Mike Rutherford had secret Eddie Van Halen studio sessions

Genesis co-founder and Mike + the Mechanics’ Mike Rutherford has revealed that he owns a tape of songs he recorded with Eddie Van Halen back in the mid-1980s. Reflecting on this perhaps unlikely collaboration, Rutherford discusses his relationship with Van Halen and sheds light on how these recordings – never released publicly – came to be.

“I think Eddie heard a song from my second solo album [1982’s Acting Very Strange], which I sang – God knows how I thought of this! – and he rang me up and said, ‘Will you do some writing?’ I mean, my voice for God’s sake!” he says on My Planet Rocks.