Hagar said it was not easy to contact Van Halen, but that he persisted in tracking the musician’s phone number.
“I was calling his brother, I was calling his manager, I was calling his friends and saying, ‘Hey, tell Ed, give him my phone number. Tell him if he wants to talk to me, I really, really want to talk about it, help you and see what I can do, “” said Hagar Variety. “I [told them], ‘I want to be friends with him, I want to bury the hatchet’, but they never made it. “
Hagar and Van Halen ended up connecting through their mutual friend, comedian George Lopez.
“George is a dear friend and was a friend of Eddie’s and said, ‘Sammy, Eddie is in terrible shape, he loves you, brother, you need to reach out.’ I said, ‘Give me his fucking number and I’ll call him,’ ”said Hagar.
After finally connecting, the former music collaborators instantly restored their bond and had a meaningful conversation.
“I said, ‘Why don’t you answer? I’m getting in touch,’ and Ed said, ‘Why didn’t you call me? Don’t fucking call my brother. Call me!'” Recalled Hagar. “And I said : ‘I love you, man’, and it was like, boom, we were fine. It was a beautiful thing. “
Hagar joined Van Halen in 1985, launching the band’s most successful period, with successful albums and multiplatinate singles from 1986 5150 (“Why Can’t This Be Love,” “Dreams”), 1988’s OU812 (“When It’s Love”, “Finish What Ya Started”), 1991’s For illegal carnal knowledge (“Poundcake”, “Top of the World”, “Right Now”) and 1995’s Balance (“Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do),” “Can’t Stop Lovin ‘You”).
After the tension in the band forced him to leave, Hagar returned for a brief two-year period from 2003-2005.