“He had this sweetness and an innocent happiness”: Nancy Wilson reflects on her relationship with Eddie Van Halen
Ever since touring with Van Halen the late ‘70s, Heart’s Wilson sisters continued to have a close relationship with the iconic rockers. When Eddie Van Halen passed away in 2020, Nancy Wilson even penned 4 Edward to honour his memory, with the instrumental guitar track still being a staple of Heart’s live sets.
In a new interview with AL, Nancy has reflected on her relationship with the late Van Halen legend. “He had a real amazing way about him,” Nancy says. “He had this sweetness and an innocent happiness. You hear it in the music they wrote, and you see it when you watch them play, because Eddie was always smiling. And the music smiles.”
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Nancy notes that this Eddie’s happiness partly stemmed from his love of music, but it was also a sign of how grateful he was to be performing in the US. As the late guitarist repeatedly explained throughout his life, the Van Halen family arrived in America “with approximately $50 and a piano, and we didn’t speak the language – now look where we are!”
“He just loved that he was actually getting away with doing this music in America,” Nancy tells AL. “It was just so sweet the way we kind of connected, and we became close and really admired each other and felt like friends.”
She even recalls how Eddie didn’t own an acoustic guitar before she bought him one – which led to him calling her from his hotel room and serenading her with the acoustic over the phone.
Nancy reflected on this poignant memory with Guitar.com back in 2021: “Back in ‘79, when Heart and Van Halen were touring together, Eddie told me one night that he thought I played really great acoustic guitar, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe you said that to me’. Then I asked him why he doesn’t play more acoustic guitar. He said, ‘Well, I don’t really have an acoustic’. I said, ‘Well, you do now! Here’s my present to you.’”
“Flash forward to very early the next morning. Eddie calls me on the phone all excited and says, ‘Listen, listen, listen!’ and he played me this beautiful, sweet instrumental that was almost classical, but with some rock in the middle.”
“So the next day we’re on a bus heading to another show, and I said, ‘Eddie, what you played for me on the phone was so beautiful’, and he goes, ‘What are you talking about?’ I think he’d completely forgotten because he was so out of it!”
The anecdote does hint at Eddie’s darker addictions – but Nancy has always insisted Eddie’s “sweetness”, “innocent happiness” and love for his family were what defined him.
Speaking to Howard Stern last year, Nancy claimed the Van Halen brothers were “nuts” together backstage. “They were really imbibers, and they were always in the bag, like way in the bag,” she said. “They would just start fighting, and then they’d be like, ‘Oh, I love you, man.’ And then they’d be hugging.”
“They were really solid brothers and cool people, and musicians, and it was fun to know them and be part of the circus with them.”
The post “He had this sweetness and an innocent happiness”: Nancy Wilson reflects on her relationship with Eddie Van Halen appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
