Legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away on Oct. 6, 2020. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame artist had struggled with health problems in the final two decades of his life after undergoing hip replacement surgery in 1999 and being diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000. He later battled lung cancer and suffered a motorcycle accident in 2019 and was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Reelz recently released a sneak peek of a new documentary series featuring the guitarist, “Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Eddie Van Halen.” The show will air on June 5.
The official description of the documentary reads: “On October 6, 2020 the world was shocked by the news that guitar legend Eddie Van Halen had died. A rock prodigy with a boyish charm he was never more comfortable than when he had a guitar in his hand. Known as the founder of Van Halen, the band that became synonymous with California cool, Eddie was actually of both Dutch and Indonesian heritage. His family moved to California from the Netherlands when Eddie was a child. Eddie came to America without knowing English but by the time he was 25 years old his band had sold multiple platinum albums and his innovative guitar techniques cemented him in rock and roll history.
“But behind his contagious smile there was a darker undercurrent that would plague Eddie throughout his life. As an extremely shy kid Eddie started drinking alcohol at just 12 years old to calm his nerves after seeing his father drink to calm himself and for the next four decades Eddie wrestled with addiction issues. Often relying on alcohol and other substances to maintain his creativity Eddie would spend many years in and out of rehab. He was a workaholic often pushing his body to the limits in order to perform while secretly battling illness.
“Eddie died at the age of 65 from cancer but if caught early Eddie’s disease had reasonable survival rates so what exactly happened? Now renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter will analyze every detail of his life in order to piece together what else may have been going on in his body, ultimately leading to his untimely death.”
TMZ obtained Eddie’s death certificate two months after his passing which revealed that his cause of death was a cerebrovascular event. The certificate also listed other “significant conditions” that contributed to his death. Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth recently commented on the possibility of a Van Halen reunion/tribute that was rumored to feature Joe Satriani on guitar and Jason Newsted on bass. The Van Halen News Desk (vhnd.com) reached out to Roth who said (presumably by text/email): “IN MY MIND, “VAN HALEN 4K”, IN THE AGE OF C*VID IS GOING TO REQUIRE TWO OF US FOR EVERY POSITION. SATRIANI AND LUKATHER, ANTHONY AND NEWSTED, AL OR TOMMY LEE. PROBABLY THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD DO MY JOB TODAY WOULD BE PINK.”
Satriani confirmed that he, Roth and Alex Van Halen have been in talks about doing a touring tribute to Eddie and all eras of the Van Halen legacy. “I’ve been talking with Alex and Dave for about a year about doing something — a tour, something like that — that was gonna be a true tribute to Eddie and the Van Halen legacy. For me, it was a terrifying prospect of doing something like that, but I realized that it was something that would be a real labor of love for me. I was just so honored to take on the challenge. It’s very complicated. And all I can really say about it is that if it does happen, I know we’ll make it the greatest thing ever for the fans and we’ll all celebrate together not only the great Eddie Van Halen but the legacy that that band created, the amazing amount of music and the goodwill and good vibes they created as a band.”
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