When it comes to their legacy, for better and worse, Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen will forever be intertwined. Recently on The Howard Stern Show, the former Van Halen singer opened up about what caused a falling out between him and Eddie.
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Sammy Hagar Reflects on Past Feud
In response to host Howard Stern’s observation that Hagar and Eddie’s talents were a match made in heaven, Hagar said, “It 100% was for 9 years. The 10th year of Van Halen, it just went sideways.” Hagar joined the band in 1985 after original singer David Lee Roth left for a solo career. Hagar and Eddie began to have a rift around the time that the band was recording Balance.
“Our manager died. Another manager came in,” he told Stern. “He started poisoning Ed now, saying, ‘Sammy thinks it’s his band.’ Mike will tell you. I was innocent. They all turned on me because I didn’t like this manager.”
Ultimately, according to Rock and Roll Garage, Eddie called Hagar in 1996 and told him that he was essentially fired from the band. The duo would reunite several years later for The Best of Both Worlds Tour in 2004. However, things didn’t improve.
Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen Make Amends
Hagar said he would call out Eddie for performing badly during the tour, but at the time, he didn’t realize that Eddie had been battling cancer. “That’s when we bumped heads. That’s when it really got bad,” Hagar told Stern. “Ed was sick. I didn’t realize… no one realized how sick he really was obviously until it was over. It’s a shame. If there’s anything that I regret, it’s ever going through any hardships with Eddie. Because knowing he was sick like that, I would have been so much more compassionate.”
Hagar and Eddie wouldn’t ultimately bury the hatchet until Eddie was close to the end of his life. Comedian George Lopez reached out to Hagar about Eddie’s situation, urging Hagar to finally make amends with his Van Halen bandmate.
“I knew he was always battling with this tongue cancer and all that stuff, but I thought it was cool, and that’s why I called him,” Hagar said. “That’s when we made friends again — it was beautiful.”
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