The Life of Eddie Van Halen

On October 6th, the rock and roll world took a fatal blow. Guitar legend Eddie Van Halen passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. 

The impact that Eddie had on music is unlike any other. From his revolutionary guitar riffs on songs like “Mean Street” and “Drop Dead Legs” to his work on the production on the multi-platinum and Grammy nominated song “Jump,” it has been proven time and time again that Eddie Van Halen is arguably one of the best musicians in recent history.

Eddie Van Halen’s success story starts on January 26th, 1955 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. At a very early age, Eddie was forced to take piano lessons. Thanks to influence from musical idols such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, Eddie’s career with the piano was short-lived because he was immediately drawn to the guitar. Not knowing how to read music, Eddie taught himself how to play. He was instantly hooked to the melodies. This love for music was also transferred over to his brother Alex Van Halen, who eventually became the drummer for Eddie’s band. 

In 1972, Eddie Van Halen made the most important decision of his young life at the time. Teaming up with now music legends David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, and Alex Van Halen, the band ‘Van Halen’ was formed. This revolutionary style of band brought a new life to what people considered rock and a new genre of music was born. Hard rock took the world by storm, pushing its agenda and highly addictive personality onto so many other new bands at the time such as Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Cinderella.

In an interview with the magazine “MusicRadar,” Eddie Van Halen can be quoted saying, “There are no rules.” After living his life the way that he wanted to, success and happiness forced its way around him. This allowed him to not only perform for himself, but also for others, for the people who looked up to him, the people who saw him as one of the greats. Eddie Van Halen will be deeply missed in the wo