Famed rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, 65 (born 11 days after I was in 1955), died today after a five-year battle with throat cancer. He is best remembered as the lead guitarist of the band of his last name. He founded the group with drummer and brother Alex, singer David Lee Roth, and bassist Mark Stone. It changed personnel over the years. The band had considerable success for many years and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Van Halen's style wasn't my cup of tea, but then again I wasn't much into metal or much of any of that. However, the band was huge for many years.
Van Halen was once married to actress Valerie Bertinelli and had a son with her, Wolfgang, who was devastated over his father's death. Van Halen did remarry in 2009. He had battled alcoholism and substance abuse for many years. He was no stranger to cancer, either, having had cancer of the tongue in 2000 and had about a third of his tongue removed.
Rolling Stone:
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Nijmegen, Netherlands, on January 26th, 1955, a year and half after his older brother, Alex. His father, Jan, was gifted at the clarinet, saxophone, and piano. “It was difficult to make money playing his type of music,” Eddie told Rolling Stone in 1995. “So he joined the [Dutch] air force band, and he played marches. Every morning at six o’clock he’d have to go up there freezing his ass off and play marches. We’d listen to all those march records, and Al and I would parade around the table in the living room and take pots and pans, doing all that kind of stuff. And at night we’d hear him playing classical music downstairs. He loved classical and jazz.”
The family immigrated to America when Eddie was eight and settled in Pasadena, California. An infatuation with the Dave Clark Five caused Eddie to take up the drums, while Alex tried his hands at guitar. One fateful day, frustrated that he couldn’t nail the Surfaris’ “Wipe Out” on the drums, Eddie swapped instruments with Alex, and the change stuck.
The duo formed a series of bands in the early 1970s with names like the Broken Combs, the Trojan Rubber Company, and Genesis, but never got significant traction until they came across the charismatic son of a wealthy doctor named David Lee Roth. “Roth was the only guy who had a PA,” Eddie said. “We were renting his PA every weekend for $35 and getting $50 for the gigs. So it was cheaper to get him in the band.”
Vintage guitar solo:
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