Relive 15 Eddie Van Halen Collaborations

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Eddie Van Halen collaborated with dozens of artists throughout his career – some became well-known while others were largely forgotten. His passion for music always showed through because he teamed up not just with rockstars but even those from other genre. Let’s revisit those collaborations.

15. John Waite

In 1984, EVH surprised the crowd when he appeared on stage at John Waite’s show and played “Head First” with him.

14. Michael Winslow

They joined forces at the 1987 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).

13. G.E. Smith

When EVH’s then-wife actress Valerie Bertinelli had hosting duties on Saturday Night Live, he didn’t want to just follow her around. And so he jammed with the Saturday Night Live house band and basically blew everyone away.

12. Scandal

At Patty Smyth and Scandal’s 1984 tour, EVH joined them at an LA gig for two songs – “Maybe We Went Too Far” and “River Deep Mountain High”.

11. Jan Hammer, Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta

During a tribute to guitar titan Les Paul at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the group tore through “Hot for Teacher”.

10. Steve Lukather and Brad Delp

At the opening of Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo club, EVH performed with Steve Lukather and Brad Delp for “Wild Thing”.

9. All-Star Garage Band

Aside from EVH, the All-Star Garage Band featured a stellar lineup that consisted of Steve Winwood, Don Henley, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, John Mellencamp, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bobby Keys, Tony Rich, Richie Sambora, Jim Price, Narada Michael Walden, Paul Shaffer, and Max Weinberg.

8. Leslie West

They’ve been friends for years and often jammed together but in the ’90s, EVH joined West for a searing rendition of Mountain’s signature song “Mississippi Queen”.

7. Simon & Garfunkel

For Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit concert, EVH joined Simon & Garfunkel for a take on their classic “The Sound of Silence”.

6. Albert Lee and Steve Morse

At the 1991 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show, the three of them teamed up as the Biff Baby’s All-Stars.

5. Toto

At the Jeff Pocaro tribute, EVH sat in for “Hold the Line” and also powered through “Fire” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”

4. Sammy Hagar

This was before the whole world found out that Sammy Hagar would be David Lee Roth’s replacement. It was unplanned and according to Hagar, “We didn’t have time to work nothin’ up” so they ended up covering Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”.

3. Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth was one of his heroes. In 1982, they jammed together onstage. Holdsworth recalled, “He came down to our first gig at the Roxy, and I was trembling in my shoes at the thought of all the people being out there. I was talking to him afterwards, and I said, ‘We’re coming down in the afternoon to do another soundcheck. Why don’t you bring your guitar?’… We thought it would be a good idea to do a jam together at the end of the night, so we worked out one of Edward’s tunes. We finished our set, came back on and played this tune together. It was great. It was fun – kind of a nice contrast to the rest of the gig.”

2. All Star Jam

Again at the Les Paul tribute concert, David Gilmour, B.B. King, Stanley Jordan, Steve Miller, Jan Hammer, Waylon Jennings, and EVH jammed along with Les Paul himself.

1. The Jacksons

One of EVH’s more famous collaborations was when he transformed Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and added a jaw-dropping solo. EVH joined MJ on stage at a 1984 concert in Dallas for his Victory Tour.