Wolfgang Van Halen appeared at the 2022 Grammy Awards with his mom Valerie Bertinelli and girlfriend Andraia Allsop Sunday night. There was one other family member there in spirit – Wolf’s dad Eddie.
“I feel him so strongly right now. He’s here with us. He is,” Bertinelli told PEOPLE on the red carpet before turning to her son: “I’m not gonna make you cry too, baby. But yeah. He’s here. Thanks, Ed. It’s fun.”
Wolfgang was nominated for best rock song for “Distance”, a song he wrote in tribute to his dad.
“Everything that I do in music is for him,” Wolfgang said. “So I just do the best I can and make sure I try to make him proud in everything I do.”
You can watch the entire interview in the video above.
Michael Anthony Congratulates Wolf On Grammy Nod
Shortly after the event, Wolfgang posted his thoughts to Instagram, which were followed by some words of support from Michael Anthony.
WOLFGANG:
We came, we saw, but we did NOT conquer and that’s ok! I got to have a wonderful night with the two most important women in my world. Such an honor to be nominated for the first song I ever released on my own, in a category with artists I’ve looked up to my entire life. I don’t know if that’ll ever fully set in.
Pop didn’t win the first time he was nominated too, so it looks like I’m following in his footsteps quite nicely.
Who knows what the future holds. All I know is I’m feeling pretty damn grateful. What a wild experience this was.
Thank you to @recordingacademy for the recognition, and thank YOU for the support. Y’all mean the world to me.
MICHAEL ANTHONY:
Just to be nominated and representing the genre of music we all love is a big win in itself!! Keep rockin brother…
Foo Fighters ended up winning the Grammy for best rock song with “Waiting on a War”. Also, the Grammy-nominated song Wolfgang was referring to was “Jump”, which was nominated for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in 1984. Seven years later, however, Van Halen’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge would take home a Grammy in 1991 for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal.
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