Sammy Hagar‘s time working with Eddie Van Halen and fronting Van Halen is never far from his thoughts. In a new interview with USA Today, the “Red Rocker” revealed, “The peak of my musical life was Van Halen. My ego wants to say I was doing great as a solo artist. Well, yeah, I was doing fine, but Van Halen was some other thing man. It was a four-headed monster, and I miss Ed dearly.”

Over two years after Eddie Van Halen’s death, he remains very much on Sammy Hagar’s mind and in his heart: “I cherish him more than ever. What happened with us at the end was such a shame. It’s what happens when alcohol and drugs are involved, and I’m going through a divorce. It’s such a shame. If Van Halen were still together today, we’d be headlining every one of these festivals all over the world.”

Hagar went on to say, “I miss his unique creativity. He’d play something and I’d go what, where the hell did that come from? He was so out of left field, so original, that creativity always lifted me.”

Back in 2021, Sammy Hagar spoke at length about his final texts with Eddie Van Halen. During a chat with Kyle Meredith, Hagar shed light on the tone of the chats and explained it was based on friendship — not business: “It was so awesome. Our texts were so plain and simple — ‘Hey man, how ya doin’? And he’d start opening up to me about how sick he was, and, ‘Dude — I just had this tumor on the side of my neck — ahhh.’ So, I was always checkin’ on him him seein’ how he was doin’ — that was our relationship — ‘Hey, when can we get together?’ Like, ‘Hey Ed, tell me when you’re ready, I’m gonna drive over and cook you a big ole’ spaghetti dinner, y’know.’ (Laughs). We were talkin’ like that. Y’know, a guy’s got cancer and is on his death bed — we ain’t talkin’ about how much money he’s got in the bank, y’know? We were trying to be friends and soulful and let each other know that we’re okay and I’m there for ya.”