The first time that producer Ted Templeman saw Van Halen playing at the Starwood in West Hollywood one night in 1977, he burst out of the club’s doors to find the nearest payphone," reports Kory Grow of Rolling Stone.

Templeman called Donn Landee, a recording engineer he worked closely with, and left several messages. “You’ve got to see this guy,” was all he could say, referring to the band’s flashy guitar player, Eddie Van Halen. At the time, Templeman was working at Warner Bros. and he had only one thought in his mind: “I had to make this deal.” He rounded up the head of the label, Mo Ostin, got him to the club the next night, and signed Van Halen immediately.

Right up until the guitarist’s death earlier this week, Templeman was in touch with Eddie. “He told me the day that he’d just had his first steroid shot,” Templeman says of Van Halen’s cancer diagnosis. “He was OK, and within two weeks, he was in the hospital. From then on, we would talk — but then pretty soon he couldn’t talk. He would send me texts every day. ‘Oh, God. The chemo’s terrible.’ Then it got down to the point where he would just send little hearts at the bottom of a text. ‘I love you, Ted,’ and that stuff. One time, he texted, ‘Ted, you were the first one who ever believed in me.’ He was all medicated, too, but he was always great.”

As Templeman reflects on the many years he spent with Van Halen and how they recorded some of rock’s most indelible hits, he finds it hard to separate work memories from those of a lifelong companion. “It’s more like your friend is gone than somebody you worked with,” he says.

What was Ed’s personality like when you first met him?
"He was really, really shy. Once he got his own studio going, he got really creative. It was great to see all that happening."

How was he the first time you got him in the studio?
"Here’s the big trick recording Ed: Just stick a mic in front of his amp because he already had a great sound, period. You didn’t have to do anything. Maybe a little EQ. When we did that first demo, we laid down 30 songs in one day, because I wanted to hear everything. After doing that, I decided, “We’ve got to do a [proper] deal,” so we went right in the studio. After that, anytime the red light would go on, it made him a little nervous. He was a little uneasy. But he never made a mistake ever. He played perfectly. He almost always played his solos live in almost every song. He’d be playing the chords and he’d knock the solo right down and he’d go right through. We never overdubbed the solos. It was pretty amazing."

At what point in all of that did you have the “Eruption” moment, where you heard him and Alex and said, “We’ve got to record that”?
"I walked out to use the restroom or get a coffee on the outside of Sunset Sound, and I heard him playing. It sounded like something you could only play on an organ, like a Bach fugue. I couldn’t believe it was coming from a guitar. I was like, “What is that?” He was like, “Oh, it’s nothing. Just something I warm up with before a show.” I yelled at Donn, “Roll tape!” And he said [flatly], “I’m already rolling.” He heard me talking to Ed."

Are there a lot of outtakes? Is there much left on the cutting-room floor?
"No, they’re really, really rare. I have the very first demo we did, and we took two days. The last one is 40 songs, I think. Dave said, “That’s all we got, unless you want to hear ‘Happy Trails.'” And then they did “Happy Trails” a cappella. I still have the demo. That was it. I knew halfway through the demo the first day; I didn’t have any doubts. I just had to make sure I had a company that was behind it."

Learn more at this location.

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen died at the age of 65, following a long battle with throat cancer. BraveWords offer our sincere condolences to Eddie's family, friends, and fans.

(Photo - Greg Renoff)