Daryl Hall believes Eddie Van Halen was “serious” when he asked him to replace David Lee Roth as Van Halen’s lead singer.
The Hall and Oates star has confirmed speculation that he was asked to join the ‘Jump’ band by the late guitarist.
Speaking on New York radio station Q104.3, he said: “I knew those guys really well.
“We actually shared some… crew and things like that. David [Lee Roth] had just left the band, and Eddie [Van Halen] asked me, ‘Do you wanna join Van Halen, man?’”
However, he turned down the offer.
Daryl added: “He was half-joking, but I think he was serious. I really do believe he was serious, and I took it seriously. I said, ‘Man, I think not. I think I’ve got my own s*** going on.’”
David quit the heavy rock group in 1984 to pursue a solo career, despite them being one of the most successful bands of the time, and Sammy Hagar was hired by the group in a bid to reinvent their career.
David reunited with his bandmates in 2007, and appeared on the 2012 LP ‘A Different Kind of Truth’.
Eddie passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in October 2020 at the age of 65.
Sammy had confirmed that he had been in talks about joining a Van Halen reunion tour with Eddie, Alex Van Halen and David before the axe-slayer’s passing.
He said: “Eddie and Al and Irving Azoff, their manager [and] my dear friend, we were looking at doing the reunion tour with everybody, which is the way it had to be. I’ve been pushing for that for 10 years. I was ready to put [any differences] aside. Let’s go give the fans the biggest band in the world, you know what I mean? You don’t get bigger than Van Halen, and the fans deserve to see it all, hear every song.”