Van Halen, Eddie (Edward Lodewijk Van Halen), 1955–2020, American rock musician and song writer, b. Amsterdam, Netherlands; his family moved to California when he was young. He and brother Alex formed the band Van Halen in 1972, with David Lee Roth on vocals. Their debut album, Van Halen (1978), sold over 10 million copies; its track “Eruption” was an instrumental in which he played a solo at lightning speed on the electric guitar using a two-handed, finger-tapping technique on the guitar neck. His virtuosic playing marked the band's albums and energetic live shows throughout its career. The band consistently produced multiplatinum albums, including Women and Children First (1980); 1984 (1984), with the hits “Jump” (their only number-one single), “Panama,” and “Hot for Teacher”; For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991); and A Different Kind of Truth (2012), the band's last studio album.
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