Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell Nearly Sang for Van Halen

Van Halen has had a number of singers over the years. Among those considered for the role, bassist Alex Van Halen says, were Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell.

In approximately 2001, singer-less Van Halen eyed Osbourne. Both Alex and Eddie Van Halen met with the Black Sabbath singer’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne to discuss a potential album with Ozzy as lead singer.

“When you get a dog, you don’t expect it to be a cat,” Alex recently told Rolling Stone. “When you get an Ozzy, you get Ozzy. Play the music, he’ll sing, and it’s gonna be great.”

But not long after that, the Osbourne’s launched their reality show and the Van Halen plans went unrealized.

“Yes, we were discussing it,” Ozzy confirmed to Rolling Stone. “It is something that if it had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal. Eddie and Alex were great friends of mine for a very long time and it’s a regret of mine that we never got it together. The Osbournes got in the way of creating new music at that time, unfortunately.”

Another Option

Alex also said Cornell seemed like a solid option at one point. Though he wasn’t able to recall exactly when, he remembered jamming with Cornell and thinking the Soundgarden frontman could be a good fit for Van Halen.

“Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak,” he said. “I got behind the drums, and he started playing bass. We played for 45 minutes. This motherfucker got so into it he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ And then he died.”

READ MORE: When Van Halen Played Their First Show on the Sunset Strip

Of course, in the end, Sammy Hagar rejoined the band for a few years, followed by the return of David Lee Roth. And as Alex sees it, Van Halen’s 1974 to 1985 lineup is the irreplaceable one: “The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike [Anthony], and me.”