Eddie Van Halen is dead: colleagues pay tribute to guitar legend

He wrote the history of music and the band that bears his name and his brother celebrated worldwide success. Now Eddie Van Halen is dead, he was 65 years old. Colleagues like John Mayer and Gene Simmons pay tribute to the genius of the guitar.

Guitar legend Eddie Van Halen is dead. The 65-year-old died Tuesday of complications from cancer, his son Wolfgang said on Twitter: “I can’t believe I have to write that, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, lost his long and hard battle with cancer this morning. “.

The Van Halen band, named for Eddie and his older brother Alex, celebrated worldwide success. His song “Jump” became a hit on the international charts in 1984 and remains a party classic today.

Eddie Van Halen was the best father she could have asked for, wrote the 29-year-old son, who played bass in the band. The rock musician died in a Santa Monica hospital in the presence of his wife Janie Liszewski and other relatives, the celebrity portal TMZ.com reported.

Industry colleagues expressed their sadness and paid tribute to Van Halen. “Eddie wasn’t just a guitar god, he was also a really good soul,” wrote Kiss rocker Gene Simmons on Twitter. John Mayer praised him on Instagram as a “superhero” on guitar: “A true virtuoso. A fantastic musician and songwriter. “As a child, I looked up to him and saw him as a role model. Rocker Tommy Lee posted photos with Van Halen on Instagram and praised him as a man” who changed the way he played guitar forever. “.

Keith Urban and Lenny Kravitz pay tribute

Country star Keith Urban praised him as a “master of complicated solos” with whom Van Halen was able to delight many listeners because he had “an excellent melody in his heart” and joy in playing. “He did things with the electric guitar like no one else,” Lenny Kravitz said, according to People.com. “He’s a trailblazer and his music is just amazing,” Kravitz wrote on Instagram. Industry giants like Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Nickelback and Duran Duran also paid tribute.

Sammy Hagar, who was the lead singer of the band in the 1980s and 1990s, wrote that he was speechless and it breaks his heart. Rocker David Lee Roth, who parted ways with the band in 1985 but returned to Van Halen in 2007, posted a photo of him and Eddie on Twitter and described their time together as a “long, great journey.”

The Van Halen brothers were born in Amsterdam and immigrated to California with their parents as children. They started playing guitar and drums at a young age, won music competitions, and eventually founded the Van Halen band while still in school.

His debut album “Van Halen” was a box office hit in 1978, sold over 10 million copies and made Eddie a star. During the following years, the brothers enjoyed success with hits such as “Eruption,” “Runnin ‘with the Devil,” “Mean Street,” “Jump,” and “Hot For Teacher.” In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. As the last of their twelve studio albums, they released “A Different Kind of Truth” in 2012.

Visible traces of excess

Musically they remained successful for decades, but in private life things did not always go well for Eddie Van Halen. He divorced his first wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli, in 2007. In 2009 he married Janie Liszewski. Over and over he spoke openly about his addiction to alcohol and drugs. He said he got rid of it later, but the excess left visible traces.

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