Sammy Hagar revealed that it was none other than comedian George Lopez that reunited him with Eddie Van Halen in the months before his death. Hagar appeared on L.A.'s KSLX and shed light on how the estranged partners reconnected.
Metalheadzone reported Hagar as saying, "A mutual friend of ours, George Lopez, who’s a comedian, called me and said, 'Sam, you’ve gotta call Ed. He’s not doing good. And he loves you. You guys have to do something.' George was looking to try to put the band back together and all that. So I said, ‘Oh, man. Are you kidding me? I went through his brother. I tried to go through everybody. Tell Eddie I hope he’s doing well. I’d love to speak with him, come and see him, whatever.'"
He went on to say, "So all of a sudden, George says, 'Here’s his phone number. Call him.' I picked up the phone, and we were texting and talking almost weekly — I would say, honestly, weekly since the beginning of the year. And it was nothing but a love fest. He was talking about how great Wolfie is doing with his new record. He sent me some music long before it came out."
Although Hagar is still admittedly dealing with the grief of losing his dear friend, repairing the tear in the relationship with Van Halen meant the world to him: "If that wouldn’t have happened, I would be devastated much worse than I already am. It was horrible news. There’s never a good time to hear news like that when a loved one passes. It was tough to deal with, but, honestly, the music is what pulled me through."