Glenn Hughes says that Eddie almost asked him to join Van Halen

Glenn Hughes

The singer and bassist Glenn Hughes was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, England in 1951, starting his career at an early age in 1967. He first gained fame as a member of Trapeze in the late 60s and early 70s but he really became a famous rockstar after being part of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976 recording with the band the albums “Burn” (1974), “Stormbringer” (1974) and “Come Taste the Band” (1975).

After the band came to an end Hughes was part of many other groups and focused also on his solo career. In an interview with The Classic Rock Podcast (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), the musician revealed that he was a good friend of the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen and that the Dutch-American artists almost asked him to join his group.

Glenn Hughes says that Eddie almost asked him to join Van Halen

“Well, Eddie was newly sober at that time… And we spoke about it. I had no idea. Eddie had been a friend of mine from the beginning.”

“Look… Wow… Would it have worked? I’m not sure. Unless I was completely sober. And I’ve been sober now for 24 years. Yeah, it would have been interesting, wouldn’t it? (Laughs) You never know.”

Hughes said in an interview back in 1996 with Mike Eriksson that Eddie told him in 1995 that when they were auditioning Sammy Hagar in the 80s, if he was sober at the time he would have been their choice to join Van Halen as the vocalist.

Hughes is currently on the road celebrating the anniversary of the release of Deep Purple’s “Burn”. He has scheduled tour dates for Denmark, United States, Turkey, United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico.

His most recent solo album “Resonate” was released in 2016 and the most recent ones as a band member were made with The Dead Daises. The last one is “Radiance”, that was released in 2022.

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