Alex Van Halen

Van Halen was born in Amsterdam. The family name in Dutch is van Halen (with lower-case 'v') and is pronounced in Dutch as . His Dutch father, Jan van Halen (1920–1986), was an accomplished jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. His mother, Eugenia van Beers (1914–2005), was an Indo (Eurasian) from Rangkasbitung, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. to the US. Alex and his brother Eddie became naturalized U.S. citizens. Both brothers were trained as classical pianists during childhood. Although Alex is known as a professional drummer, he began his musical aspirations as a guitarist, with his brother Eddie taking up drums. After Eddie heard Alex's mastery of The Surfaris drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", he decided to learn to play the electric guitar. Alex, Eddie and three other boys formed their first band, calling themselves "The Broken Combs", while attending Hamilton Elementary School in Pasadena, in which Alex played saxophone. When Eddie was in the fourth grade, they performed at lunchtime at the school. In 1971, Van Halen graduated from Pasadena High School. == Career ==

Alex and Eddie Van Halen had several early bands before the formation of Van Halen. In addition to The Broken Combs, there were The Space Brothers, The Trojan Rubber Company, and Mammoth. Roth has claimed that it was his idea to rename the band Van Halen, and that he actually named it after Alex. In addition to his musical duties at this time, Alex handled managerial duties, such as booking gigs, and the like for the band. Their 1978 self-titled debut album Van Halen was released to much fanfare, influencing many musicians in hard rock. Van Halen had released eleven more studio albums since then, and officially disbanded a month after Eddie's death on October 6, 2020. Alex never recorded any music without his brother being involved, with Michael Anthony saying that "the only person that he plays with is Ed." The only recording Alex has made outside of the band is playing keyboards on the Eddie Van Halen instrumental "Respect the Wind", done for the Twister soundtrack and earning the Van Halen brothers a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In June 2024, Alex auctioned off all of his drum gear he had in storage for decades. This led people to believe that he will no longer be involved in music without his brother Edward on stage with him. Alex released a book called Brothers on October 22, 2024 and commenced a 3 date promotional tour. ==Equipment==

drum kit that was used on Van Halen's first album and its supporting tour. Van Halen endorses Ludwig drums, pedals and hardware, Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads and Regal Tip drumsticks. A Paiste endorser since March 1983, Van Halen, in co-operation with Paiste developed a signature ride cymbal—a 2002 24" Big ride—which Paiste introduced at the 2010 Winter NAMM Show. He also had two Ludwig signature snares. Alex has used Rototoms and octobans in the past as well as electronic drums and is renowned for using extravagantly sized drum kits that feature an on-fire orchestral gong and four bass drums, having originally used only two. Regal Tip created the Alex Van Halen signature drumsticks when he became an endorser. == Influences ==

Van Halen's main influences include Billy Cobham, Ginger Baker, Keith Moon and John Bonham, and he has cited jazz drummer Buddy Rich's work as having an early and lifelong impact. == Personal life ==

Van Halen married Valeri Kendall in June 1983, after a two-year engagement. The marriage ended in divorce two months later. In 1984 he married Kelly Carter. Their son Aric Van Halen was born October 6, 1989. The couple divorced in August 1996. Carter was sued by the band Van Halen in 2013, over her commercial use of the 'Van Halen' surname. The case was settled in 2015. Van Halen's son Aric was a member of the cross country and track and field teams of the University of Colorado, earning all-American honours in both sports, and competed in the Olympic trials for the steeplechase in 2016. Van Halen married his current wife, Stine Schyberg, in 2000. She is the mother of his son Malcolm Van Halen. Van Halen is the paternal uncle of Wolfgang Van Halen. Due to years of playing loud music, Van Halen has major hearing loss in both ears. "In 1995 Alex Van Halen complained to his stage engineer Jerry Harvey about it. He could no longer hear the band onstage and was putting his hearing in jeopardy. Harvey built a simple in-ear monitor using two speakers that were originally designed for a pacemaker. He tuned one for bass, the other for treble." == Discography ==

Other projects • "Respect the Wind" for Twister (1996) with Eddie Van Halen == Books ==