That time Nicolette Larson told me that her mystery lead-guitar player was Eddie Van Halen

By Steve Newton

Today (July 17, 2024) would have been American pop vocalist Nicolette Larson’s 72nd birthday.

She was best known for “Lotta Love”, the catchy, Neil Young-penned #1 single she recorded on her 1978 debut album, Nicolette.

Sadly, the beautifully gap-toothed singer with the astonishingly long hair passed away on December 16, 1997, as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema triggered by liver failure.

She was only 45 years old.

Fortunately for me, though, I got to interview her once back in early 1983, when she called me from the L.A. apartment she was sharing with her good friend Linda Ronstadt.

At one point in the conversation I asked Nicolette about a song off her 1978 debut LP called “Can’t Get Away From You”. The album’s liner notes credit such players as Little Feat‘s Bill Payne and Paul Barrere for keyboards and guitar respectively, but there’s a question mark where the name of the lead guitarist should be.

Of course, as soon as you hear the guitar solo–which kicks off at around the two-minute mark–it’s pretty obvious that the mystery picker is none other than Eddie Van Halen. (Another tip could have been the fact that the album was produced by famed Van Halen knob-twiddler Ted Templeman.)

“He didn’t want his name used because they were Van Halen and that’s all there was to it,” explained Nicolette.

“That was when they were just starting,” she added, “and they were very much into being just Van Halen and nothing else.”

Unfortunately, I can’t find the ancient cassette tape I used to record my interview with Nicolette Larson, but to hear the full audio of my 20-minute interview with Eddie Van Halen’s big brother Alex subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can also eavesdrop on more than 400 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.