Heart’s Nancy Wilson Remembers Eddie Van Halen with Tribute Song ‘4Edward’; Rocker Died of Cancer at 65

Van Halen passed away at the age of 65 in October after a long battle with throat cancer.

In an interview with Carry On Music, Wilson explains the genesis of the touching instrumental song.  Wilson and Van Halen toured together in the 1980s and became friends.

“He complimented me on my acoustic guitar playing, which blew my mind,” Wilson said. “And I asked him, ‘Why don’t you play more acoustic?’ He said, ‘Well, I don’t really have one’ … I gave him an acoustic guitar right then and there.”

Van Halen got right to work.

“Early the next morning, O-dark-thirty, my hotel room phone rang,” Wilson remembers. “And it was Eddie playing the acoustic, playing me a beautiful piece of acoustic guitar.  Kinda classical, kinda rock, but ending with more classical.”

On 4Edward, Wilson says she “was trying to recreate what I vaguely remember hearing that distant morning in the ’80s.”

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An Incredible Cancer Journey

Van Halen passed away after three separate battles with cancer. He was first diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2000, where he had part of his tongue removed as a part of treatment. He was declared in remission in 2002. However, due to cancerous cells that had traveled from his tongue, Van Halen was later diagnosed with throat cancer around 2014.

Related: 6 Well-Known Figures Who Battled Throat Cancer, Including Eddie Van Halen, Val Kilmer, and Bob Denver

Throughout his cancer journey, Van Halen kept his health mostly private. However, his son Wolfgang shared that the rock star had also been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2017 and a brain tumor in 2019. Van Halen traveled to Germany to receive treatment for the lung cancer (which extended his expected survival time) and is said to have gone through gamma knife radiation, a type of a radiosurgery, to remove the brain tumor.

Symptoms & Causes of Throat Cancer

The two main causes of throat cancer include smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and Van Halen himself had said he'd been smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol since he was 12-years-old. However, studies have shown that there's another link to what may cause throat cancer.  A large number of throat cancer diagnoses can be caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to Dr. Ted Teknos, scientific director of UH Seidman Cancer Center, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers have gone up exponentially since the mid-90s.

Related: Wolfgang Shares Video of Dad, Eddie Van Halen, Just a Week After He Passed From Cancer, That Reveals Rocker's Dream Collaboration

"If you look at the percentage of patients who developed throat cancer, cancer of the tonsils, and the base of the tongue in the 80s compared to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300%," Dr. Teknos told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "So there is no myth. HPV causes throat cancer, and it's a sexually transmitted disease."

Currently, there is no annual screening for throat cancer like other types of the cancer. However, there are signs to look out for and consult your doctor if they happen often. Symptoms of throat cancer can include: a cough, changes in your voice, difficulty swallowing, ear pain, a lump or sore in the throat that will not heal, unexplained weight loss, and a persistent sore throat.

Dr. Ted Teknos explains how HPV is linked to throat cancer

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