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LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Eddie Van Halen, of the legendary hard rock group that bore his last name, died on Tuesday (October 7) after a long battle with cancer, his son announced.
“I can’t believe I have to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning,” Wolf Van Halen wrote in a Twitter message with a photo of the 65-year-old rocker. .
“He was the best father I could ask for,” he added. “Every moment that I have shared with him on and off stage was a gift.
“My heart is broken and I don’t think I will ever fully recover from this loss. I love you so much Dad.”
Born in the Netherlands and raised in California, Van Halen founded the rock group with his older brother Alex in the 1970s and quickly built a fan base.
The group, considered one of the most influential American rock groups of all time, is known for classics such as “Jump,” “Panama,” “Runnin ‘with the Devil,” and the guitar solo “Eruption.”
Van Halen has sold more than 75 million albums and has more number one hits on the US rock chart than any other artist, according to the band’s label.
Van Halen’s 1984 album “1984” was to be the band’s high point, giving them their only number one single “Jump”.
‘I didn’t drink for the party’
Creative tension within the band boiled over during the “1984” tour, with Eddie Van Halen and original frontman David Lee Roth squabbling. Roth left the band in April 1985.
One of his complaints with Eddie Van Halen was reportedly his outside job which included acting on Michael Jackson’s 1983 single “Beat It.”
However, Van Halen announced a reunion tour in 2007 with Roth performing with the group for the first time in 22 years.
Another tour planned in 2012 had to be canceled after Eddie Van Halen had to undergo emergency surgery.
But the band reunited again in 2015 for an extensive North American tour.
Eddie Van Halen was known to have health problems that would interfere with his job for years.
He underwent hip surgery in 1999 and had part of his tongue removed in 2000 after he was diagnosed with lung cancer, probably due to heavy smoking.
His drug abuse and heavy drinking contributed to his 2007 divorce from television actress Valerie Bertinelli after 16 years of marriage.
“He was an alcoholic and he needed alcohol to function,” he said in a 2015 interview with Billboard magazine.
“I didn’t drink to party. Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them to work. The hit keeps you awake and alcohol lowers your inhibitions. I’m sure there were musical things I wouldn’t have tried. me in that state of mind?
Eddie Van Halen is survived by his second wife Janie Liszewski and their son.
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