{"id":2292030,"date":"2026-02-21T01:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2292030"},"modified":"2026-02-21T01:15:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:15:52","slug":"van-halen-finished-a-new-album-before-eddie-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/van-halen-finished-a-new-album-before-eddie-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Halen finished a new album before Eddie passed away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"9c496a78-9fb0-4593-bc20-2c3eae7a8e74\">Alex <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/van-halen\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/van-halen\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/van-halen\">Van Halen<\/a> has shed yet more light on the elusive Van Halen album that he\u2019s seemingly been working on with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/steve-lukather\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/steve-lukather\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/steve-lukather\">Steve Lukather<\/a> \u2013 and it\u2019s closer to being finished than any of us previously thought.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, according to Alex himself, the record effectively <em>is<\/em> finished \u2013 and it sounds like it was finished before Eddie passed away in 2020. The only thing the band was missing was a vocalist to sing on the new tunes.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"9c496a78-9fb0-4593-bc20-2c3eae7a8e74-2\">Last year, Alex Van Halen caused quite a stir when he <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/alex-van-halen-new-van-halen-album-steve-lukather\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/alex-van-halen-new-van-halen-album-steve-lukather\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/alex-van-halen-new-van-halen-album-steve-lukather\">revealed that a new Van Halen album was in the works<\/a>. At the time, he said Lukather was onboard to help finish it, and while Lukather initially confirmed this, he later said, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/guitarists\/steve-lukather-on-his-role-on-a-new-van-halen-album\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/guitarists\/steve-lukather-on-his-role-on-a-new-van-halen-album\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/guitarists\/steve-lukather-on-his-role-on-a-new-van-halen-album\">\u201cI will not ever play a guitar note on a VH song ever!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pt-3 pb-4 mb-4 border-solid border-y border-neutral-300\">\n<span class=\"font-article-heading block pb-3 !text-base font-bold uppercase sm:text-sm text-[#333]\"><br \/>\nYou may like<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As Lukather explained, he was simply brought on to help go through a \u201cton\u201d of unfinished recordings that Alex and Eddie had put together that \u201cnever saw the light of day\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Alex has set the record straight, revealing that an entire Van Halen album had practically been completed prior to Eddie\u2019s death, complete with drums, bass, and \u2013 most notably of all \u2013 Van Halen\u2019s guitar parts.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if Eddie\u2019s old recordings were going to be used for this next album, Alex explained to KazaGast\u00e3o (via <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blabbermouth.net\/news\/alex-van-halen-confirms-album-he-is-working-on-with-steve-lukather-includes-previously-unreleased-unfinished-van-halen-recordings\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/blabbermouth.net\/news\/alex-van-halen-confirms-album-he-is-working-on-with-steve-lukather-includes-previously-unreleased-unfinished-van-halen-recordings\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\"><em>Blabbermouth<\/em><\/a>). \u201cWell, these are recordings that were going to be the next [Van Halen] record, and that were stopped because [Ed] didn&#8217;t live that long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe drums are already recorded. The drums, the guitar and the bass are already in there,\u201d he continues. \u201cWhat we didn&#8217;t have is a vocalist, and obviously the subtleties and the glue \u2013 we call it the glue or the spackle.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-F9xoPk8UwCBKzBhY3tgH5b\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-F9xoPk8UwCBKzBhY3tgH5b slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-video youtube-facade\" data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"VYOUKvli9so\">\n<div class=\"video-aspect-box\">\n<div class=\"watch-on-iframe-VYOUKvli9so\" data-yt-video-token=\"VYOUKvli9so\" title=\"ALEX VAN HALEN \u2b50\ufe0f ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA LEGENDADA \u2b50\ufe0f - YouTube\">\n<span class=\"youtube-video-title\">ALEX VAN HALEN \u2b50\ufe0f ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA LEGENDADA \u2b50\ufe0f &#8211; YouTube<\/span><br \/>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"play-button\" viewbox=\"0 0 234.67 165.33\"><path fill=\"red\" d=\"M229.763 25.817c-2.699-10.162-10.65-18.165-20.748-20.881C190.716 0 117.333 0 117.333 0S43.951 0 25.651 4.936C15.553 7.652 7.6 15.655 4.903 25.817 0 44.236 0 82.667 0 82.667s0 38.429 4.903 56.85C7.6 149.68 15.553 157.681 25.65 160.4c18.3 4.934 91.682 4.934 91.682 4.934s73.383 0 91.682-4.934c10.098-2.718 18.049-10.72 20.748-20.882 4.904-18.421 4.904-56.85 4.904-56.85s0-38.431-4.904-56.85\"\/><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"m93.333 117.559 61.333-34.89-61.333-34.894z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"watch-on-youtube-VYOUKvli9so\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/VYOUKvli9so\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/VYOUKvli9so\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\">Watch On <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"youtube-logo\" viewbox=\"0 0 507.9 113.39\"><g fill=\"#fff\"><path d=\"M64.792 80.99V32.396l42.082 24.297zm93.803-63.285a20.285 20.285 0 0 0-14.32-14.32C131.642 0 80.99 0 80.99 0S30.337 0 17.705 3.385a20.286 20.286 0 0 0-14.32 14.32C0 30.338 0 56.693 0 56.693S0 83.049 3.385 95.68A20.285 20.285 0 0 0 17.705 110c12.632 3.386 63.285 3.386 63.285 3.386s50.652 0 63.285-3.386a20.284 20.284 0 0 0 14.32-14.32c3.385-12.632 3.385-38.988 3.385-38.988s0-26.355-3.385-38.988m94.473 74.326c.887-2.314 1.332-6.098 1.332-11.35V58.556c0-5.097-.445-8.822-1.332-11.178-.888-2.355-2.452-3.533-4.69-3.533-2.163 0-3.69 1.178-4.577 3.533-.888 2.356-1.332 6.081-1.332 11.178V80.68c0 5.25.424 9.035 1.275 11.35.848 2.318 2.392 3.475 4.633 3.475 2.239 0 3.803-1.157 4.691-3.475zm-17.953 11.122c-3.207-2.16-5.486-5.52-6.835-10.079-1.352-4.554-2.027-10.617-2.027-18.185v-10.31c0-7.644.771-13.784 2.316-18.417 1.544-4.633 3.956-8.011 7.24-10.135 3.282-2.123 7.587-3.186 12.916-3.186 5.251 0 9.459 1.082 12.626 3.243 3.165 2.162 5.482 5.542 6.95 10.136 1.466 4.595 2.2 10.715 2.2 18.36v10.31c0 7.567-.714 13.65-2.142 18.243-1.43 4.595-3.747 7.955-6.951 10.077-3.205 2.124-7.548 3.186-13.03 3.186-5.64 0-10.06-1.082-13.263-3.243m248.053-57.981c-.81 1.005-1.352 2.646-1.621 4.923-.272 2.278-.404 5.734-.404 10.367v5.097h11.697V60.46c0-4.555-.155-8.011-.463-10.367-.309-2.355-.868-4.014-1.678-4.98-.812-.966-2.067-1.449-3.766-1.449-1.7 0-2.954.503-3.765 1.506zm-2.025 29.886v3.591c0 4.557.132 7.974.404 10.251.269 2.279.828 3.94 1.68 4.982.849 1.041 2.16 1.564 3.938 1.564 2.392 0 4.035-.927 4.923-2.781.887-1.853 1.37-4.942 1.447-9.268l13.785.812c.077.62.116 1.469.116 2.548 0 6.565-1.795 11.47-5.387 14.712-3.589 3.242-8.669 4.865-15.232 4.865-7.876 0-13.398-2.47-16.564-7.414-3.168-4.94-4.75-12.586-4.75-22.935V63.589c0-10.657 1.641-18.436 4.924-23.342 3.281-4.903 8.9-7.355 16.854-7.355 5.482 0 9.691 1.004 12.626 3.012 2.933 2.01 5 5.137 6.197 9.383 1.197 4.247 1.796 10.117 1.796 17.607v12.163h-26.757m-284.953-1.33-18.187-65.68h15.869l6.37 29.77c1.623 7.339 2.82 13.594 3.591 18.766h.464c.54-3.706 1.738-9.922 3.591-18.65l6.603-29.886h15.869l-18.417 65.68v31.51h-15.754v-31.51M322.115 34.23v71.007h-12.511l-1.39-8.688h-.347c-3.399 6.564-8.496 9.845-15.291 9.845-4.71 0-8.185-1.543-10.425-4.633-2.24-3.087-3.359-7.915-3.359-14.48V34.23h15.985v52.126c0 3.168.348 5.426 1.043 6.776.695 1.353 1.853 2.027 3.475 2.027 1.39 0 2.722-.423 3.996-1.275 1.274-.849 2.22-1.928 2.838-3.241V34.229h15.986m81.995.001v71.007h-12.511l-1.391-8.688h-.345c-3.402 6.564-8.498 9.845-15.292 9.845-4.711 0-8.186-1.543-10.426-4.633-2.24-3.087-3.358-7.915-3.358-14.48V34.23h15.985v52.126c0 3.168.347 5.426 1.041 6.776.696 1.353 1.855 2.027 3.476 2.027 1.391 0 2.723-.423 3.996-1.275 1.275-.849 2.22-1.928 2.839-3.241V34.229h15.985\"\/><path d=\"M365.552 20.908h-15.87v84.329h-15.637v-84.33h-15.869V8.05h47.376v12.858m76.811 53.636c0 5.174-.215 9.229-.639 12.162-.424 2.937-1.139 5.021-2.143 6.255-1.004 1.236-2.357 1.854-4.053 1.854a7.404 7.404 0 0 1-3.65-.927c-1.12-.618-2.026-1.544-2.722-2.78V50.796c.54-1.93 1.467-3.513 2.78-4.749 1.313-1.234 2.74-1.853 4.285-1.853 1.623 0 2.876.637 3.766 1.91.886 1.275 1.505 3.418 1.853 6.43.348 3.011.523 7.297.523 12.857zm14.652-28.964c-.967-4.478-2.531-7.721-4.692-9.73-2.163-2.007-5.136-3.011-8.919-3.011-2.935 0-5.676.83-8.224 2.49a16.926 16.926 0 0 0-5.908 6.545h-.117l.001-37.416h-15.405v100.777h13.204l1.622-6.717h.347c1.235 2.393 3.088 4.285 5.56 5.675 2.47 1.39 5.213 2.085 8.225 2.085 5.404 0 9.382-2.491 11.931-7.471 2.548-4.982 3.823-12.76 3.823-23.341V64.23c0-7.953-.484-14.17-1.448-18.65\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"f9343124-b6c2-4566-b6b3-b907f724bbad\">Van Halen confirms these recordings also feature <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/wolfgang-van-halen\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/wolfgang-van-halen\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/tag\/wolfgang-van-halen\">Wolfgang Van Halen<\/a> on bass, and that he and Lukather had attempted to recruit Paul Rodgers to sing on them: \u201cIt was very difficult for him to bring himself to say, &#8216;No, I can&#8217;t. Count me out.&#8217; I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Lukather\u2019s involvement, Alex says he was brought in to help smooth over the missing \u201cglue\u201d and \u201cspackle\u201d. He was on hand to help sort through the recordings and provide some &#8220;connective tissue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuke can play anything,\u201d Alex notes. \u201cI went to Steve&#8217;s house several times and we played a piece of music and he goes, &#8216;Yeah, I got it. That&#8217;s it. That&#8217;s all we need.&#8217; Then he can do all the connective tissues. He knows where to put the solo, as far as structure and organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve been fortunate enough to have Steve Lukather, who was a good friend of Ed&#8217;s, and we&#8217;re working on putting a record together, but it has to be of the quality and the level of where we left it. Not just to say, &#8216;Hey, here&#8217;s some music that we made. If you like it, that&#8217;s great.&#8217; No. It has to be the quality that we expect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the album will see the light of day remains to be seen. There\u2019s been no official word about the project as of yet, and all that\u2019s known has been pieced together from Alex\u2019s various interviews. But, whatever the case, the new Van Halen record is very real, and it will be coming.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2024, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/eddie-van-halen-alex-van-halen-unfinished-release\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/eddie-van-halen-alex-van-halen-unfinished-release\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/artists\/music-releases\/eddie-van-halen-alex-van-halen-unfinished-release\">Alex Van Halen shared <em>Unfinished<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the last song he ever wrote with his brother.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.guitarworld.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Van Halen has shed yet more light on the elusive Van Halen album that he\u2019s seemingly been working on with Steve Lukather \u2013 and it\u2019s closer to being finished than any of us previously thought. In fact, according to Alex himself, the record effectively is finished \u2013 and it sounds like it was finished [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2292031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2292030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Van-Halen-finished-a-new-album-before-Eddie-passed-away.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2292030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2292032,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292030\/revisions\/2292032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2292030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2292030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2292030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}