Sammy Hagar Details Final Conversations With Eddie Van Halen
In late 2020, the world learned that Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen had reconnected before the legendary guitarist passed away at age 65. In a new interview with Matt Pinfield, Hagar went into the details of the reconciliation, which took place just months before Van Halen’s death.
Hagar says that after a couple of years of sending Happy Birthday and New Year’s messages, he finally got a short response from EVH, which gave him a bit of hope. Then, after reconnecting with drummer Alex Van Halen, the idea of burying the hatchet with Eddie began to seem possible.
“I said, ‘I don’t wanna bug Eddie. I don’t wanna call Eddie and have him tell me, “Fuck you, you asshole”’… I wanted to talk with someone else first and see how he was doing and if he would be cool with me calling,” Hagar explains. “Nobody’s calling me. Nobody’s calling me back. Nobody’s responded to my emails, no response to my texts.”
Eventually, it was comedian George Lopez who gave Eddie Van Halen’s phone number to Hagar. “‘Here’s his number. I just talked to him. He loves you, man. He loves you.’ And I said, ‘Wow. Okay.’ I call [Eddie], and he’s going, ‘What took you so long?’ I’m going, ‘Well, I called Al. I called this guy. I called that [guy].’ And he goes, ‘Well, you didn’t call me.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m calling you now.’ And we just burst out laughing.”
After “four or five months” of communicating back and forth, Hagar suddenly found himself being ghosted by Eddie, only to learn that the guitar icon’s health was rapidly declining. “One time I said, ‘Hey, dude. What the fuck? You didn’t give me no love.’ And he goes, ‘Man, I’ve been in the hospital.’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh, fuck.’ And then that was the last I heard [from] him,” Hagar recalls.
Hagar spoke of Van Halen reunion ideas that were floating around prior to Eddie’s death, including a massive tour with both Hagar and David Lee Roth singing, and Mammoth WVH opening.
“If Eddie would’ve passed without [a reconciliation] I’d think about it forever,” Hagar says. “I would take it to my grave with me and that would’ve been horrible. I’m so glad he didn’t have to take it to his grave and I don’t have to take it to mine. That’s a big deal.”
Watch Sammy Hagar’s full interview with Matt Pinfield in the video below.