Sammy Hagar: 'The best was yet to come from Van Halen'
The 77-year-old rocker - who was frontman of the 'Jump' band from 1985 to 1996, before returning in 2003 until 2005 - was in touch with late guitarist Eddie Van Halen before his death in October 2020, and was keen to work with him again after learning he was playing the cello and experimenting with different instruments.
Speaking on Detroit's WRIF radio station, Sammy was quoted by Blabbermouth as saying when asked if he has any regrets: 'Oh, hell no. Oh, no regrets whatsoever.
'I regret that we broke up, just to see what else we could have done. I would've loved to have made another record or two with Eddie writing.'
Sammy loved his songwriting partnership with Eddie.
He reflected: 'Eddie and I wrote some great songs together, and I think the best stuff was yet to come; it could have been yet to come, because Eddie was really reaching out on instruments.
'Last time I talked to Eddie before he passed, I said, 'Man, what are you playing?' He said, 'Oh, man, I've really been playing a lot of cello.' And I'm going, 'Cello? Holy shit.' [Laughs] 'Play me something, dude. I'm ready to write a song with you on cello.''
The Red Rocker went on to claim that his arch-nemesis, David Lee Roth - who Sammy replaced as frontman in 1985 and had three tenures with the legendary group from 1974 to 1985, 1996, and 2006 until they disbanded in 2020 - wouldn't give Eddie the space to experiment like he did.
He said: 'As artists, Eddie and I were really capable of doing a lot of stuff that he couldn't do before me because the other guy didn't want keyboards.
'And when I walked in the room with Eddie, he showed me two guitar songs when I joined, on [the] 5150 [album] – he showed me Good Enough and he showed me Summer Nights. Those are two riffs he had. And then what did he do? He went and sat down at the piano and he started playing all this stuff.
'And I'm going, Whoa. What? He starts playing the riff to Dreams. He's sitting there playing Love Walks In. He's just playing all these things on keyboards, and I'm going, 'Whoa, I had no idea he was that good of a keyboard player.' So, he really wanted to expand as a musician.'
Sammy believes Eddie had only touched the surface of what he wanted to achieve musically, because he was held back by the people at the top.
He concluded: 'To me, I think that's what his dream would've been.
'And it was always held back by the record companies and the people around him. I think we would've broken out of that within a year and started doing some really crazy stuff.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Perth Now
Eddie Murphy hails Pickup co-star Pete Davidson
Eddie Murphy has "a lot in common" with Pete Davidson. The 64-year-old actor stars alongside Pete, 31, in The Pickup, the new action-comedy movie, and Eddie has revealed that he relished the experience of working with the former Saturday Night Live star. Speaking to Extra, Eddie explained: "I was looking forward to working with him. "I was a fan already from SNL, and we have a lot in common now. We both started doing stand-up when we were really young, and we both started Saturday Night Live when we were really young, and we both lost our dads when we were really young. So, we had a lot in common, and he's a new-generation SNL. So, it was exciting. "I love working with SNL alumni. I feel like a kinship to all of them." Pete is actually expecting his first child with Elsie Hewitt - but Eddie hadn't offered him any parenting advice. The Hollywood star said: "I didn't give him any parenting advice. "You know, being a parent is kind of, you know, every kid is different ... You kinda just have to go in there and figure it out on your own. The good thing is that nature has wired us to do the right thing. I think it takes more effort to be a bad parent. "If you love your child, you gotta go out of your way to be a bad parent. And doing the right thing just comes natural. So, I didn't give him any advice.' Meanwhile, Pete recently claimed that his impending fatherhood has given him a new perspective on life. The movie star explained that he's experienced a "weird sense of calmness" and is no longer looking to his career for fulfilment. The comedian - who shot to stardom on Saturday Night Live, before turning his focus towards the movie industry - told People magazine: 'I'm just excited to take care of the little one. The second I found out the news, I was like, 'Oh wow, what I do is just a job.' "I realised I was kind of basing my happiness on work, which is ridiculously unhealthy. So it gave me this weird sense of calmness, where this is just a job and now I have someone to do it for." The King of Staten Island star is looking forward to his child enjoying playdates with four-month-old Saga, the daughter of his friend Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox. He said: 'We're going to have awesome play dates. Yeah, that's [going to be] a cool play date."
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Perth Now
Eddie Murphy teases Donkey film release
Eddie Murphy's Shrek character Donkey is getting his own film - which will be released in 2028. The 64-year-old is doing voiceover work for Shrek's sidekick in the fifth movie of the DreamWorks animated film franchise, Shrek, which is set to be released on December 18, 2026, and Eddie revealed work on the Donkey spin-off film - which will see him have his "own little story with his dragon wife" and their "half-dragon and half-donkeys children" - will begin in September 2025. Asked if Shrek 5's animation is being worked on now, he told ScreenRant: "No, they're still doing voiceover stuff. We're still in the booth, and literally, we're still doing Shrek. "We start in September on Donkey, we're doing a Donkey one, and that'll be three years from now, but we're about two years into Shrek 5. Still in the booth and about to start Donkey in September." Confirming that Donkey will be a movie and not a TV show, Eddie continued: "Donkey's going to be like how Puss in Boots had his own movie. "Donkey's going to have his own movie, own little story with his dragon wife and his kids that are half-dragon and half-donkeys. "They've written this funny story. We're doing that, starting that in September." In February, Zendaya's casting in Shrek 5 was confirmed in the movie's trailer. The 28-year-old star will be voicing the titular ogre (Mike Myers) and Fiona's (Cameron Diaz) daughter Felicia. Shrek was first released in 2001 and followed the story of an ogre who falls in love with Princess Fiona before a sequel arrived in 2004. In 2007's Shrek the Third, it was revealed that Fiona - now married to Shrek - was pregnant, and the latest major instalment Shrek Forever After was released in 2010. And now Eddie has hinted that Shrek 5 will, like the franchise's other movies, be packed with comedy. He told the US TV show Extra: "I've recorded some great stuff. You know, we don't get a full script when we do the Shrek movies. We get the dialogue that we're doing for each session. And I know I've been doing some really funny stuff." And Eddie said he will only see his co-stars, including Cameron, 52, and Mike, 62, at the Shrek 5 premiere. He said: "At the end of the movie or when the movie comes out, we see each other at the premiere, but we don't see each other the whole movie. "It's all just you by yourself and a microphone.'
The Advertiser
24-07-2025
- The Advertiser
Exes Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham reissue album
They're not going their own way anymore. After much speculation, Fleetwood Mac's former couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have announced the reissue of "Buckingham Nicks," more than 50 years after the release of their only full-length album as a duo. Originally released in 1973, "Buckingham Nicks" is not currently available on streaming platforms. The album was last issued on vinyl in the US in 1981. The remastered version arrives September 19 via Rhino Records' high-fidelity series and was sourced from the original analog master tapes. The album will receive a CD and digital release for the first time, and the opening track, "Crying in the Night," was available to stream Wednesday. Buckingham and Nicks were in their early to mid-20s during the making of their album. Despite their relative inexperience, "it stands up in a way you would hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work," Buckingham says, according to the announcement release. The reissued version of "Buckingham Nicks" features the same album cover as the original, despite Nicks' public dissatisfaction with the photograph, telling classic rock magazine MOJO that she "felt like a rat in a trap" during the shoot. "I'm actually quite prudish. So when they suggested they shoot Lindsey and I nude I could not have been more terrified if you'd asked me to jump off a speeding train," Nicks told MOJO in 2013. "Lindsey was like, 'Oh, come on — this is art. Don't be a child!' I thought, 'Who are you? Don't you know me?'" "Buckingham Nicks" was released one year before they joined Fleetwood Mac, and was met with little commercial success. But it did attract the attention of Mick Fleetwood, who invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham in turn insisted Nicks come, too. The two then became the central faces, voices and songwriters of the group for the four decades that followed. The pair's tumultuous relationship appeared across the band's discography: She wrote "Dreams" about him. He wrote "Go Your Own Way" about her. Infamously, they broke up while writing the 1977 hit album "Rumours." Buckingham left the band in 1987, returning in 1996. The last time the band reunited, however, for a 2018-2019 tour, the rest of the members kicked him out, and Buckingham sued them. He claimed he was told five days after the group appeared at Radio City Music Hall that the band would tour without him. He says he would have been paid at least $12 million for his share of the proceeds. Later that year, Buckingham said they had settled the lawsuit. They're not going their own way anymore. After much speculation, Fleetwood Mac's former couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have announced the reissue of "Buckingham Nicks," more than 50 years after the release of their only full-length album as a duo. Originally released in 1973, "Buckingham Nicks" is not currently available on streaming platforms. The album was last issued on vinyl in the US in 1981. The remastered version arrives September 19 via Rhino Records' high-fidelity series and was sourced from the original analog master tapes. The album will receive a CD and digital release for the first time, and the opening track, "Crying in the Night," was available to stream Wednesday. Buckingham and Nicks were in their early to mid-20s during the making of their album. Despite their relative inexperience, "it stands up in a way you would hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work," Buckingham says, according to the announcement release. The reissued version of "Buckingham Nicks" features the same album cover as the original, despite Nicks' public dissatisfaction with the photograph, telling classic rock magazine MOJO that she "felt like a rat in a trap" during the shoot. "I'm actually quite prudish. So when they suggested they shoot Lindsey and I nude I could not have been more terrified if you'd asked me to jump off a speeding train," Nicks told MOJO in 2013. "Lindsey was like, 'Oh, come on — this is art. Don't be a child!' I thought, 'Who are you? Don't you know me?'" "Buckingham Nicks" was released one year before they joined Fleetwood Mac, and was met with little commercial success. But it did attract the attention of Mick Fleetwood, who invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham in turn insisted Nicks come, too. The two then became the central faces, voices and songwriters of the group for the four decades that followed. The pair's tumultuous relationship appeared across the band's discography: She wrote "Dreams" about him. He wrote "Go Your Own Way" about her. Infamously, they broke up while writing the 1977 hit album "Rumours." Buckingham left the band in 1987, returning in 1996. The last time the band reunited, however, for a 2018-2019 tour, the rest of the members kicked him out, and Buckingham sued them. He claimed he was told five days after the group appeared at Radio City Music Hall that the band would tour without him. He says he would have been paid at least $12 million for his share of the proceeds. Later that year, Buckingham said they had settled the lawsuit. They're not going their own way anymore. After much speculation, Fleetwood Mac's former couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have announced the reissue of "Buckingham Nicks," more than 50 years after the release of their only full-length album as a duo. Originally released in 1973, "Buckingham Nicks" is not currently available on streaming platforms. The album was last issued on vinyl in the US in 1981. The remastered version arrives September 19 via Rhino Records' high-fidelity series and was sourced from the original analog master tapes. The album will receive a CD and digital release for the first time, and the opening track, "Crying in the Night," was available to stream Wednesday. Buckingham and Nicks were in their early to mid-20s during the making of their album. Despite their relative inexperience, "it stands up in a way you would hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work," Buckingham says, according to the announcement release. The reissued version of "Buckingham Nicks" features the same album cover as the original, despite Nicks' public dissatisfaction with the photograph, telling classic rock magazine MOJO that she "felt like a rat in a trap" during the shoot. "I'm actually quite prudish. So when they suggested they shoot Lindsey and I nude I could not have been more terrified if you'd asked me to jump off a speeding train," Nicks told MOJO in 2013. "Lindsey was like, 'Oh, come on — this is art. Don't be a child!' I thought, 'Who are you? Don't you know me?'" "Buckingham Nicks" was released one year before they joined Fleetwood Mac, and was met with little commercial success. But it did attract the attention of Mick Fleetwood, who invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham in turn insisted Nicks come, too. The two then became the central faces, voices and songwriters of the group for the four decades that followed. The pair's tumultuous relationship appeared across the band's discography: She wrote "Dreams" about him. He wrote "Go Your Own Way" about her. Infamously, they broke up while writing the 1977 hit album "Rumours." Buckingham left the band in 1987, returning in 1996. The last time the band reunited, however, for a 2018-2019 tour, the rest of the members kicked him out, and Buckingham sued them. He claimed he was told five days after the group appeared at Radio City Music Hall that the band would tour without him. He says he would have been paid at least $12 million for his share of the proceeds. Later that year, Buckingham said they had settled the lawsuit. They're not going their own way anymore. After much speculation, Fleetwood Mac's former couple Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have announced the reissue of "Buckingham Nicks," more than 50 years after the release of their only full-length album as a duo. Originally released in 1973, "Buckingham Nicks" is not currently available on streaming platforms. The album was last issued on vinyl in the US in 1981. The remastered version arrives September 19 via Rhino Records' high-fidelity series and was sourced from the original analog master tapes. The album will receive a CD and digital release for the first time, and the opening track, "Crying in the Night," was available to stream Wednesday. Buckingham and Nicks were in their early to mid-20s during the making of their album. Despite their relative inexperience, "it stands up in a way you would hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work," Buckingham says, according to the announcement release. The reissued version of "Buckingham Nicks" features the same album cover as the original, despite Nicks' public dissatisfaction with the photograph, telling classic rock magazine MOJO that she "felt like a rat in a trap" during the shoot. "I'm actually quite prudish. So when they suggested they shoot Lindsey and I nude I could not have been more terrified if you'd asked me to jump off a speeding train," Nicks told MOJO in 2013. "Lindsey was like, 'Oh, come on — this is art. Don't be a child!' I thought, 'Who are you? Don't you know me?'" "Buckingham Nicks" was released one year before they joined Fleetwood Mac, and was met with little commercial success. But it did attract the attention of Mick Fleetwood, who invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham in turn insisted Nicks come, too. The two then became the central faces, voices and songwriters of the group for the four decades that followed. The pair's tumultuous relationship appeared across the band's discography: She wrote "Dreams" about him. He wrote "Go Your Own Way" about her. Infamously, they broke up while writing the 1977 hit album "Rumours." Buckingham left the band in 1987, returning in 1996. The last time the band reunited, however, for a 2018-2019 tour, the rest of the members kicked him out, and Buckingham sued them. He claimed he was told five days after the group appeared at Radio City Music Hall that the band would tour without him. He says he would have been paid at least $12 million for his share of the proceeds. Later that year, Buckingham said they had settled the lawsuit.
