Sammy Hagar Reveals He Reconciled With Eddie Van Halen ‘Earlier This Year’ Before His Death

Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar has revealed that he reconciled with Eddie Van Halen “earlier this year,” before the iconic guitarist’s death. According to PEOPLE, Hagar sent a letter to Howard Stern, who read it on his SiriusXM radio show. “I would love you to share that Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” Hagar wrote in the letter.

He went on to say, “We both agreed not to tell anyone because of all the rumors it would stir up about a reunion, et cetera, and we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. But he also didn’t want anyone to know about his health.” Hagar then added, “He stopped responding to me a month ago, and I figured it wasn’t good. I reached out one more time last week and when he didn’t respond, I figured it was a matter of time, but it came way too soon.” On Tuesday, when the tragic news was announced, Hagar took to Twitter to memorialize Van Halen by sharing a photo of them together.

Reports of Van Halen’s death surfaced on Tuesday, and his son Wolfgang later confirmed the news in a statement. “I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.” Wolfgang concluded his statement by writing, “I love you so much, Pop.”

Hagar initially joined Van Halen in 1985, amidst the exit of original singer David Lee Roth. He remained in the band until his own exit in 1996. He would go on to reunite with the band in 2004, for the Best of Both Worlds tour. While the pair never really spoke about their relationship publicly, Hagar did tell Classic Rock Report in 2016 that he’d wished Van Halen a Happy Birthday on Twitter that same year because he didn’t want to have “any regrets or bad vibes.”

“It just makes when you stop and think that, you know, with my relationship with Eddie Van Halen and 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,’ ” he said. “It makes you want to be just friends with everybody and say, ‘Hey, look, forget it.’ Even if you don’t want to be in a band together, just let’s be friends. No more enemies for me.”

Hagar then added, “You don’t want to go to your grave with enemies. So that’s what it’s done for me. It woke me up and said, ‘No more enemies.’ And before I die, I won’t have any, if I have my way.”