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 brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, lead vocalist David Lee Roth, and bassist Michael Anthony. Upon its release in 1978, the band's self-titled debut album reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and 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 been certified multi-platinum. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was among the most commercially successful rock acts. The album 1984, released in the eponymous year, was a commercial success with 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 parting 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 again left Van Halen after the tour in 2004. 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^[update], 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^[update], 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 Ed 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."

The Van Halen brothers formed their first band, the Broken Combs, in 1964. As they gained popularity playing backyard parties and local high school functions, they changed their name first to the Trojan Rubber Co, then in 1972 to Genesis, later to Mammoth when they discovered Genesis was already in use by a major-label British band. At this time the band included Eddie on both vocals and lead guitar and friend Mark Stone on bass. They rented a sound-system from Indiana-born Pasadena transplant David Lee Roth for $10 per night. Roth fronted a local R&B influenced rock band the Red Ball Jets. Roth's uncle Manny owned Cafe Wha? in New York City until 1968. Partly to save money, they invited Roth to join as their lead vocalist despite previous unconvincing auditions. Ultimately Roth's charismatic "Jim Dandy" approach would be both an artistic foil to Eddie's circumspect, guitar prodigy talents as well as allowing Eddie to focus his energies on song composition.

In 1973, Mammoth changed its name to Van Halen. According to Roth, this was his idea. He felt it was a name that held long-term identity, artistic and marketing advantages, like Santana. They continued to play Pasadena, San Bernardino, and Venice at clubs, festivals, backyard parties and city parks like Hamilton, drawing up to 2,000 people. Traffic jams and noise complaints to the local police often ensued, as far away as San Pedro. Van Halen subsequently played clubs in Los Angeles and West Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity through self-promotion, passing out flyers at local high schools. This tenacious self-promotion soon built them an auspicious, loyal, area following.

By 1974, Roth had been in the band for about a year, and they decided to replace the ambivalent Stone, who was unsure about a career in music. Michael Anthony Sobolewski, a Pasadena college music-classmate of Eddie's, joined the group after an all-night jam session. He had sung and played bass in a number of less successful Arcadia backyard-party bands, including Snake. Although he was hesitant, his bandmate in Snake encouraged him to seize this opportunity. Also in 1974, the band had a major break when it was hired to play regularly at the Sunset Strip club Gazzarri's. The Doors had "broken" there in the late 1960s. Owner Bill Gazzarri had previously claimed Van Halen was too loud for the venue. However, their new managers, Mark Algorri and Mario Miranda, took over the club's hiring and booked them through 1976.^{[citation needed]} By the Spring of 1975, they were the regular Tuesday night band at Myron's Ballroom. They had succeeded in becoming a staple of the Los Angeles music scene during the mid-1970s, playing at clubs like the Whisky a Go Go on Sunset Strip.