Eddie Van Halen's brother wants AI to complete the band's unreleased music
Eddie died in 2020 at age 65 from cancer
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex Van Halen is hoping his late brother Eddie Van Halen’s work with the band they co-founded, Van Halen, can continue on through artificial intelligence.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Alex said the band has a lot of unreleased music in their vaults, but few of the songs are finished or have vocals.
"They’re all little pieces," he told the outlet. "A bunch of licks don’t make a song."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added that the process to finish them could take years, but said he had reached out to OpenAI about possibly analyzing "the patterns of how Edward would have played something" to generate new guitar solos in his brother’s signature style.
Alex Van Halen told Rolling Stone he's reached out to OpenAI to try to generate guitar solos like his late brother Eddie's to complete their band Van Halen's unreleased music. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
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Alex said he had a singer in mind to complete the songs, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Van Halen drummer noted he and Plant haven’t spoken since 1993, but he remains optimistic.
Brothers Alex Van Halen, far left, and Eddie Van Halen, far right, formed their band, Van Halen, with singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony in the 1970s. (Fin Costello/Redferns)
"You’re gonna think I’m out of my f---ing mind," Alex said. "But when conditions are right, things will manifest."
Eddie died in 2020 at the age of 65 after struggling with cancer for several years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eddie Van Halen died in 2020 after a struggle with cancer. (Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
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His son, Wolfgang Van Halen, had been playing with his father’s band for years, taking over as the bass player when Michael Anthony stepped away in 2006. He toured with the group and played on their 2012 album, "A Different Kind of Truth."
While several changes to the lineup took place over the years, the band broke up for good in 2020 when Eddie died.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Earlier this year, Wolfgang told Atlanta radio show "The Morning X" there was "no chance" of any kind of reunion, explaining, "I don't want to play that music without my dad."
Representatives for Wolfgang did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Alex’s plans to continue Van Halen’s music with AI.
Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen, said there is "no chance" of any kind of reunion following his father's death. (Michael Buckner/Billboard via Getty Images)
"You’re gonna think I’m out of my f---ing mind, but when conditions are right, things will manifest."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex’s planned work with AI appears similar to the work country singer Randy Travis did earlier this year.
After suffering a stroke in 2013, Travis was left with aphasia, limiting his ability to speak and sing. His wife Mary does much of the talking for him, telling "CBS Sunday Morning" that he knows what he wants to say but isn’t able to get it out.
They were able to use new AI models this year to recreate his voice and release a song, titled "Where That Came From."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"When I first heard it, I couldn’t hear much because I was crying so hard," Mary told Fox News Digital on the ACM red carpet in May.
Randy Travis lost his ability to speak and sing following a stroke in 2013, but his signature voice was recreated this year thanks to artificial intelligence. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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She accompanied Travis, adding, "When Randy watched it, it was beautiful because I watched him go from listening real intently to this pensive emotion to a smile and then an all-out laughter. It was just an overwhelming feeling to hear his voice and a new song because he had heard his own voice so many times with the old songs, but this one was a brand-new one. And so it was just beautiful."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mary told The Associated Press that she and Travis were approached with the idea of using AI by Cris Lacy, Warner Music Nashville co-president, and were immediately on board.
"Well, we were all over that, so we were so excited," she said, adding, "All I ever wanted since the day of [the] stroke was to hear that voice again."
Lacy worked with developers in London to create two different proprietary AI models, one that used 12 samples of Travis throughout his career and another that used 42.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WATCH: RANDY TRAVIS AND HIS WIFE MARY CALL AI ‘MAGICAL’ FOR GIVING HIM BACK HIS VOICE
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Singer James Dupree provided a vocal demo for the AI, which then lays Travis’ voice on top of Dupree’s singing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It’s been magical. We like to call it ‘artistic intelligence’ because to watch he and [record producer] Kyle [Lehning] work together, to make this song out of 42 song stems of his, with James Dupree laying down the [vocals], it was amazing to watch," Mary told Fox News Digital at the ACMs.
Mary Travis called the experience of recreating Travis' voice through AI "magical." (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Churchill Downs)
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"And we’re hoping that AI will be used for good from now on and not pirated, not robbing from the artist," she added.