Legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, whose band helped define the rock genre throughout much of the 1970s and 80s, died Tuesday following a bout with cancer, his son said. He was 65.
Wolf Van Halen called Eddie Van Halen “the best father I could ever ask for” on Twitter.
“I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long arduous battle with cancer this morning,” the son wrote.
“He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.”
Wolf Van Halen’s mother, actress Valerie Bertinelli, responded to her son’s statement on Twitter with a series of broken heart emojis. Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen had a tumultuous relationship spanning decades until their divorce in 2007.
Bertinelli detailed some of the couple’s martial issues in her memoir, “Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time.” She explained in the memoir that both she and her former husband struggled with drug addition and engaged in extramarital affairs. Bertinelli was 20 when the two married, after less than a year of dating.
“The priest we tapped to perform the ceremony gave us questionnaires so he could get to know us better and offer more personal words,” Bertinelli told NBC’s “Today” show in 2008. “As we filled out the forms at home, we each held a little vial of coke.”
Bandmate Sammy Hagar, lead vocalist for Van Halen after the departure of original frontman David Lee Roth, tweeted a photo of the pair smiling and embracing.
“Heartbroken and speechless,” Hagar wrote. “My love to the family.”
KISS frontman Gene Simmons mourned the loss of his rock contemporary.
“My heart is broken,” Simmons wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “Eddie was not only a Guitar God, but a genuinely beautiful soul. Rest in peace, Eddie!”
Another contemporary, Aerosmith, posted a picture of Van Halen in between fellow legends Joe Perry and Steven Tyler.
“Rest In Peace,” the group said, calling Van Halen a “legend.” “You will be missed!”
Eddie Van Halen was nominated for three Grammy Awards and in 1991 took home the honor for best hard rock performance with vocal for the Van Halen album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.”
Van Halen, the group, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
“Van Halen’s jarring stage presence and virtuosic skill kicked the American rock scene into high gear,” according to the Hall of Fame. “They delivered their music with an unrelenting intensity and musicality that audiences devoured, launching them to superstardom and restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene.”
The group’s 1984 album, appropriately titled “1984,” included hits “Jump,” “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher” — songs that dominated radio and MTV throughout the decade and are now considered rock classics.
Rolling Stone magazine named Van Halen the eighth greatest guitarist in modern music history, sandwiched between fellow legends Duane Allman and Chuck Berry.
Another guitarist named one of the greatest by Rolling Stone, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, called Van Halen an “apex talent.”
“An unparalleled titan in the annals of rock n roll,” Morello said on Twitter. “One of the greatest musicians in the history of mankind. Rest In Peace, King Edward.”
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born on Jan. 26, 1955 in Amsterdam and was 7 when the family immigrated to the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, setting the stage for his rise to be one of America’s most iconic performers.
The family didn’t even speak English when they arrived in sunny Southern California, but they all shared of love of music.
“We showed up here with the equivalent of $50 and a piano,” Eddie Van Halen said in 2015. “We came halfway around the world without money, without a set job, no place to live and couldn’t even speak the language.”
Van Halen recalled that, as a child, his original love was for percussion. But his older brother coveted a drum set of his — so he begrudgingly decided to pick up a guitar.
“I never wanted to play guitar,” he told fans at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2015. “I said, ‘Go ahead, take my drums. I’ll play your damn guitar.’”
Eddie Van Halen is survived by his son, Wolfgang Van Halen, and wife, Janie Liszewski.
Caitlin Fichtel, The Associated Press and Doha Madani contributed.
