ET spoke with the KISS singer on Tuesday, shortly after news broke that Van Halen died following a long battle with cancer.
at the age of 65 following a long battle with cancer. Simmons shared how he felt when he heard the tragic news, and opened up about why Van Halen's death impacted so many people around the world.
Throughout the interview, Simmons recalled some of his favorite moments with Van Halen over the years, including the first time he ever heard the iconic rock musician play guitar. He says it was sometime around the year 1977, before the Van Halen rock band blew up. While Simmons did produce a Van Halen demo tape shortly after hearing them play that night, he told ET he does not take credit for"discovering" the band, as some fans and music outlets claim.
Another quality that Simmons found admirable about Van Halen was his ability to remain humble even after becoming a massive rock star. Simmons told ET that even after the band produced some of their most famous hits, like"Jump,""Panama" and"Runnin' With the Devil," Van Halen seemed"I have to say, it is humbling for a guy that is full of himself, like me," Simmons joked.
"KISS was in the studio and Van Halen had already become a very big band. Eddie was unhappy within the band [at the time], every band goes through that," Simmons recalled."Eddie called and said that he wanted to come down, to tell me that he wasn't happy with some members of the band and he wanted to join KISS."
"We're going, 'That's cool. What is that, a synthesizer?'" Simmons said."He goes, 'Yeah, it's called 'Jump.'"
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