Eddie Van Halen

BIOGRAPHY

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen or Eddie Van Halen, as he is popularly known, was born on January 26, 1955 to Jan Van Halen, a Dutch father, and Eugenia, an Indo (Eurasian) mother, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch Van Halen family moved to Pasadena, California, from the Netherlands in 1962. Edward immediately started classical piano training, and won several talent competitions as a child . Upon their arrival in America, his parents immediately sought a piano tutor for him and his older brother, Alex Van Halen. However, playing the piano did not prove sufficiently engaging - he once said in an interview, "Who wants to sit in front of the piano? That's boring." Consequently, whilst Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing drumming. According to Eddie, while he was delivering newspapers (to pay for his drum kit) Alex would practice on it. After Eddie heard Alex's performance of the The Surfaris' drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar.

Eddie was approximately twelve years old when he started playing guitar, and practiced constantly. He has stated that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing. He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream "note for note" by age 14; in later interviews he stated he could never play the solos precisely, instead he would modify them slightly to suit his style. Eddie has many influences; most notably Eric Clapton, however he has also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.

The band Van Halen, originally called "Mammoth," was formed in 1974 in Pasadena, California. The band consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and vocals, his brother, Alex, on drums, and bassist Mark Stone. They had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth (who had auditioned for the band, but failed) - a service for which he charged $50 a night. Eddie quickly became frustrated singing lead vocals, and decided they could save money by letting Roth into the band. Soon, Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone on bass. They opted to change the name of the band, reportedly due to another band operating with the same name - Roth is normally attributed with suggesting the name 'Van Halen'. Roth stated "If you name a band "Electric Blotz" in two years you are expected to play electric blotz." Naming a band after a person [or people] does not have limits.

In 1977 Gene Simmons saw one of Van Halen's shows and subsequently financed their first demo tape, flying the band to Electric Ladyland studios in New York to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With the Devil". Eddie disliked his playing on the demo, because he wasn't using his own equipment, and had to overdub guitar parts (which he had never done before.) In 1977, Van Halen was offered a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Later that year, they recorded their first album, "Van Halen", which was released on February 10, 1978.

Van Halen went on to achieve great success, releasing a total of 6 albums: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and MCMLXXXIV (1984). However, the band had trouble working together as a cohesive unit; according to Gene Simmons' book Kiss And Make Up, Eddie Van Halen approached Simmons in 1982 about possibly joining Kiss as a replacement for Ace Frehley, who was suffering from severe substance abuse problems. According to Simmons, Eddie did so chiefly due to his personality conflicts with Roth.

Simmons persuaded Eddie to return to Van Halen, and shortly afterwards the band released the album 1984; which yielded the band's first #1 pop hit, "Jump". Other singles released from the album also sold well; particularly "Hot for Teacher", the video for which featured a skimpily dressed model playing the part of elementary-school teacher and school-age boys portraying younger versions of the band members. The album was praised by critics, peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts behind Thriller by Michael Jackson (Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on the song "Beat It" from that album).

With the arrival of former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar, the band's sound changed somewhat, as Eddie's keyboard playing became a permanent fixture, heard in songs such as "Dreams" and "Love Walks In". The change in sound prompted many fans, both positively and negatively, to refer to the band as "Van Hagar." This was a very successful time for Van Halen - eclipsing the success of the Roth years commercially. All four studio albums produced during this period reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts. However, tensions within the band again rose, and Hagar departed in 1996. Following Hagar's departure, the group briefly reunited with original singer David Lee Roth and released a Greatest Hits package in 1996. Two new songs were recorded for the album, with the single "Me Wise Magic" reaching #1 on the mainstream rock chart. However, previous disagreements resurfaced and the reunion did not last.

The band auditioned many prospective replacements for Hagar, finally settling on Gary Cherone, former frontman for Extreme, a band also represented by Van Halen's manager. Cherone predicted that the new line-up would last 'ten years'; unfortunately this would not prove to be the case; the album (Van Halen III) was received poorly. Cherone soon left the band; his departure was amicable. Once again without a lead singer, Van Halen went into hiatus.

In 2004, after several years on hiatus, Van Halen returned with Hagar as their lead singer. A greatest hits package, The Best Of Both Worlds, was released to coincide with the band's reunion tour. All bass parts on the new material on the album were played by Eddie Van Halen rather than Michael Anthony; this would prove a serious point of contention between the two. The band toured the US, covering 80 cities. Despite taking $55 million dollars, it was revealed in Rolling Stone that the promoters had actually lost money on the tour. The final date on the tour appeared to bring tensions between Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar to the surface, culminating in Eddie violently smashing his guitar before leaving the stage on the last date. Reviews of the tour differed - some reviews were enthusiastic, whereas many stated the band had poor musicianship and the concerts contained apparently drunken behaviour.

On February 2, 2007, it was officially announced on the band's website that David Lee Roth would rejoin Van Halen for their summer tour. The excitement regarding the tour waned when on February 20, 2007 reports surfaced that the tour was indefinitely postponed, and that a previously planned compilation of Roth era Van Halen hits was likewise shelved. Persistent rumors had long indicated the Van Halen brothers were in talks with Roth to rejoin the band for a tour and/or new material. In the February 2007 edition of Guitar World magazine. Regarding the news that Van Halen's 15-year old son Wolfgang is playing bass in Van Halen this coming summer (replacing Michael Anthony), Van Halen claimed his son's presence will have a positive effect on the band. Van Halen also stated in a Howard Stern interview that although Roth is a "loose cannon," he is willing to deal with that. David Lee Roth had previously stated that reuniting with the band is "inevitable".