Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen
Van Halen in 2015
Background information
Birth name	Edward Lodewijk van Halen
Born	(1955-01-26) January 26, 1955 (age 62) Nijmegen, Netherlands
Origin	Pasadena, California, U.S.
Genres	Hard rock heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter producer arranger guitarist
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Warner Bros., Interscope
Associated acts	Van Halen Michael Jackson Sammy Hagar Brian May LL Cool J
Website	van-halen.com
Notable instruments
Frankenstrat Kramer 5150 Baretta Charvel VH II Ernie Ball Music Man EVH model Peavey EVH Wolfgang Ibanez "Shark" Destroyer Gibson Les Paul

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 26, 1955) is a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the American hard rock band Van Halen. He is considered one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music. In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Van Halen number eight in the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. In 2012, he was voted number one in a Guitar World magazine reader's poll for "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Born in Nijmegen, Netherlands, Edward Lodewijk van Halen is the son of Dutch father, Jan van Halen, a clarinetist, saxophonist, and pianist, and Indonesian-born Eurasian mother, Eugenia van Halen (née van Beers). Van Halen's middle name, "Lodewijk", is after composer Ludwig van Beethoven, "Lodewijk" being the Dutch equivalent of "Ludwig". He continued this tradition by naming his son Wolfgang Van Halen after composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In February 1962, the Van Halen family moved to the United States, settling in Pasadena, California. Both Eddie and his older brother, Alex, are naturalized U.S. citizens.

The Van Halen brothers learned to play the piano as children starting at the age of six. They commuted from Pasadena to San Pedro to study with an elderly man, who taught them classical piano. Although they hated the commute, they continued as their mother would discipline them if they refused to go. Van Halen revealed in an interview that he never could read the music. Instead, he learned from watching and listening. During recitals of Bach or Mozart, he would simply wing it. From 1964 through 1967, Edward won first place in the annual piano competition held at Long Beach City College. Afterward, the judges would comment that he had an interesting interpretation of the classical piece. Van Halen's view was, "What? I thought I was playing it correctly!" However, according to one interview, playing the piano did not prove to be challenging or interesting to him. Consequently, while Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing for hours every day.