Sammy Hagar says late Van Halen manager Ed Leffler was the glue that kept the band together. When Lefller passed away, everything fell to pieces.
Leffler managed Van Halen from 1986 to 1993, when he lost his battle with cancer. During an appearance on The Bob Lefsetz podcast, Lefsetz asked Hagar how Leffler’s death affected the band.
“It totally broke up Van Halen,” Hagar said. “Ed Leffler was the best manager on the planet. He was a one-man dog. He had [managed] Juice Newton for five minutes, but he managed Van Halen. He lived and breathed Van Halen.
“Eddie [Van Halen] and I, we never had to discuss anything between us except music ‘cuz Ed Leffler took care of it,” added Hagar. “If we had a problem, we took it to Ed, and Ed would say, ‘Well, Eddie’s not gonna like that.’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, but Ed, I wanna do this solo record. I’m gettin’ a divorce, and I could use that money to pay my wife off, so I wanna do a greatest hits record.’ And he’s goin, ‘Eddie’s not gonna like it, ya know that.’ And I’m goin, ‘Yeah, well fuck, can you fix it?’ He could fix it, right? And then nothin’ would be said…ever. I never had to talk to Eddie about it. When Ed Leffler died, I had to talk to Eddie about things, and he had to talk to me about things and, it was like, ‘What the fuck are you talkin’ about?! No fuckin’ way I’m…!!‘ Ya know? So, he kept the band together. Absolutely 100 percent.”
Listen to Sammy Hagar on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast