Alex Van Halen
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| Alex Van Halen | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alexander Arthur Van Halen |
| Born | May 8, 1953 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Genres | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Instruments | Drums, Guitar, vocals, keyboards |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | Van Halen |
| Website | http://www.van-halen.com |
Alexander Arthur "Alex" Van Halen (born May 8, 1953) is a Dutch born- American drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen.
Originally, his brother Eddie had taken lessons for drums, while Alex practiced guitar. After spending time playing Eddie's drum kit, Alex became more skillful at the drums than Eddie.
In 1974 Alex, Eddie, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony became known as Van Halen. They were signed to Warner Brothers in 1977 and released their first album in 1978.
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[edit] Early life
Alex Van Halen was born in Nijmegen.[1] His Dutch father Jan (b. 1920) was an accomplished saxophonist and clarinet player and his mother Eugenia an Indonesian.[2] He spent his childhood in Nijmegen in the east of the country.[3] The family moved to Pasadena, California, USA, in 1962.[2]
Both Alex and Eddie Van Halen were trained as classical pianists in their childhood.[4] Although Alex is known as a professional drummer, he began his musical aspirations as a guitarist, with his brother Eddie taking up drums.[2] While Eddie was delivering newspapers to pay for his drum kit, Alex would practice playing on them. When Eddie heard Alex's mastery of The Surfaris drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", he decided to begin learning to play the electric guitar.[3] He was also influenced by Budgie drummer, Ray Phillips.[5]
In 1971, Alex graduated from Pasadena High School.[3] He then took classes in music theory, scoring, composition and arranging at Pasadena City College for a short while.[3] While attending Pasadena City College, Alex met Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth. They formed the band Mammoth, and Alex, along with the others, left Pasadena City College.[6]
[edit] Musical career
Alex had several early bands with Eddie before Van Halen came to be. Names of these previous bands include The Broken Combs, Genesis (not the band with Phil Collins, Tony Banks, etc), The Space Brothers, Mammoth and The Trojan Rubber Company.[3]
In 1972 Roth, Alex and Eddie formed Mammoth with Mark Stone on bass. Later, in 1974, The name Mammoth was replaced by Van Halen, and Stone was replaced by Michael Anthony. 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, Al was busy handling managerial duties, such as booking gigs, etc. for the band. Their 1978 album Van Halen was released to much fanfare, influencing many musicians in hard rock.
In spite of the fact that the term "brown sound" is generally associated with Eddie's guitar, Alex originated the term to refer to the sound of his snare drum.[7]
At live shows, Alex is known for being an entertainer, performing aggressive drum solos and stage pyrotechnics.
The only non–Van Halen example of Alex's musicianship can be found on the soundtrack to the movie Twister. The instrumental "Respect the Wind" (for which the Van Halen brothers were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance)[8] features Alex on keyboards (with Eddie on guitar). The song was used for the movie soundtrack Twister and plays during the end credits of the movie.
[edit] Personal life
Alex married Valeri (no 'e') Kendall in 1983 after a two-year engagement. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984. Alex has one son, Aric Van Halen, with his ex-wife, Kelly Daniels, whom he divorced in 1996. Alex married his current wife, Stine Schyberg, in 2000. She is the mother of his son Malcolm Van Halen. Alex is the uncle of Wolfgang Van Halen.[9]
Alex has become an ordained minister and presided at his brother Eddie's wedding.
[edit] References
- ^ "Van Halen Biographies". http://www.vanhalen.com/biographies.aspx.
- ^ a b c "Alexander Van Halen". http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/halena.html. Retrieved 1-11 2008.
- ^ a b c d e "Drummerworld: Alex van halen". http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Alex_Van_Halen.html. Retrieved 1-12 2008.
- ^ "Alex Van Halen at DrumSoloArtist". http://www.drumsoloartist.com/Site/Drummers2/Alex_Van_Halen.html. Retrieved 1-13 2008.
- ^ "BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Founding BUDGIE Member RAY PHILLIPS Working On Solo Debut". Roadrunnerrecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/Blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=110106. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/van-halen/. Retrieved 1-18 2008.
- ^ "Alex Van Halen at ClassicVanHalen.com". http://www.classicvanhalen.com/bios_avh.shtml. Retrieved 3-22 2008.
- ^ "1997 Grammy Nominations from Rock on the Net". http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1997/grammys.htm 1997.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0887006/bio
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