BIRTHDAY WISHES: Alexander Arthur Van Halen was born today in 1953 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Alex Van Halen is the drummer and co-founder of the iconic hard rock band, Van Halen. In 1962, the Van Halen family left Holland for California. Alex’s musical interest began with flamenco guitar lessons as a grade schooler while his brother Edward was working hard delivering newspapers to pay for his own drum kit. As fate would have it, Alex began playing Eddie’s kit and in return, Eddie took over on Alex’s guitar. When Eddie heard Alex’s mastery of The Surfaris’ drum solo in their song “Wipe Out”, he decided right then and there to switch instruments and learn to play the electric guitar instead. Both brothers had also been trained as classical pianists. After Alex graduated from high school in 1971, he attended Pasadena City College for a brief period of time where some of his classes included music theory and scoring and arranging. During this time, both Eddie and Alex formed a number of bands together that included The Broken Combs (with Alex on sax!), The Trojan Rubber Company, Genesis, and The Space Brothers. In 1972, Mammoth, the earliest roots of what is known to be Van Halen today, was formed featuring Alex on drums, Eddie on lead vocals and guitar, and Mark Stone on bass. In 1974, Mammoth changed their name to Van Halen, Stone was replaced by bassist Michael Anthony, and vocalist David Lee Roth became the new lead singer. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Alex Van Halen was recently voted one of The 50 Greatest Drummers of All Time by the readers of Modern Drummer Magazine. His influences include John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Buddy Rich and Keith Moon, who also appear on that same list of 50 greats!
Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2014 18:25:54 +0000
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