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Van Halen

Van Halen (/væn ˈhlɛn/ van HAY-len) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene,[2] Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances[3] and for the virtuosity of its guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.[4][5] The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

This article is about the band. For their self-titled debut album, see Van Halen (album). For other uses, see Van Halen (disambiguation).

From 1974 to 1985, Van Halen consisted of Eddie Van Halen, Eddie's brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, lead vocalist David Lee Roth, and bassist and vocalist Michael Anthony.[6] Upon its release in 1978, the band's self-titled debut album reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and would sell over 10 million copies in the United States, achieving a Diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By 1982, the band released four more albums: Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), and Diver Down (1982), all of which have since been certified multi-platinum. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was among the most commercially successful rock acts.[7] The album 1984, released in the eponymous year, was a commercial success with U.S. sales of 10 million copies and four successful singles. Its lead single, "Jump", was the band's only number one single on the Billboard Hot 100.


In 1985, Roth left the band to embark on a solo career and was replaced by former Montrose lead vocalist Sammy Hagar. With Hagar, the group released four U.S. number-one, multi-platinum albums over the course of 11 years: 5150 in 1986, OU812 in 1988, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in 1991, and Balance in 1995. Hagar left the band in 1996 shortly before the release of the band's first greatest hits collection, Best Of – Volume I. Former Extreme frontman Gary Cherone replaced Hagar and recorded the commercially unsuccessful album Van Halen III with the band in 1998, before parting ways in 1999. Van Halen then went on hiatus until reuniting with Hagar in 2003 for a worldwide tour in 2004 and the double-disc greatest hits collection, The Best of Both Worlds. Hagar again left Van Halen in 2005. Roth returned in 2006, but Anthony was replaced on bass guitar by Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen. In 2012, the band released their final studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, which was commercially and critically successful. It was also Van Halen's first album with Roth in 28 years and the only one to feature Wolfgang.


As of March 2019, Van Halen is 20th on the RIAA's list of best-selling artists in the United States; the band has sold 56 million albums in the U.S.[8][9] and more than 80 million worldwide, making them one of the best-selling groups of all time.[10][11][12] As of 2007, Van Halen is one of only five rock bands with two studio albums to sell more than 10 million copies in the United States[13] and is tied for the most multi-platinum albums by an American band. Additionally, Van Halen has charted 13 number-one hits on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. VH1 ranked the band seventh on its list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists".[14] Eddie was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, and died of the disease on October 6, 2020.[15][16][17] A month after his father's death, Wolfgang confirmed that Van Halen had disbanded.[1]

History

1972–1977: Formation and early history

The Van Halen brothers were born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Alex Van Halen in 1953 and Eddie Van Halen in 1955,[18] sons to Dutch musician Jan Van Halen and Indonesian-born Indo Eugenia Van Beers. The family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. Young Edward began learning classical piano by ear, and became so proficient he won an annual piano recital contest 2 or 3 years in a row, despite never mastering the art of sight-reading sheet music. The brothers began playing music together in the 1960s, Eddie on drums and Alex on guitar. However, while Ed was delivering newspapers to payoff his drum set, Alex would secretly develop a passion and proficiency at them. Eventually out of frustration and brotherly competition, Ed told Alex, "OK, you play drums and I'll play your guitar."[19]


The Van Halen brothers formed their very first band, the Broken Combs, in 1964. As they gained popularity playing backyard parties and local high school functions, they changed their name first to the Trojan Rubber Co, then in 1972 to Genesis, later still to Mammoth when they discovered Genesis was already in use by a major-label British band. At this time the band included Eddie on both vocals and lead guitar and friend Mark Stone on bass. They rented a sound-system from Indiana-born, Pasadena transplant David Lee Roth for $10 per night. The loquacious, worldly, energetic son of a local ophthalmologist, Roth fronted a local R&B influenced rock band the Red Ball Jets. Roth's uncle Manny owned NYC's Bleecker street Cafe Wha? until 1968. Partly to save money, they now invited Roth to join as their lead vocalist despite previous unconvincing audition(s).[20] Ultimately Roth's charismatic "Jim Dandy" approach would be both an artistic foil to Eddie's circumspect, guitar prodigy talents as well as allowing Eddie to focus his energies on song composition.

Musical style

Van Halen's musical style has been described as hard rock,[6][128][129] heavy metal,[6][130][131][132] AOR,[133] pop rock,[134] and glam metal.[135]

 – guitar (1972–2020; his death), backing vocals (1974–2020; his death), keyboards (1979–1997); lead vocals (1972–1974)

Eddie Van Halen

 – drums, percussion (1972–2020); backing vocals (1990–1991)

Alex Van Halen

 – lead vocals, occasional acoustic guitar (1974–1985, 1996, 2007–2020)

David Lee Roth

 – bass, backing vocals (2006–2020)

Wolfgang Van Halen

(1978)

Van Halen

(1979)

Van Halen II

(1980)

Women and Children First

(1981)

Fair Warning

(1982)

Diver Down

(1984)

1984

(1986)

5150

(1988)

OU812

(1991)

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

(1995)

Balance

(1998)

Van Halen III

(2012)

A Different Kind of Truth

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

Lee Roth, David; Rollins, Henry (1997). Crazy From the Heat. Hyperion Books.  978-0-7868-6339-6.

ISBN

Macdonald, Bruno (2006). Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Quintet Publishing Limited.  0-7893-1371-5. OCLC 63515375.

ISBN

(2012). Van Halen: A Visual History: 1978-1984 (Illustrated ed.). San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452116914.

Zlozower, Neil

Scanlan, John (2012). Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock'n'roll. London: Reaktion.  9781861899538.

ISBN

Renoff, Greg (2015). Van Halen Rising. Toronto: ECW Press.  978-1-77041-263-7.

ISBN

Monk, Noel E.; Layden, Joe (2017). Runnin' With the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen. New York: Dey Street Books.  978-0-06-247412-4.

ISBN

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Official website

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Van Halen

Van Halen News Desk

VHLinks.com