Sammy Hagar Says Final Conversation With Eddie Van Halen Broke His Heart

Sammy Hagar is remembering his final heartbreaking phone call with Eddie Van Halen. Things between the two were rocky ever since Hagar first left the band, Van Halen, in 1996 and then bailed in wake of a disastrous reunion tour in 2004, but in an interview with Variety, the guitarist said they were able to bury the hatchet before the bandleader died.

"Poor Eddie, broke my heart, but thank God we connected before [he died]," Hagar said. "I heard he was in bad shape and I wanted to reach out; I finally said, 'I'm just calling him.'"

Hagar recounted how difficult it was to track Eddie down. He no longer had the rocker's phone number and did not know how to reach him.

"I was calling his brother, I was calling his manager, I was calling his friends, and I'd say, 'Hey, tell Ed, give him my phone number. Tell him if he ever wants to talk to me, I really, really want to talk it out, help him and see what I can do,'" he recalled. "I [told them], 'I want to be his friend, I want to bury the hatchet,' but they never got it done."

George Lopez finally reconnected Hagar with Eddie.

"George is a dear friend and he was Eddie's friend and he said, 'Sammy, Eddie's in bad shape, he loves you brother, you need to reach out.' I said, 'Give me his f---ing number and I'll make sure I call him.'"

When Hagar did reach out to Eddie, there was no tension between them.

"I said, 'Why don't you respond? I've been reaching out,'" Hagar explained, "and Ed said, 'Why didn't you call me? Don’t f---ing call my brother, f---ing call me!' And I said, 'I love you man,' and it was like, boom, we were good. It was a beautiful thing."

Eddie died on Oct. 6 at age 65 following a battle with cancer. Earlier this month his official death certificate emerged, listing stroke as his direct cause of death. The document also listed several underlying causes including pneumonia, the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome, as well as skin and lung cancer, Ultimate Classic Rock reported.

Eddie was cremated 22 days after he died and his ashes have gone to his son, Wolfgang Van Halen, who will be honoring his father's wish to have them scattered off the coast of Malibu, TMZ noted.

• Eddie Van Halen's Sad Final Days
• Eddie Van Halen's Cause of Death Revealed