Trivia

When Van Halen became successful, one of the first things Eddie and his brother Alex did with their earnings was to tell their father he could retire and take things easy for the rest of his life.

October 2012. After an extensive seven-month reader's poll face-off contest (500,000 votes), Guitar World magazine declares: Eddie Van Halen "Greatest Guitarist of All-Time".

Eddie Van Halen was the younger son of Eugenia (van Beers) and Jan van Halen, and the younger brother of Alex Van Halen. His father was Dutch and his mother was from Rangkasbitung, on the island Java, Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Eugenia was of Indonesian, Dutch, and one eighth Italian, descent. Jan van Halen was an accomplished sax and clarinet musician in his own right. He appeared on clarinet on "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" on the "Diver Down" album (released on April 14, 1982). The family moved to the USA, settling in Pasadena, California, in 1962. The boys spoke no English when he and his family arrived in the USA.

Was a recovering alcoholic. Eddie's father died of complications from alcoholism, and, reportedly, his paternal grandfather was an alcoholic also.

One of the tracks from Van Halen's self-titled debut album in 1978 includes Eddie's "Eruption" guitar solo. Eruption originally was intended to be a guitar warm-up exercise. However, one day while in the studio as Eddie was playing Eruption, the recording engineer happened to be recording. The rest is history (although Eddie reportedly didn't like the way it sounded).

Once said in an interview he built his own guitar. His Frankenstrat consisted of the body of a Fender but the double-coil pickup of a Gibson. Later, to confuse those who would try to make unauthorized copies of his Frankenstrat, he added a non-functioning single-coil pickup and extra wiring in the middle to confuse people as to how the sound was produced.

Met David Lee Roth while they both attended Pasadena Community College in the 1970s.

Liked to say that David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar's problems with the band were due to "LSD" -- Lead Singer Disease.

When he received a phone call by Quincy Jones, who asked him if he would like to record a guitar solo for Michael Jackson's song "Beat it", he thought it was a prank call. Once Jones was able to convince him that the call was genuine, Van Halen offered to record the solo free of charge. While he was recording the solo, the sound engineers were shocked to discover that the monitor speaker in the control room caught fire, to which one exclaimed "This must be really good!".

While he is often credited as inventing the "tapping" technique, this is actually incorrect. The technique had been around for many years, he merely popularized it within the rock and roll genre.

Has debuted the EVH Wolfgang guitar, which he describes as a culmination of his years of knowledge and experience with guitars. Eddie quietly road tested this new guitar during the band's recent reunion tour.

The original name of Van Halen was "Genesis". He was unfamiliar with the British band of that name at the time.

Following his death, his remains were cremated and his ashes are scattered in the ocean off Malibu, the coastal Southern California town where he lived at.

Eddie's very first guitar was a Teisco Del Ray electric with 4 pickups bought for $70.

Father, with Valerie Bertinelli, of son Wolfgang Van Halen (born March 16, 1991).

Had a reputation for being modest about his guitar talents, sometimes stating that Van Halen songs have been successfully made from guitar riffs of his that he didn't think were very good.

In 1999 he had hip replacement surgery.

August 4, 2008 - Engaged to Janie Liszewski.

Guitarist for rock group Van Halen.

Ex-son-in-law of Andrew Bertinelli and Nancy Bertinelli.

Brother-in-law of Stine Schyberg.