Today the music world suffered a tragic loss, as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, pioneer Eddie Van Halen, passed away at 65, after a battle with cancer. While Eddie was never a guest, HPR All Things Considered Host Dave Lawrence did have a chance to speak with Robert "Kool" Bell, bassist and founder of Kool & The Gang, who has a special connection to VH.
It’s hard to quantify his impact on the instrument, or pop music itself, from the decades of Van Halen music, to critical projects beyond the band, like providing the guitar solo for Michael Jackson’s Beat It. Van Halen made history in 2012 by inviting the legendary funk and R&B band Kool & the Gang to open for them on one of their handful of reunion tours with David Lee Roth. The genre-bending tour was like nothing in the contemporary era, with a classic funk band playing on the same bill with a classic hard rock band. We offer highlights of that conversation, recorded in May 2012 before a Van Halen/Kool and The Gang show in Vancouver, to remember Eddie Van Halen.
See the complete interview with Kool:
