Eddie Van Halen

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Eddie Van Halen was born on 26 January 1955 in Amsterdam and grew up in Nijmegen. His father was a jazz musician, his mother came from Java. In 1962 the family emigrated to Pasadena, California. Eddie and his older brother Alex had piano lessons, but became captivated by British bands such as The Beatles. Eddie began on drums, left those to Alex and switched to electric guitar. Eric Clapton was his great example.

Music and breakthrough

In 1972 the brothers formed the band Mammoth. When the singer David Lee Roth joined, the name became Van Halen in 1974. The debut album Van Halen (1978) became one of the most successful debuts in rock. On 1984, that year's album, Eddie played a synthesizer riff in Jump, and it became the band's only number 1 on the American pop chart. Outside his own band he played the guitar solo on Michael Jackson's Beat It in 1982. In doing so he also adjusted the structure of the song and refused to be paid for it.

Influence

Van Halen popularised the tapping technique, in which the guitarist plays on the neck with both hands and so creates lightning-fast arpeggios. He often built his guitars himself from separate parts, such as the red, white and black striped Frankenstrat. He is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history. In 2007 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Eddie Van Halen died on 6 October 2020 in Santa Monica, aged 65.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 2: Youth Cultures 1950-1980^NL Reader
• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader
• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Jump SongAt the end of 1983, Van Halen's Jump was released, the band of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, one of the most influential guitarists of his time.