The music world was shocked and disheartened by the news of Van Halen guitarist/founder Eddie Van Halen’s passing on Tuesday (October 6). While musicians and fans have all been sharing their grief, one man has remained silent until now: Eddie’s brother and bandmate Alex Van Halen.
On Thursday, Alex took to the Van Halen News Twitter profile to post a childhood photo of him and his brother with the caption, “Hey Ed. Love you. See you on the other side. Your brother, Al.”
Since Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang announced the passing of his father, tributes have been rolling in from his fellow musicians, as well as his former Van Halen bandmates.
Fans have also been mourning the loss, mostly by purchasing and streaming Van Halen’s music. According to Billboard, on October 6, the band’s catalog saw a 6,198% increase in sales over the previous day. The band sold more than 40,000 album and song units on the 6th compared with less than 1,000 on the 5th.
It had been revealed in 2019 that Eddie Van Halen had been secretly battling throat cancer and taking radiation treatments in Germany for five years. His health had been going down hill over the 72-hours before his passing, with a report from TMZ saying that the cancer had metastasized to other organs, including his brain.
Eddie Van Halen was 65 when he passed.
We received this from Alex Van Halen… “Hey Ed. Love you. See you on the other side. Your brother, Al”#EddieVanHalen #EddieVanHalenRIP pic.twitter.com/dunXGiXhkK
— Van Halen News Desk (@VanHalenNews) October 8, 2020
