Eddie Van Halen’s death came as a shock to the world on Oct. 6, 2020. Often credited as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Van Halen and his brother, Alex Van Halen, formed the band that would share their name in 1972. Eddie’s playing became one of the defining sounds of the late 1970s and 1980s, with the band featuring heavily on MTV and ushering a wave of big hair and hard rock to the forefront of pop music.
News of Eddie Van Halen’s death broke on social media when his son, Wolfgang Van Halen, tweeted that his father, quote, “lost his long and arduous battle with cancer.”
As the world comes to grips with the loss of a music industry titan, people are looking back on what Eddie Van Halen left behind, including a touching final post on social media.
Though Eddie Van Halen was not a particularly active social media user, he did take to Instagram and Twitter every once in a while to share good news and life updates mostly posting about his family. Eddie’s final post on both platforms was not about himself, but actually went out to his brother and bandmate, Alex Van Halen, wishing him a happy birthday on May 8, 2020.
It’s fitting that Eddie’s final message was to his brother, as the two spent their entire lives making music together, playing to sold out audiences around the world for nearly five decades.
The brothers were both born in Amsterdam, and moved to California as children, where they learned guitar and drums at the prompting of their father, who was a professional musician himself.
And the band Van Halen remained a family affair right to the end, with Eddie’s son Wolfgang joining the group in 2006 on bass while still a teenager.
Fittingly, just as Eddie’s last social media posts were a shout out to his brother, his next-to-last Instagram message was to his son.
On Mar. 16, 2020, Eddie shared a baby picture of Wolfgang, with warm wishes for his birthday. He captioned the photo,
“The Best Day Of My Life. Happy Birthday Wolf! I Love You So Much!! Your Pop ❤.”
And this birthday message for his son wasn’t just a one-time deal — Eddie made sure to take to social media year after year to guarantee the whole world knew how much he loved his son.
The father and son duo were very close, making Wolfgang’s message about his father’s death on social media that much sadder. Wolfgang wrote, in part,
“He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.”
There was one other member of his family that Eddie Van Halen regularly posted about on social media: his beloved dog Kody. Eddie’s tiny Pomeranian was clearly the musician’s furry pride and joy. Eddie had the pup for over a decade and shared a few snippets of his life in luxury — complete with cute memes!
Kody was on hand to help his dad barbecue some hot dogs on the Fourth of July in 2017 and stick his nose up at a Thanksgiving meal that was decidedly not turkey. Kody even had his own Facebook page with more than 11,000 followers. Kody’s family frequently shares photos at home and funny anecdotes about life, keeping things light and fun despite the health struggles Eddie endured for the past several years.
In between Instagram pictures of Kody, Eddie managed to keep his social media posts upbeat and positive, spreading nothing but love around to his friends, family, and fans. His positive attitude and bright outlook on life — not to mention his immense impact on the music industry — will be greatly missed.
#EddieVanHalen
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