The world of hard rock and heavy metal has suffered a tremendous loss. Edward Van Halen, guitarist and namesake for Van Halen, has passed away, following complications stemming from a long-term battle with throat cancer. The news broke Tuesday afternoon, after his son Wolfgang broke the news via social media.
Born on January 26, 1955 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Edward Lodewijk van Halen was born into something of a musical family, as his father Jan played clarinet, saxophone, and piano. In 1962, the family immigrated to the United States, settling in Pasadena, California. Eddie was something of a prodigy when it came to music, as he has been on record saying that he never learned how to read music. Eventually, Eddie picked up his first guitar, after becoming bored with piano, and his brother Alex started learning the drums.
The eventual band Van Halen became a fixture of the music scene in the area, and by 1978, the band’s debut self-titled album came to be. It was on this record that hard rock got some of its greatest songs, such as “Runnin’ With The Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love,” and of course, the sub-two minute guitar solo that was “Eruption.” Eddie is widely credited as the originator of the two-hand tapping guitar solo, a style that would go on to influence guitar players for decades after, namely Dan Jacobs of Atreyu, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, and Joe Satriani. Over the next several decades, twelve studio albums, and through several line-up changes, the band left an indelible mark on the hard rock world, thanks in no small part to Eddie’ s ground-breaking guitar playing.
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