At different times when Van Halen was among singers, Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell were competing to front the legendary rock band. The revelation comes courtesy of Alex Van Halen's first interview since the passing of his brother Eddie Van Halen in 2020.
while talking to rolling stone to promote his new memoirs, siblingsSet to premiere on October 22, Alex revealed that, each time, Van Halen was immersed in the process of working with Osbourne and Cornell.
They approached Osbourne in 2001, after Gary Cherone's tenure in Van Halen ended in 1999, and before Sammy Hagar's return in 2003. Alex said he and Eddie sat down with Sharon Osbourne to discuss a Van Halen album. with Ozzy, but plans fell apart with the launch of MTV The Osbournes reality show.
“When you have a dog, you don't expect it to be a cat,” Alex said. “When you get an Ozzy, you get Ozzy. Play the music, he will sing and it will be great.”
When contacted by rolling stoneOzzy confirmed the story, telling the outlet via email: “Yes, we were discussing it. It is something that, if it had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal. Eddie and Alex were great friends of mine for a long time and I regret that we didn't get to be together. The Osbournes “Unfortunately, it got in the way of creating new music at the time.”
As for Cornell, Alex couldn't remember the exact time, but it was shortly before the vocalist's tragic death in 2017. The drummer recalled a jam session involving him, Eddie, and Cornell while considering the Soundgarden singer for the job. by Van Halen.
“Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak,” Alex recalled. “I got behind the drums and he started playing bass. We played for 45 minutes. This son of a bitch got so deep he started bleeding. I said, 'This is the man you want.' And then he died.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Alex explained why a planned Van Halen tour never happened after Eddie's passing in 2020, with the drummer blaming David Lee Roth's refusal to honor the guitarist as one of the reasons. main.
The memoirs of Alex Van Halen siblings is available for preorder here.
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