Prior to the death of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, it was widely reported in the press that the guitarist had been quietly battling cancer once again. Eddie had been out of the spotlight for the past several years. His last notable appearance was in 2015 for Van Halen’s last tour with frontman David Lee Roth.
In 2016 and 2017, Eddie Van Halen gave a number of interviews but eyebrows were raised in 2019 when frontman David Lee Roth bluntly admitted that Van Halen was done while promoting his Las Vegas residency.
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony Exit Van Halen
Following Van Halen’s ill-fated reunion tour with Sammy Hagar in 2004, Hagar left Van Halen and returned to his project, The Waboritas. By 2006, Michael Anthony was also out of Van Halen. Accounts over why he was fired vary but some think it stems from Anthony having remained friends with Hagar after the reunion tour.
Anthony revealed he learned of his dismissal after reading an article online where Eddie announced his teenage son, Wolfgang was the band’s new bass player.
Anthony’s role in the band appeared to diminish as far back as 1984 after he was forced to sign away his royalties. For the band’s reunion tour with Hagar in 2004, Anthony wasn’t even supposed to be part of the trek, but Hagar insisted for him to be involved. Anthony joined the band but took a significant pay cut.
2008 Reunion Tour with David Lee Roth
In 2007, Van Halen announced a reunion with David Lee Roth for a 25-date North America tour. As the band hit the road, they were met with mostly positive reviews, but the tour was interrupted. Rumours swirled of Eddie Van Halen re-entering rehab after a backstage bust-up with Wolfgang.
The tour was a massive success and was the most commercially successful tour the band had done up until that point in their career, almost grossing $100M.
Van Halen is Inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame
Van Halen was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, but none of the members of the current lineup showed up. Eddie was said to be in rehab while Alex and Dave declined the invitation. The band was inducted by Velvet Revolver and the only inductees to show up were Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar. It was one of the messiest Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies to date.
At the band’s last show, as part of the 2008 reunion tour, Roth claimed that this trek wasn’t the band’s last set of shows. Following the tour, Eddie hinted that the band was working on new music, but Wolfgang first needed to graduate from high school and Eddie needed surgery on his hand due to arthritis.
A Different Kind of Truth
By 2012, Van Halen fans were rewarded with their first full-length studio album of new material in 14 years with A Different Kind of Truth. It was the first studio album to feature Wolfgang and the first album of new completely new material in 28 years to feature David Lee Roth.
Even though it had been years since Van Halen put out a new album, A Different Kind of Truth debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, selling 188,000 copies during its first week of release.
Van Halen hit the road in 2012 to support the record and while the tour was a commercial success and many shows were sold out, the wheels appeared to come off pretty early. The tour was abruptly stopped when the guitarist claimed the band members were not fighting, but rather tired from working for a year and a half straight.
The tour resumed in 2013 when the band played overseas. Between tours, it appeared that David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen had little contact with each other.
Eddie was asked about the status of Van Halen in early 2015 and he responded saying, “I’d love to make a studio record. Depends on everybody’s timing. I don’t know what Dave Lee Roth is up to now. I don’t know if he’s living in New York or Japan or wherever he is.”
A month later, Van Halen announced another tour with Roth fronting the band once again across 39 shows in the US and Canada.
Eddie Van Halen’s Last Concert
In April of 2015, Eddie Van Halen told Rolling Stone that the band would probably be in the studio to record a new album following the tour. The last concert of Eddie’s career took place at the Hollywood Bowl in LA, almost five years prior to his death on Oct 4th, 2015.
It was around this time that Eddie was supposedly diagnosed with throat cancer after having previously survived tongue cancer in the early 2000s.
2016 and 2017 were pretty quiet years in the Van Halen camp. Eddie made sporadic appearances and gave a few interviews, but nothing appeared to be going on with Van Halen.
David Lee Roth gave some fans hope in late 2018 when he revealed that Van Halen would be playing Yankees Stadium alongside other bands that hadn’t yet been confirmed. He name-dropped Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and Foo Fighters. Also around this time, Michael Anthony revealed he was called by Van Halen’s manager about possibly joining the band on a 2019 summer tour, but never heard anything after that call.
“…I think Van Halen’s finished…” – David Lee Roth
In September of 2019, David Lee Roth talked to Detroit radio station, WRIF, about Van Halen’s rumoured tour, “That’s been cancelled a number of times, and I think Van Halen’s finished, and this residency is the next phase,” referring to his upcoming Las Vegas shows in 2020.
The vocalist went on to suggest that guitarist Eddie Van Halen is laying low these days, “I’ve inherited the band de facto — whatever that means. I think it means if you inherit it, carry this proudly. Van Halen isn’t gonna be coming back in the fashion that you know. And that being said, Eddie’s got his own story to tell. It’s not mine to tell.”
Eddie Van Halen Has Bad Reaction to Cancer Treatment
In October of 2019, TMZ reported that Eddie had been flying back and forth between his home in California and Germany to receive radiation for the past 5 years for cancer treatment. Later that month, TMZ also reported he had a bad reaction to cancer drugs he was taking. This resulted in severe abdominal pain and hospitalization.
In January of 2020, while promoting his Las Vegas residency, David Lee Roth told a Las Vegas publication, “Ed’s not doing well, and singing and dancing is a perishable skill. If you have the capacity, it’s something that has to be used routinely, if not for the thrill of it and the magic of creating other incandescent spirits.”
Eddie Van Halen Passes Away
The news dropped on October 6th that Eddie Van Halen had passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. According to a source close to his family, Eddie saw a rapid decline in his health in his final few days.
According to People magazine, “Eddie was in a great deal of pain in his final days.” The source would go on to say, “During the quarantine, everyone around Eddie was even more cautious about his health and his family truly protected him.”
“…Every moment I’ve shared with him on stage and off stage was a gift…” – Wolfgang
A second source close to him claimed that even his bandmates and friends weren’t aware of how dire his health situation was. While the initial reports of his death came from a source close to the family who wasn’t supposed to speak to the media, his son Wolfgang confirmed the news on social media.
“I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. Every moment I’ve shared with him on stage and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.”
Following the news of his death, he received tributes from his current and former bandmates. Perhaps the most heartwarming story was that he seemed to be on good terms with Sammy Hagar once again.
Howard Stern asked Sammy to come on his show and speak about Eddie, but he politely declined, instead sending a statement that Stern read live on the air. “Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year. We both agreed not to tell anyone, because of all the rumours it would stir up about a reunion, etc., and we both knew that wasn’t gonna happen. But he also didn’t want anyone to know about his health.”
“I don’t want to be buried with any regrets or bad vibes…” – Sammy Hagar
For Hagar, the recent deaths of David Bowie and Glenn Frey changed his perspectives about living life with regret, “It just makes you stop and think that with my relationship with Eddie Van Halen and the stuff that’s always been in the toilet, it makes you say, I don’t want to be buried with any regrets or bad vibes like that. It makes you want to be just friends with everybody and say, ‘Hey look, forget it.'”
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