Eddie Van Halen – A Farewell To The King

Chris Gill, who interviewed - Eddie Van Halen 15 times between 1995 and 2016, offers a heartfelt tribute to one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever known

- By Chris Gill

EDWARD VAN HALEN IS GONE.

The greatest guitarist of our generation left this earth on October 6, 2020, after succumbing to a long, painful battle with cancer that had kept him away from the public spotlight for the last few years. He was only 65 years old.

NEWS OF VAN Halen’s death shocked the guitar community, which is still mourning the loss of a man that many of us considered the most influential guitarist of our lifetime. It is certainly understandable to mourn Ed’s death, particularly since he passed earlier than most of us imagined he would, and his imagination and individual musical voice have now been silenced.

But while some are grieving his passing as the end of an era, the encouraging truth is that Ed’s numerous contributions to the guitar will live on for many more decades, and perhaps even centuries, well into the future. His life will endure as guitarists celebrate the many gifts Ed shared with the world that made our favored instrument better, more popular and enduringly cool.

The majority of Guitar World readers today are probably too young to remember what things were like before Edward Van Halen came along, but for many older guitarists — myself included — the release of Van Halen’s debut album on February 8, 1978, was as historic to my generation as the Beatles’ performance on