WOLFGANG VAN HALEN released a musical tribute to his dad yesterday. It's his debut single "Distance", which he called an "open letter" to EDDIE VAN HALEN. It includes the chorus, "No matter what the distance is, I will be with you." And the video is old home movies of Eddie being an AMAZING dad to Wolfgang.
It ends with a voicemail Eddie left for his son, praising the song and saying, quote, "I'm so proud of you and I love you so much. Call me if you get a chance, I just want to hear your voice."
Wolfie says, quote, "As my pop continued to struggle with various health issues, I was imagining what my life would be like without him and how terribly I'd miss him.
"While the song is incredibly personal, I think anyone can relate to the idea of having a profound loss in their life."
Wolfgang was also on"Howard Stern" yesterday, and he said there were talks to do a massiveVAN HALEN reunion that would have brought back EVERYBODY . . .David Lee Roth,Sammy Hagar,Michael Anthony, and even Gary Cherone.
He said it was a bug he'd been putting in his dad's ear since 2015. The idea was that Wolfgang would OPEN for them, playing his own music. And as the years went by, his dad warmed up to the idea.
He says, they jokingly called it the "Kitchen Sink Tour".
Wolfgang also told Howard that Eddie was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2017, and given six months to live. But those experimental treatments he was getting in Germany added years to his life.
Unfortunately, he found out after a motorcycle accident last year that he also had a brain tumor. And from there, quote, "[stuff] kept stacking up and stacking up. It just never let up."
PROFANITY WARNING: Here's Wolfie talking about a reunion. In other parts of the interview he talks about"Distance"being a tribute to his dad, waiting to go through Eddie's unreleased music, and the rumor he might replace his dad in Van Halen.
(Rolling Stone,Yahoo,Consequence of Sound)
(One last note: Dweezil Zappa jumped in anddefendedWolfgang from some idiot on Twitter who called him a "talentless hack" who was leeching off his dad's name.)
Photo: Getty Images