Eddie Van Halen
He will be remembered as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in the history of music.
(Photo: Larry Marano)
Let's tell you some facts about Eddie Van Halen, the man, and the legend:
1. He was born on January 26, 1955, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, as Edward Lodewijk Van Halen. His middle name was inspired by the classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
2. He entered the world of music with the influence of his father who played the clarinet, saxophone, and piano.
3. He's the younger brother of drummer Alex Van Halen.
4. In 1962 his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Pasadena, California.
5. Eddie and Alex started studying piano at the age of six.
6. Although they were educated on classical music, Eddie never learned to read notes and used to play by listening and improvising.
7. He was so good at playing the piano that he won a Long Beach City College piano competition four consecutive years, from 1964 through 1967.
8. Eventually when the instrument was not challenging enough for him, he started playing drums which he purchased with his own money, while his brother Alex started playing guitar.
9. When Eddie would leave the house Alex would sneak into his room and play the drums. One day Eddie came home and saw Alex playing a drum solo. Out of frustration after realizing he was not as good as his brother, he decided to switch to guitar when Alex switched to drums.
10. He devoted many hours to playing the guitar while shutting himself in his room and practicing, sometimes walking around with the guitar hanging around his neck at home and playing.
11. Eddie and Alex formed their first band "The Broken Combs" when Eddie was in fourth grade. He said that by then he already realized that he wanted to be a musician.
12. The most influential guitarists on Eddie were Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. He noted that he learned all of Clapton's solos on "Cream" by heart.
13. "Genesis", the band that would become "Van Halen", was formed by Eddie and Alex in 1972. Later they changed the name to "Mammoth" and two years later they changed the name to "Van Halen".
14. They began to gain an appreciation and an audience in the Los Angeles pub scene, when in 1976 Gene Simmons (Kiss) discovered them and decided to produce a demo tape for them.
15. Simmons passed the tape with a recommendation to Kiss' record company, but they foolishly replied that the band had no chance of succeeding.
16. By the way, Alex and Eddie played in the demo for the song "Christine Sixteen" from Kiss' "Love Gun" album.
17. Eventually in 1977 "Warner" decided to sign them on a recording contract.
18. The debut album "Van Halen" was released in 1978. Already then Eddie's virtuoso abilities were discovered, including in the solo "Eruption" which featured his amazing playing and especially the great technique with finger tapping, which became very popular thanks to him.
19. The album became one of the most successful debut albums, whose impact on the hard rock and heavy metal scene was substantial.
20. In 1984, Eddie demonstrated his keyboard skills on "MCMLXXXIV (1984)", particularly the keyboard riff in "Jump", the band’s first and only song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
21. "Jump" earned the band a Grammy nomination in 1985 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album "MCMLXXXIV (1984)" reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, unable to displace Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" from the top.
22. Eddie played an amazing guitar solo in Michael Jackson's song "Beat It", from the same album. See here:
23. Eddie and his band topped the Billboard 200 with their next album, "5150", their first with singer Sammy Hagar. The number refers both to Eddie’s private studio and to a section of California law concerning involuntary psychiatric detention for assessment and treatment for up to 72 hours.
24. The band won a Grammy in 1992 for its 1991 album "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", in the Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal category. The album title’s initials spell F.U.C.K.
25. The sound of the guitar whistling in the opening of the song "Poundcake" from the album was achieved by an electric screwdriver that Eddie Van Halen operated very close to the guitar's pickups. See here:
26. In 2001 Eddie announced that he had cancer of the tongue. A year later he announced that he had recovered after part of his tongue was removed. He claimed the cancer was due to him holding metal guitar picks in his mouth for years. The cancer later returned, this time in the throat.
27. After he heard in 2004 how Dimebag Darrell admired him, he made sure that one of his guitars (the famous Bumblebee guitar with the stripes in yellow and black) that Dimebag loved, would be placed in Dimebag’s coffin. Eddie intended to make a copy for Dimebag but after his murder, Eddie noted that Dimebag Darrell's playing was so original, that he only deserves the original guitar.
28. In 2006 Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen joined "Van Halen". He replaced Michael Anthony playing bass.
29. The term "Brown Sound" was coined by him. The term describes Eddie's unique guitar sound which tried to sound like Alex's snare drum, hot and big. Eddie defined it as a brown sound.
30. Three patents in the field of guitar are registered in Eddie's name. "musical instrument support", "stringed instrument with adjustable string tension control" and "guitar peghead".
31. Eddie and Alex co-wrote "Humans Being" with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony for the "Twister" soundtrack. Eddie and Alex also wrote the instrumental "Respect the Wind" for the film.
32. Eddie was a guest on one of the episodes of the series "Two and a Half Men", see here:
33. Eddie also participated in Brian May's "Star Fleet" Project.
34. According to Tony Iommi, Eddie joined "Black Sabbath" during rehearsals and contributed ideas to "Evil Eye" from "Cross Purposes". He also recorded a solo during rehearsals, but that solo did not appear on the released album; Iommi said he tried to recreate some of Eddie’s playing.
(Source: Wordpress.com)
35. Eddie released 12 studio albums with "Van Halen". According to Rhino, the band had sold more than 80 million records by 2017, a figure covering its overall record sales rather than studio albums alone.
36. During their career, Eddie and the band took 13 songs to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
37. "Van Halen" was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, with Eddie included among the band members inducted.
38. The band is ranked 7th on VH1's 100 Biggest Hard Rock Bands.
39. According to Guinness World Records, "Van Halen" received $1.5 million for its appearance at the "US Festival" on May 29, 1983.
40. In 2012, Eddie was voted the greatest guitarist of all time in a "Guitar World" readers’ poll.
41. His solo piece "Eruption" was voted the greatest guitar solo of all time in a "Guitar World" readers’ poll in 2013.
42. Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020, after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 65.
43. On November 16, 2020, Wolfgang Van Halen - Eddie's son released the song "Distance" under the name "Mammoth WVH". The song was dedicated to his father and the video clip includes exciting family footage of the two.
44. On September 23, 2022, "Red Hot Chili Peppers" released "Eddie", a tribute to Eddie Van Halen. Guitarist John Frusciante commented on his love for Eddie and the way players like him could make the guitar explode through their playing techniques.
45. On July 14, 2023, an expanded edition of "Star Fleet Project" by Brian May and friends brought out additional recordings from the original April 1983 sessions with Eddie, revealing more performances and solos from their collaboration.
46. In October 2024, Alex Van Halen published his memoir "Brothers", written with Ariel Levy. It revisits their childhood, musical journey and relationship as a personal tribute to Eddie after his death.