In a mere one minute and 42 seconds, the axe man detonated a dazzling display of fretboard tapping, ringing harmonics, lightning-fast licks and smeared, dive-bombing effects. It was instantly apparent from “Eruption,” the solo showcase on Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album for Warner Bros., that Eddie Van Halen was an instrumentalist to be reckoned with. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss,” Wolf Van Halen tweeted.īorn in the Netherlands and raised in Pasadena, Calif., he founded Van Halen with his older brother, drummer Alex the siblings were joined by vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony in the first recording lineup of the group, which exploded after star-making gigs at such West Hollywood clubs as Gazzarri’s and the Starwood.

Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Eddie Van Halen, whose innovative and explosive guitar playing kept the hard rock band that bore his family name cemented to the top of the album charts for two decades, died on Tuesday morning after a long battle with cancer.

Eddie van halen