Nancy Wilson has shared an expanded version of her instrumental tribute to Eddie Van Halen.
Originally titled 4 Edward, when released on the Heart guitarist’s debut solo album You And Me, the extended take is titled 4 Edward With Love, and clocks in at 40 seconds longer than the original cut.
Wilson explained her connection to the late, Dutch-born guitar legend in an interview with Classic Rock earlier this year.
“We were on tour with [Van Halen] in the eighties, and Eddie told me one night after a show that he didn’t own a single acoustic guitar,” she recalled. “So I took my favourite Ovation and walked it up to his room and handed it to him. At the crack of dawn the next day – obviously he’d been up all night [laughs] – he called my hotel room and he said: ’Hey, I wrote something for you on the guitar you gave me. Check it out!’ He was probably sitting crosslegged on his bed with the receiver of the phone there, and I was just lying there and listening.
“It was a really beautiful acoustic piece. I so wish I could hear it again. Maybe it exists someplace. So on this album I thought I’d return the favour with an acoustic instrumental for him. It was such a sad day for rock’n’roll when the Einstein of guitar players had to disappear. Eddie always played with such joy. He had that three-mile smile.”
On the first anniversary of Van Halen’s passing, other rock stars have been paying tribute to his impact and legacy.
“Eddie Van Halen is the sole reason I ever dreamed of playing guitar,” says Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton. “Literally millions of people all over the world have found a passion for music through his work, and I’m grateful to have been one of them.”
