Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (/væn ˈheɪlən/ van HAY-lən, Dutch: [ˈɛtʋɑrt ˈloːdəʋɛik fɑn ˈɦaːlə(n)]; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex in 1972. Van Halen also provided backing vocals for both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, and occasionally played the keyboard.
In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Halen, not Halen.
Eddie Van Halen
October 6, 2020 (aged 65)
- American
- Dutch
- Musician
- songwriter
1964–2020
-
Janie Liszewski(m. 2009)
Alex Van Halen (brother)
Pasadena, California, U.S.
- Guitar
- keyboards
Van Halen is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history[1] and was well-known for popularizing the tapping guitar technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with two hands on the fretboard. Rolling Stone named Van Halen the 4th greatest guitarist of all time in its “The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list in 2023.[2]
Van Halen dealt with numerous health issues since the 1990s. He died in October 2020 due to complications from throat cancer.[3]
Early life[edit]
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Amsterdam on January 26, 1955,[4] the son of Jan van Halen and Eugenia (née van Beers). His father was a Dutch jazz pianist, clarinettist, and saxophonist, while his mother was an Indo (Eurasian) woman from Rangkasbitung on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).[5][6] The family eventually settled in Nijmegen, Netherlands.[7]
After experiencing mistreatment for their mixed-race relationship in the 1950s,[8] the parents moved the family to the U.S. in 1962. They settled near other family members in Pasadena, California, where Eddie and his brother Alex attended a segregated elementary school.[9] Since the boys did not speak English as a first language, they were considered "minority" students and experienced bullying by white students.[8] They began learning the piano at age six,[10][11] commuting from Pasadena to San Pedro, Los Angeles, to study with an elderly piano teacher, Stasys Kalvaitis.[12]
Van Halen was never taught to read music;[13] instead, he watched recitals of Bach or Mozart repertoire and improvised. Between 1964 and 1967, he won first place in the annual piano competition at Long Beach City College.[12] His parents wanted the boys to be classical pianists, but Van Halen gravitated towards rock music,[14] and was greatly influenced by 1960s British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five. Consequently, when Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit; however, after he heard Alex's performance of the Surfaris' drum solo on the song "Wipe Out", he gave Alex the drums and began learning the electric guitar.[14] According to him, as a teen he often practiced while walking around at home with his guitar strapped on, or sitting in his room for hours with the door locked.[15][16]
Eddie and Alex formed their first band with three other boys, called themselves The Broken Combs, and performed at lunchtime at Hamilton Elementary School in Pasadena when he was in the fourth grade. He later cited this performance as key to his desire to become a professional musician.[17] He described supergroup Cream's "I'm So Glad" on the album Goodbye as "mind-blowing".[18] He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream note for note. "I've always said Eric Clapton was my main influence," he said, "but Jimmy Page was actually more the way I am, in a reckless-abandon kind of way."[19] Speaking at an event at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2015, Van Halen discussed his life and the American Dream, saying "We came here with approximately $50 and a piano, and we didn't speak the language. Now look where we are. If that's not the American dream, what is?"[20]
Health issues and death[edit]
Van Halen struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction throughout his life. He began smoking and drinking at the age of 12, and he stated that he eventually needed alcohol to function.[98] He entered rehabilitation in 2007,[99] and shared in a 2015 interview that he had been sober since 2008.[98]
He was diagnosed with chronic avascular necrosis in 1995. After suffering from lingering injuries from past, high-risk, acrobatic stage performances and crashes, Eddie underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999.[100] He began receiving treatment for tongue cancer in 2000. The subsequent surgery removed roughly a third of his tongue. He was declared cancer-free in 2002.[101] He blamed the tongue cancer on his habit of holding guitar picks in his mouth, stating in 2015: "I used metal picks – they're brass and copper – which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer. ... I mean, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything. But at the same time, my lungs are totally clear. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it's possible."[101]
In 2012, Van Halen underwent emergency surgery for a severe bout of diverticulitis.[102] Recovery time required due to the surgery led to postponement of Van Halen tour dates scheduled in Japan.[103] Van Halen was later hospitalized in 2019 after battling throat cancer over the previous five years, and his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli also mentioned a battle with lung cancer in an Instagram post shortly after his death.[104][105] He died of a stroke at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65, surrounded by his wife, Janie; son and current (at the time) bassist of Van Halen, Wolfgang; ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli; and brother and co-founder/drummer of Van Halen, Alex. His son, Wolfgang, confirmed his death on social media later that same day.[106][107][108] Some of Van Halen's childhood landmarks in Pasadena became memorials where fans could pay their respects.[109][110]
Legacy[edit]
In February 2017, Van Halen donated 75 guitars from his personal collection to The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a program that provides musical instruments to students in low-income schools.[111] At the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, Eddie Van Halen was honored by several former musicians he worked with. Jack White from The White Stripes, G. E. Smith, Charlie Benante from Anthrax, and Dierks Bentley gave speeches as a tribute to his career.[112] Wolfgang Van Halen also shared several personal photos between him and his father.[113] On October 10, 2020, Saturday Night Live paid tribute by playing a clip of him performing with G. E. Smith from a February 1987 show, which was hosted by Valerie Bertinelli.[114] In 2020, the Pasadena Library, located in Pasadena, California, offered several archives and documents related to Eddie Van Halen. The collection included several albums, along with photographs by Neil Zlozower, and several CDs. The library also uploaded Van Halen's albums to Hoopla.[115] On November 16, 2020, his son Wolfgang Van Halen announced on The Howard Stern Show that Van Halen would not continue as a band, saying "You can't have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen".[116] The Red Hot Chili Peppers paid tribute to Van Halen on their song "Eddie" from their 2022 album Return of the Dream Canteen.[117]