Sammy Hagar says that Eddie Van Halen had practically been expecting his ex-Van Halen bandmate to reach out to him in the last few months of the guitarist's life.

Speaking to Angi Taylor on Chicago's 95.5 FM (embedded below), Hagar said, "When I called him, after years of not speaking, back in February, I think, or January, whatever it was — before COVID — he said, 'What took you so long?' [Laughs] It put the biggest smile on my face. I said, 'Oh my God. Don't ask me.' That was just very touching to me: 'Hey, I've been waitin'.'"

Hagar repeated what he wrote to Howard Stern about how they agreed to keep the news of their reconciliation out of the press. The singer added that burying the hatchet is helping him deal with Van Halen's death, and is reminding him more of the music they made together than the bad times.

"Butt now, looking back, if we wouldn't have come to terms with that feud we were having after the [2004] reunion tour," Hagar said, "I wouldn't have been able to come to grips with it. It would have been way too much for me, 'cause I'm still grieving my ass off… But the grieving is starting to make… It feels like, hey, we had a great thing. This music will live on forever — beyond me. I'll sing it for the rest of my life. When I'm gone, hopefully some young bands come up and play that music. And you can always play it in your homes."

In his note to Stern, Hagar wrote that he and Van Halen "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 rumors 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."

 

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