taylor was born on 8 march 1991 in london, to queen drummer roger taylor and his longtime girlfriend deborah leng. according to his father, rufus' unusual middle name "tiger" was chosen by the late queen lead singer freddie mercury. taylor claims that growing up with drums made him decide that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, as he was uninterested academically, dropping out of school at the age of 16 in favour of a ski instruction course with formula one driver damon hill.