisters said. The cancer came back anyway, this time at stage 4, and she was given three months to live.

She lived another year. During that stretch she kept traveling and working, her sisters said.

Natalie said the ordeal pushed her closer to her faith rather than away from it. She has been a Christian a long time, she said, and a trial like this one either grows that or creates distance.

The video her sisters said they never expected to make

Nika and Natalie sat side by side with notes in their hands. "We are shocked and heartbroken to announce the passing of our sister Nicole Taylor. This isn't the video we thought we'd ever be making," Natalie said. "We're still processing everything. This honestly feels really hard to talk about, but we're going to do our best in sharing some of her story."

The sisters posted the message across the platforms that built their audience, including YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. They also included a clip of Nicole giving her own testimony of faith, so fans could hear her say it in her voice.

Born minutes ahead of Nika and Natalie

Nicole Helen Taylor was born March 18, 1991, arriving minutes before her two sisters. The triplets grew up in South Mississippi, in a house full of instruments, and they learned guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin together.

Nicole usually took the banjo. Her sisters called her their fearless leader.

Their mother encouraged the girls to sing together and their parents drove them to gigs around their Mississippi hometown, where the trio played small venues long before anyone outside the state knew their names.

Red Roots, three albums and more than 1,000 shows

The sisters first performed as Red Roots and released a self-titled debut album, followed by "The Middle of Nowhere" in 2012 and "Triplicity" in 2014. Their sound mixed country, bluegrass and Southern gospel, carried by the kind of blend only siblings get for free. Songs including "Christian Country Girl," "God Shaped Hole" and "Lord I'm Listening" came out of that stretch.

They worked constantly, playing more than 1,000 shows across the United States and abroad, with stops in Canada and Norway. They opened for Amy Grant, Charlie Daniels, Diamond Rio, Don Williams, High Valley, Josh Turner and Michael W. Smith.

In 2018 the sisters, by then on Inpop Records, changed the name to Taylor Red.

"Country Money" hit 100,000 streams in under a month

The trio released "Country Money" in March 2021. Ilya Toshinsky produced it, and J.T. Harding, Matt Jenkins and Andrew DeRoberts wrote it. The song caught on TikTok, cleared 100,000 streams in less than a month, and landed on Spotify's Wild Country, New Music Nashville and Fresh Finds playlists. Apple Music featured it as one of the Best New Songs on its country homepage.

The sisters said at the time that it was crazy how social media had allowed them to get their music out to millions of people, and that they were excited about the doors the platform and the new single were opening.

The single drew millions of views on TikTok, according to the band's website, and remains the song most people associate with the group.

Sonic commercials, Crocs and 500 brand campaigns

During the COVID-19 pandemic the three started posting synchronized comedy skits, transition videos and music challenges. The account took off. Taylor Red built 13.4 million TikTok followers, according to Fox 5 New York, and more than 15 million YouTube subscribers.

They starred in national Sonic Drive-In commercials in 2020 and 2021 and worked on more than 500 brand campaigns, with partners including Disney, Coachella, Lovesac, Crocs, Lipton and Skittles. They also did campaigns tied to Bruno Mars, Meghan Trainor and Luke Combs.

They were written up in People and Business Insider, and Variety named them one of six all-female groups taking off on TikTok. In March 2025, the three of them attended Opry 100: A Live Celebration at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

Prayers at 3:18 p.m.

After the 2022 diagnosis, family and friends started praying for Nicole every day at 3:18 p.m., a nod to the triplets' March 18 birthday.

She kept doing CrossFit workouts while she was receiving chemotherapy. "She pushed us all to have fun and not live in fear and hopelessness and she even did CrossFit during the time she was getting chemo treatments," Natalie said.

Natalie also pointed to a Sunday soon after the diagnosis when the church prayed over Nicole. God gave her so much peace after that, Natalie said, and that peace stayed with her a long time. She credited it for keeping her sister fierce.

A private funeral and a memorial page

The family held the funeral privately and has since put up a memorial page for fans. Those who want to honor Nicole are asked to donate to Samaritan's Purse, one of her favorite charities.

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

They chose a Bible verse to go with it, 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."

Nika's line in the TikTok version of the announcement, the one that circulated widest, was short: "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."