It's always really hard to accept the death of a musician you really love. Being raised on their music and knowing all about them can make you feel like they're a part of your own life. So hearing that one of rock's most iconic guitar players, Eddie Van Halen, from the multi-platinum band Van Halen, died probably came as a shock to a lot of fans around the world.
While we mourn the rock god, our pain is probably nothing compared to the pain Van Halen's only son, Wolfgang is feeling now. He has the support of his father's fellow rockers, and fans but nothing can compare to his father being back with him.
They had a pretty special relationship. Not only were they father and son; they were also bandmates for the last decade of Van Halen's life and got to tour the world together. Not many children of rock stars get to perform with their parents.
Here's what their relationship was like.
Growing Up With A Rock Star
By the time Van Halen had Wolf with his then-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, in 1991, he had already had most of his success with Van Halen in the David Lee Roth era. But he continued to have even more success after Wolf was born during the Sammy Hager era.
Wolf was ten when his parents split in 2001, and according to Bertinelli, they split because their marriage was showing Wolf how two people aren't supposed to act in a marriage.
Bertinelli explained to Oprah, "One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like. Ed and I weren't treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that's what Wolfie was seeing."
From a very young age though, Van Halen wanted to teach his son about music, but Wolf grew up not even knowing his father was a rock star. It wasn't until he started buying his own CD's that he realized his father was on a lot of them.
Van Halen has said that he wanted his son to get into music naturally, not because of him, and that he'd be okay with whatever Wolf chose to do in life. He still hoped that he'd one day get to play music with his son, however.
"I'm going to let Wolfgang be whatever he wants to be," Van Halen said when Wolf was four. "I don't see how he won't somehow be into music, being exposed to it all the time. But I'm not going to force him to play piano or take music lessons like my parents did to me."
Thank god for Van Halen, Wolf did fall into it on his own.
After that, he would go with his dad to rehearsals, and later on, decided he wanted to pursue music as well. He started playing the drums at age nine (his uncle Alex was probably proud) and then the guitar at age 11, but when he first picked up a bass, he knew that was the instrument for him.
Wolf says that all his father taught him about music was how to do a power chord on the guitar and how to do a standard "AC/DC style" drumbeat.
Van Halen Wanted His Son On Stage With Him From The Age Of 13
The first time Wolf appeared with Van Halen was on their 2004 world tour when he was just 13 years old. He came out to accompany his dad on the song, 316, which was written for his birthday, March 16.
Just two years later, after many guest appearances, Van Halen announced that Wolf would be their new bass player. This time Roth was coming back to sing, which was a big deal.
In 2008, Wolf was featured on the cover of Guitar World with his dad, and Van Halen went on to name a guitar after his son, called the Fender EVH Wolfgang.
Then in 2009, Wolf started recording A Different Kind Of Truth with the band. According to Van Halen's News Desk, Wolf said that every time he'd go into the studio there'd be tons of unreleased recordings and he thought people should hear them.
This was the premise he came up with for A Different Kind Of Truth. Wolf and the band decided to take the recordings and rework them. They wrote seven new songs for the album and reworked seven old demos.
Wolf thinks that reworking the older songs got his father to come back to the original way he wrote songs. He later toured with the band on their 2007-2008 and 2012-2013 tours.
At the time, Roth said the band was " three parts original, one part inevitable."
Wolf Is Now Grieving
When announcing to the world that his father had died on his Instagram, Wolf wrote, "He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I've shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.
I love you so much, Pop."
Later, he also posted a sweet picture of them together, playing music and Van Halen lovingly touching Wolf's head and laughing. Right now it might not seem like there's any way out of his grief, but there are good things ahead for Wolf. He has his first solo album coming out soon. At this point playing music will bring him closer to his dad in spirit.
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