At different times when Van Halen were in between singers, Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell were each in the running to front the legendary rock band. The revelation comes courtesy of Alex Van Halen’s first interview since the 2020 passing of his brother Eddie Van Halen.
While speaking with Rolling Stone to promote his new memoir, Brothers, set for release on October 22nd, Alex revealed that, on each occasion, Van Halen were deep in the process of working with Osbourne and Cornell.
Osbourne was approached in 2001, after Gary Cherone’s tenure in Van Halen ended in 1999, and prior to Sammy Hagar’s return in 2003. Alex said that he and Eddie sat down with Sharon Osbourne to discuss an Ozzy-fronted Van Halen album, but the plans fell apart upon the launch of MTV’s The Osbournes reality show.
“When you get a dog, you don’t expect it to be a cat,” Alex remarked. “When you get an Ozzy, you get Ozzy. Play the music, he’ll sing, and it’s gonna be great.”
When contacted by Rolling Stone, Ozzy confirmed the story, telling the outlet via email, “Yes, we were discussing it. It is something that if it had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal. Eddie and Alex were great friends of mine for a very long time and it’s a regret of mine that we never got it together. The Osbournes got in the way of creating new music at that time, unfortunately.”
As for Cornell, Alex couldn’t remember the exact time, but it was shortly before the vocalist’s tragic death in 2017. The drummer recalled a jam session involving himself, Eddie, and Cornell while considering the Soundgarden singer for the Van Halen position.
“Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak,” remembered Alex. “I got behind the drums, and he started playing bass. We played for 45 minutes. This motherf**ker got so into it he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ And then he died.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Alex explained why a planned Van Halen tour never happened following Eddie’s passing in 2020, with the drummer blaming David Lee Roth’s refusal to honor the guitarist as a major reason.
Alex Van Halen’s memoir Brothers is available for pre-order here.