Former VAN HALEN Members SAMMY HAGAR And MICHAEL ANTHONY Pay Tribute To VINNIE PAUL

June 23, 2018

Former VAN HALEN members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have paid tribute to ex-PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who died on Friday (June 22) at the age of 54.

Hagar wrote on Twitter: "Vinnie has been at nearly every birthday bash in Cabo from the beginning. I was at the cantina in Cabo late last night when I got the news. It sure is hard to believe. Great drummer, great guy and a great friend. Very sad."

Anthony added on Facebook: "So sad and heartbroken to hear of the death of my good friend Vinnie Paul. A great friend, human being, and incredible drummer. R.I.P. brother."

In a 2015 question-and-answer session at the DFW Acura Performance Showroom in Dallas, Texas, Vinnie Paul said that VAN HALEN was "a huge influence" on him when he first started playing drums. "Eddie and Alex [Van Halen] inspired me and my brother [late PANTERA and DAMAGEPLAN guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott] so much," he said. "It was really just unbelievable the parallels that we had between ourselves."

In a lasting sign of deep respect, Eddie Van Halen donated the black-and-yellow tape-striped guitar pictured on the back cover of "Van Halen II" to be buried with Dimebag.

Vinnie passed away in Las Vegas, where he owned a home. No other details of his death were immediately available.

Vinnie has been at nearly every birthday bash in Cabo from the beginning. I was at the cantina in Cabo late last night when I got the news. It sure is hard to believe. Great drummer, great guy and a great friend. Very sad.https://t.co/ieHMsqi8rw
— Sammy Hagar (@sammyhagar) June 23, 2018

So sad and heartbroken to hear of the death of my good friend Vinnie Paul. A great friend, human being, and incredible drummer. R.I.P. brother.
Posted by Mad Anthony's Cafe on Saturday, June 23, 2018

Find more on Van halen

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).