The virtuoso who changed the sound of rock guitar

Eddie Van Halen spawned a legion of imitators, but none who could make an electric guitar sound quite like he did. In his hands the instrument could growl, divebomb, and shriek; it issued machine-gun bursts, stadium-rattling riffs, and shimmering arpeggios. Shaped by his mastery of the two-handed “tapping” technique, using both hands on the fretboard of his homemade “Frankenstrat” guitar, Van Halen’s sound reshaped rock forever. It also drove his namesake band to superstardom. Starting with their eponymous 1978 debut album, Van Halen—featuring Eddie’s brother Alex on drums and the antic vocalist David Lee Roth— became one of the top-selling acts in history, with a multitude of pop-metal hits such as “Panama,” “Hot for Teacher,” “Runnin’ With the Devil,” and “Jump,” and 10 multiplatinum albums. “I’m always pushing things past where they’re supposed to be,” said Van Halen, who died of cancer last week at age 65. “When Spinal Tap was going to 11, I was going to 15.”

Van Halen was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch father and an Indonesian mother, said The Washington Post. His father was a classically trained clarinetist and saxophonist, his mother a homemaker who faced harsh racism. To escape the bigotry, the family in 1962 emigrated to Pasadena, Calif., where his mother worked as a maid and his father “as a janitor and dishwasher” who played gigs on weekends. Eddie and Alex “were trained on the piano before turning to rock, inspired by such groups as the Dave Clark Five and Cream.” Eddie slowed down the latter’s records to learn his hero Eric Clapton’s guitar solos note for note.

At Pasadena City College, the brothers “formed a band called Mammoth” with

Roth and bassist Michael Anthony, said the Los Angeles Times. They played “backyard parties and high schools” before graduating to Hollywood clubs. In 1977, Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin caught a sparsely attended show and signed the by-then-renamed band on the spot, said The Times (U.K.). Recorded in three weeks, Van Halen “flew a defiant flag for traditional, bone-crunching hard rock” in an era “dominated by punk and disco.”

“The next five years were a blur of sold-out arenas, wild parties, and smash albums,” said Rolling Stone. But ever-growing success amplified tensions between the Van Halen brothers and Roth, who left in 1985. He was replaced by Sammy Hagar, who sang on a string of best-selling albums before clashes with Eddie drove him out in 1996. A 1998 album with a third singer, Gary Cherone, “failed to connect with fans” and was drubbed by critics.

“A dark period followed for Van Halen,” said The New York

Times. The guitarist struggled with alcohol and drug use and in 2000 was treated for tongue cancer. He got sober in 2008; four years later, with Roth back in front, the band released “its first new album in 14 years.” A string of sell-out tours followed before worsening health forced Van Halen off the road. While he contributed a blazing solo to Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit “Beat It”—at no charge— Van Halen otherwise devoted his life to the group, never seeking outside projects. There was no need, he said. “I’m just a guitarist in a kick-ass rock ’n’ roll band. What more could I have asked for?”