Van Halen

Van Halen (/væn ˈheɪlən/ van HAY-len) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.From 1974 to 1985, Van Halen consisted of guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter Eddie Van Halen, his older brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, lead vocalist David Lee Roth, and bassist Michael Anthony. Released in February 1978, the band's self-titled debut album reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200 the following month, and 18 years later, in 1996, had sold over 10 million copies in the United States, achieving a Diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By 1982, the band had released four more albums: Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), and Diver Down (1982), all of which have over time been certified multi-platinum. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was among the most commercially successful rock acts. The album 1984, released in January 1984, was a commercial success with, by February 1999, U.S. sales of 10 million copies and four successful singles. Its lead single, "Jump", was the band's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.In 1985, Roth left the band to embark on a solo career and was replaced by former Montrose lead vocalist Sammy Hagar. With Hagar, the group released four U.S. number-one, multi-platinum albums over the course of 11 years: 5150 in 1986, OU812 in 1988, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in 1991, and Balance in 1995. The group released a double-platinum live album, Live: Right Here, Right Now, in 1993. Hagar left the band in 1996, shortly before the release of the band's first greatest-hits collection, Best Of – Volume I. Former Extreme frontman Gary Cherone replaced Hagar and recorded the commercially unsuccessful album Van Halen III with the band in 1998, before the two parted ways in 1999. Van Halen went on hiatus until reuniting with Hagar in 2003 for a worldwide tour in 2004 and the double-disc greatest hits collection, The Best of Both Worlds (2004). Hagar left Van Halen again after the 2004 tour. Roth returned in 2006, but Anthony was replaced on bass guitar by Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen. In 2012, the band released their final studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, which was critically and commercially successful. It was also the band's first album with Roth in 28 years and the only one to feature Wolfgang. Eddie was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and died of the disease on October 6, 2020. A month after his father's death, Wolfgang confirmed that Van Halen had disbanded.As of March 2019, Van Halen is 20th on the RIAA's list of best-selling artists in the United States; the band has sold 56 million albums in the U.S. and more than 80 million worldwide, making them one of the best-selling groups of all time. As of 2007, Van Halen is one of only five rock bands with two studio albums to sell more than 10 million copies in the United States and is tied for the most multi-platinum albums by an American band. Additionally, Van Halen has charted 13 number-one hits on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. VH1 ranked the band seventh on its list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists".The Van Halen brothers were born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Alex Van Halen in 1953 and Eddie Van Halen in 1955, sons to Dutch musician Jan Van Halen and Indonesian-born Indo Eugenia Van Beers. The family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. Eddie began learning classical piano by ear, and became so proficient he won an annual piano recital contest two or three years in a row, despite never mastering sight-reading sheet music. The brothers began playing music together in the 1960s, with Eddie on drums and Alex on guitar. However, while Eddie was delivering newspapers to pay off his drum set, Alex secretly developed a passion and proficiency at them. Eventually, out of frustration and brotherly competition, Eddie told Alex, "OK, you play drums and I'll play your guitar."

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.