The guitarist died in 2020, aged 65, due to cancer progression; the drummer admits that he still hasn’t recovered from the loss of his brother
The drummer Alex Van Halen he doesn’t hide how serious the loss of his brother, the guitarist, is Eddie Van Halenhit him. Since the death of his family member and bandmate at age 65, in 2020, he has remained a recluse – and has only now returned to the spotlight to publish a memoir, Brothers, which practically serves as a brotherly love letter .
The last moments of Eddie’s life, which ended due to lung and brain cancer, and the resulting suffering were also addressed by Alex, in an interview on Anderson Cooper’s podcast for CNN (go Chatty). Initially, the drummer of Van Halen he admitted that he continues to mourn his brother’s death – and that he does not escape this feeling, since it does not solve the problem.
Another point addressed concerns the surprise of death. Although Ed had been dealing with cancer for years, Alex assures that neither he nor other family members and people close to him thought this could happen.
“He always bounced back. He had the most amazing DNA I’d ever seen in anyone. He could always do more drugs than anyone else and wake up the next day and play a show. I don’t think anyone really thought he was going to die.” So when he died, it was really a shock.”
The drummer doesn’t think Eddie felt or knew he was dying either. Not surprisingly, the two continued to work together on songs and plan for the following year — which, unfortunately, would never come, as the guitarist’s health deteriorated significantly, especially in recent months, due to the lockdown caused by the pandemic of Covid-19.
“It was difficult because his immune system was weak, so the last thing he needed was to get infected with something. There was always a distance between us in his house. We had to watch him from outside, in the driveway, through the window .”
The last moments of Eddie Van Halen
The last time Alex was able to play Eddie Van Halen or even sit next to him occurred long before his death, when the guitarist was taken to Switzerland for special treatment. The drummer says he is his brother “I felt a lot of pain most of the time: physical, mental and emotional”. “He started losing the function of his extremities. Everything got worse and every day it was another part of his body that no longer worked“, adds the musician.
According to Alex Van Halen, Eddie underwent a procedure called Gamma Knife, an alternative to traditional brain surgery. This was reported on the hospital website HCorradiosurgery “uses up to 201 beams of high-precision rays to check both malignant and benign tumors, as well as vascular and functional disorders in the brain, without damaging surrounding healthy tissue”. The drummer says:
“They took out the cancer, which was successful, but in the meantime it caused swelling in his brain. So they gave him steroids. And even in a life-or-death situation, the decision was, ‘if two is good, twenty could be better’ – and took handfuls of steroids and that made him the Superman temporarily. But we took him to Switzerland to treat him.”
Unfortunately, the disease progressed and, according to Alex, Eddie suffered a major stroke. The drummer recalls:
“We were in the room with him when he took his last breath. We just sat there, each in our own head space. When he stopped breathing, I didn’t see or hear anything. There were no bells or angels. It was just it stopped. And then the room was empty. And then they turned off the equipment, because it was connected to the fan, that’s it.
Reflections by Alex Van Halen
As a big lesson from all this, the drummer points out that the guitarist fought until the end and never gave up. On the other hand, he regretted that his brother did not have a “full life of 75 or 80 years”, blaming his notorious drug and alcohol abuse.
“Am I mad at him? Yes, there were times when I would cry out in jealousy: ‘Ed, what the hell is wrong with you? What are you doing? Ed, if you stop using all these damn drugs…’ [risos] “You can’t do this to your body and expect to live a full life.” If he had stopped, maybe he would still be here. My children no longer have an uncle. Your son has no father. I don’t have a brother.”
Philosophically, Alex concluded that Eddie Van Halen lived his entire life “in search of something.” He doesn’t even know what, since musically the two were complete to the point of “being able to play anything”. However, the drummer tries to overcome his pain by pointing out that, ultimately, he has no control over it.
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Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
