Wolfgang Van Halen Wears His Dad’s Ashes in a Necklace

Wolfgang Van Halen had a special bond with his late father, Eddie Van Halen. While the guitar icon passed away before his son's solo career began, Wolfgang still has a part of his father with him during every show.

Wolfgang shared in his new episode of Behind the Music (as transcribed by People) that he has some of EVH's ashes in a necklace he wears whenever he performs.

"Every show I've ever played — he's with me all the time no matter what," said Wolfgang. "So even if I don't feel him spiritually I can get away with saying he's literally here with me at all times."

Wolfgang noted the pendant with Eddie's ashes also features his thumbprint. He also noted in the Behind the Music episode that he never told anyone about how he wears EVH's ashes when he performs.

As previously reported, Wolfgang's Behind the Music episode premiered on Paramount+ on May 1. His episode was part of a new slate of artists being chronicled by the popular music biography series. Paramount+ rebooted the iconic VH1 series back in June 2021. Since then, new episodes have highlighted the careers of a variety of artists, including Jennifer Lopez, LL Cool J, Ricky Martin and more.

A 15-second teaser of Wolfgang's episode is below.

In January, Wolfgang celebrated his late father, Eddie Van Halen, and his birthday by unveiling The EVH SA-126, a new guitar from EVH Gear.

Partially billed as "the brainchild of Wolfgang Van Halen," the EVH SA-126 is a semi-hollow and a solid body guitar. In a statement, Wolfgang said, "I am so proud of this instrument and the incredible team that has been working on it for years. It will be available in 4 colors and you can get your hands on it this May."

Fans can learn more about this guitar at EVHgear.com.

As expected, EVH Gear is touted by some of hard rock and metal's most prominent guitarists. Among those listed on EVH Gear's website are Code Orange's Reba Meyers, In Flames' Niclas Engelin, Bad Wolves' Doc Coyle, Judas Priest's Andy Sneap, John Sykes and Jason Hook.

In addition to a variety of guitar models, EVH Gear also produces amplifiers, cabinets, heads and other guitar accessories. EVH Gear is a subsidiary of Fender. Other Fender subsidiaries include Gretsch, Jackson, Charvel, Sunn and Squier.

Eddie Van Halen was the most influential guitarist of our generation.

Of course, flashy, fleet-fingered guitarists were a dime a dozen in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Eddie was better than all of them, but he was more than that. A songwriter, a keyboardist, a studio wizard, ¼ of Van Halen’s four-part harmony team and a band leader that was able to guide VH through losing the most distinctive frontman of the ‘80s and led them to four chart-topping albums with Sammy Hagar.

Here, we take on the tough task of ranking their top 30 songs. (It was really, really tough to cut any of the songs on the first six albums from this list.)