2 famous bassists who said Eddie invited them to join Van Halen

It’s no secret that Eddie Van Halen wasn’t always happy with Michael Anthony as the band’s bassist on certain periods of the band’s career and he even played bass on some of the tracks released by the group, like on “Van Halen III”, where he played most of the bass parts. Even though Anthony was part of the band from 1974 to 2006, Eddie reportedly unofficially invited other bass players to join the band while Anthony was still in the group.

2 famous bassists who said Eddie invited them to join Van Halen

Billy Sheehan

The first one is Billy Sheehan, who first became known as a member of Talas and then gained even more recognition as the bassist for David Lee Roth on the first albums he released after leaving Van Halen. Eddie admired his playing and praised his skills when Sheehan was still a member of Roth’s group.

“I always have a lot to say to Michael Anthony (laughs). I always give Mike ideas. (Have you played bass on previous albums?) No, but I play bass all the time. Actually, I play fretless quite a bit. Lately I’ve written songs on bass. (I like) even, what’s his face, who plays with our old bud (Dave Lee Roth)-Billy Sheehan! He’s good. I’ve known him for years. His band Talas toured with us. Steve Vai is good, too. I’ve got no beef with him (laughs). He’s a great guitarist,” he told Guitar Player magazine in 1987.

According to Sheehan, Eddie unofficially invited him three times to join Van Halen. “I was offered the position as bassist three times through the years and I consider it a great honor. However, I am torn because I love Michael Anthony and I think he is the best bass player for Van Halen. As much as I would have loved to do that, I want to see Michael in the band. I’m not sure why they asked me to join the band. Michael is an awesome player and singer and who knows what the situation was.”

He continued:

“The first time was the tour of (1981’s) ‘Fair Warning’; we talked about it then, then I spoke about it with David Lee Roth, but I mostly spoke about it with Eddie Van Halen in Toronto, Canada. Then the second time was 1984. Eddie showed me the stage set-up; we talked about it then. Then the last time was when I got together with Eddie and Alex Van Halen at their house,” he said in an interview with Metal Voice in 2020.

One interesting thing about Sheehan is that he said he is probably one of the few musicians who had the chance to play with all the members of Van Halen from its different eras. “So at that point (when he played with Sammy Hagar at one show), I would actually become the only guy who ever played with every member of Van Halen. I’ve played with Mike, Al, and Ed, played with Dave, played with Gary Cherone, played with Sammy…”

“Then Wolfie, I didn’t actually play music with but one time on a flight home from a benefit show I did along with Van Halen, he picked up his son on the way and he wanted to sleep on a flight home, so I played with his son,” he told Breaking Absolutes in 2021. Sheehan is also well known for being the bassist of Mr. Big and other groups like Winery Dogs and Sons of Apollo.

The second bassist who said he was invited to join Van Halen is the acclaimed Jeff Berlin, who was part of guitarist Allan Holdsworth’s band, a musician Eddie was a huge fan of. He played with the bass player in the 1980s when he did a semi-seminar with Allan and played on his show.

According to Jeff Berlin, there was no official invitation, but he declined the offer. “(After playing together) Eddie Van Halen and I became friends at that time. I was invited to play in the band, an invitation which I turned down. But I think they wouldn’t have had me anyway. I don’t think David Lee Roth felt I was of an attitude to have in that band. But nonetheless, Eddie did make me that offer and I did consider it.”

“For reasons I won’t go into, I didn’t accept it. Except to say I would love to play with him today. We’re older gentlemen. He’s, to me, as great a musician as John Coltrane in that Coltrane changed everything in the way that the saxophone was viewed and the manner of playing, he originated everything. So did Eddie Van Halen.”

He continued:

“He is one of the great and unique talents that I’ve ever heard on guitar. And always felt that somebody like myself, a Billy Sheehan, someone of a more adventuresome nature, might make even Van Halen sound greater. Although I do admire what his son has done. I am quite a fan of Michael Anthony having felt that he was, even still, the perfect bass player for Van Halen. No doubt about it,” Jeff Berlin  told Make Weird Music in 2016.

Eddie admired Berlin and praised him in the ’80s, mentioning him among the bass players he liked. The late guitarist said that during those performances with Holdsworth’s band, he had no idea what they were playing, and it was Berlin who would whisper the chords to him. “It was a lot of fun considering I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was playing along with Allan’s stuff and Jeff Berlin was whispering the chords to me. I ended up playing chromatically the whole time.”

“But I surprised myself. I freaked myself out because I landed on my feet. I love doing that too, just going out and playing in weird keys and stumbling and landing on your feet. It’s a great feeling. It’s like doing a backward flip off the high dive and landing right,” he told Steve Rosen in 1983. Jeff Berlin is best known for his work in Jazz and also with artists like Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford.