David Coverdale Recalls Having Tea With Jimmy Page the Last Time He Saw Eddie Van Halen
David Coverdale was asked in a new interview about the last time he saw Eddie Van Halen, and the singer shared a rather funny story.
Speaking with EonMusic, Coverdale said, “I was sitting in my hotel suite in London with Jimmy [Page]. It was like ten o’clock in the morning, and we were just having a very elegant gentleman’s cup of tea; tea pot and everything! And the door to my suite goes, and Michael McIntire, my co-producer who was working with us, he gets up and opens the door, and his jaw hits the floor because he’s like a total Van Halen fan, and Eddie goes, ‘Is David in?’ And I wasn’t under my own name!”
Coverdale continued, “And Mikey walks in and he goes, ‘Oh, it’s Van Halen‘, and Edward just pushes past, and I go, ‘Edward, how are you doing?’ And he goes, ‘Alright, great to see you… Ah! Jimmy Page! Jimmy Page!’ And, well first off, he goes to my minibar immediately at ten o’clock in the morning and takes a f—ing Heineken out, and he’s at Jimmy’s feet, and he picks up my acoustic, and he’s like, ‘How did you play this f—ing thing?!’ [laughing]. You know, it’s amazing. I had Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page sitting there, and Eddie had a Heineken, and Jimmy and I had a cup of tea!”
Coverdale was also asked if he managed to see Van Halen perform before they really broke out, and he said, “I remember seeing those guys in this watering hole in Hollywood – the Starwood, I think it was – and I think they were like the house band or whatever, and I’d go in there, get a couple of chicks, and there was nothing ever really to catch your attention, but f— me, Ted Templeman [producer] caught it, you know?”
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