We all know Eddie Van Halen wasn’t just a guitar god — he was the guy when it came to soul, heart, and absolutely tearing your face off with a guitar solo. But in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sammy Hagar just dropped a little bombshell about Eddie’s final days… and it’s the kind of thing that’ll have hardcore Van Halen fans pacing the room.
So here’s the story:
In the last year of Eddie’s life, he and Sammy, who hadn’t exactly been sending each other Christmas cards, finally reconnected. In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sammy Hagar once again spoke about how he mended his relationship with the late Eddie Van Halen. Prior to the guitarist’s October 2020 passing after a long battle with cancer, Sammy said that the two were fortunately able to reconnect thanks to the great comedian George Lopez.
Sammy said: “I miss the guy so much. Thank God we connected towards the end, otherwise I’d be heartbroken. I am anyway. But it was so important to me that we did connect in that last year. Eddie said to me, ‘Don’t tell anyone about us talking because I don’t want to be answering questions about rumors of a reunion.’ But he said, ‘Next year, we’re gonna get together, we’re gonna make some noise. Let me beat this shit, and let’s do it.’ He goes, ‘Please don’t talk to anyone, not even Al.’ I’ve never said that to anyone, and I bet you Al is gonna have a fit. But Eddie said, ‘Don’t even talk to Al about this.’ I said, ‘Ed, I don’t talk to Al.'”
Sammy honored Eddie’s wish. To this day, Alex Van Halen probably had no idea these two were quietly mending fences in the background. No angry headlines. No drama. Just two guys who made magic together finally finding peace.
Sammy also explained his previous comment that “it hasn’t been the same since Eddie passed away.” He said: “Things aren’t the same without that hope. After the 2004 tour, with Eddie being in the condition he was in, I was very angry with him. But in my heart I was hoping he would heal and would become the Eddie that I loved and knew from when I was in the band, from the good times.”
He added: “I was hoping that would happen and that we’d get together and play someday. And not only for the fame and fortune, which of course I’ve never gotten back to that level since. That was the pinnacle of my career. But more than that was the creativity and the energy we had together writing songs like ‘Right Now’ and ‘When It’s Love’ and ‘Love Walks In’ and ‘Top Of The World’. He brought something out of me that just ain’t the same without him. At my age, you sit there and wonder: If Eddie was alive, could I reach that again? Now that dream is gone.”
Even in his final months, Eddie was trying to protect everyone, from the media, from false hope, maybe even from themselves. That’s a different kind of legend.
