Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen secretly made up and rekindled their friendship prior to Van Halen’s sudden passing yesterday, Metal Injection reports. The two had a famously contentious relationship and had reportedly not spoken since Hagar, who replaced lead singer David Lee Roth in 1985, left the band for good following their disastrous 2004 reunion tour.

“Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” Hagar revealed to The Howard Stern Show this morning. “We both agreed not to tell anyone, because of all the rumors it would stir up about a reunion, et cetera, and we both knew that wasn’t gonna happen. But he also didn’t want anyone to know about his health.”

“He stopped responding to me a month ago, and I figured it wasn’t good,” Hagar continued. “I reached out one more time last week, and when he didn’t respond, I figured it was a matter of time. But it came way too soon.” Read our tribute to Eddie Van Halen here and check out our list of 10 times EVH shined outside outside his main band.