Eddie Van Halen

b. Born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen on January 26, 1955

Hailing from Holland, Eddie and Alex Van Halen came to the United States in 1962. Both brothers were very interested in playing musical instruments, however, those instruments that we have come to know them excelling at were in fact not their first instrument of choice. Eddie began playing drums, which he paid for by delivering papers, and Alex began on guitar. By the mid ‘70s, having long since switched instruments they formed a band called Mammoth, with David Lee Roth on vocals and Michael Anthony on bass. They soon changed the name to Van Halen and were quickly discovered by Gene Simmons of KISS.

Eddie also began custom building his own guitars, while using the shape of a Fender Stratocaster, he would cover the body of his guitar in strips of tape to create a wild design that would become another of his trademarks. Although he was associated with Kramer Guitars throughout the '80s, Ed created his own line of guitars for first, the Ernie Ball Company in the early '90s, before switching to Peavey in the mid-'90s.

By 1978 Van Halen was released on the Warner Brothers Record label. From there, a string of multi-platinum hit albums. 1984 would be the last album that would feature Roth on vocals. In 1985, Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen as lead singer, and the band's next album, 5150, took them to the No. 1 spot on the charts, a first for the band. The band had hit after hit with Hagar in front. Their next 2 albums, OU812 (1988) and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), also were number 1's on the chart.

Eddie has also appeared on other artist's recordings -- his most famous being an uncredited solo on Michael Jackson's 1983 monster hit, "Beat It," as well as collaborations with Queen's Brian May (1983's Star Fleet Project) and Roger Waters (the track "Lost Boys Calling" from 1999's The Legend of 1900 soundtrack).

In recent years, Edward divorced his wife of 20 years, Valerie Bertinelli, battled tongue cancer, and had hip replacement surgery.

Click here to download the Eddie Van Halen 1024x768 image.

Click here to return to the Hall Of Fame.

All star salute to Eddie Van Halen