According to Blabbermouth, Sammy Hagar said in a recent interview that it was comedian George Lopez who urged him to get in touch and patch things up with Eddie Van Halen in the months before his death. Lopez was a longtime friend of both Van Halen and Hagar, and was the person who let him know that he needed to reach out, even giving him Eddie's number.
Hagar said the following on reconnecting toward the end of Van Halen's life:
"I reached out to Eddie because… George Lopez, the comedian, who I've known for a long time and who also is dear friends with Eddie, calls me up and says, 'Sammy, I need you to call Eddie. I played golf with him. He's not doing good,' blah blah blah. And everyone knew Eddie wasn't doing good. He said, 'I just was with him, and he said he loves you and he's so disappointed that you haven't reached out to him.' I said, 'I reached out to all these people. I reached out to Alex [Van Halen, Eddie's brother].' I didn't have Eddie's contact number. I reached out to all these people: 'Tell Eddie I love him. I hope he's doing well.' So George says, 'Here's his number. Call him.' So I call him. And Eddie said — my favorite line from Eddie in a long time… He goes, 'What took you so long?' I go, 'I reached out to Al. I reached out to everybody.' He's going, 'You didn't call me.' And I said, 'Oh, man. Ed, I love you.' And it was just one big love fest from then on. That was back in the beginning of the year, before COVID. So, yeah, we've been texting and talking about Wolfie [Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen] and his new record, and about us and the things we did and how great the stuff is."
Sammy went on to say that knowing he was able to make peace with his old friend before he passed gives him some comfort:
"Yeah, it's really a sad thing," he said. "It was a tough one. But if I wouldn't have contacted Ed and we buried the hatchet like that and became friends again, I'm not sure how I could have taken it. It would have been devastating."
Photo: Getty Images