Very sad news - gone at 65, due to throat cancer.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/rocker-eddie-van-halen-dies-son-says-on-twitter-20201007-p562nr.html
One of my favourite guitarists. Vale and RIP.
Gutted, my hero as a kid. Gonna go plug my 67 LP into the tweed, put new batteries in the Phase 90 and crank it to 12. I can't play his stuff but the attitude is ......rock.!
Very few musicians actually change rock music forever - Eddie did... The sounds and guitar tones he created, rebooted rock music from Van Halen's first single "You Really Got Me" - has there ever been a better cover version of a song? Kiss' Gene Simmons discovered Van Halen and produced their demo to score their first record contract. Eddie went on to play the solo on Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (in two takes) and was uncredited on Nicolette Larsen's debut album (much to David Lee Roth's annoyance). Eddie had been suffering from throat cancer for ten years.
I think he did all the thriller album while VH was in hiatus between Panama and 5150?
No, he just did the solo in Beat it and was unpaid for it. The rest of Thriller was basically Toto on backing tracks. It's all in my books www.fortherecordbook.com.au
Im a big Gary Moore fan and considered him the best guitarist I have seen but EddieV was
probably the most influential with his different inventive techniques.
RIP..
Now Toto
WAS a helluva band.
Toto was used on so many top level recordings. It's the biggest kept secret of the music industry...!!
Certainly is. A catalogue that'd murder many others
Sad news. RIP.
Oh damn! Just gone way to soon.
Sad news indeed, RIP.
Also just heard that Johnny Nash also has died, aged 80. Was one of my old favorites.
Liked this quote - "He's known as a virtuoso, but guitar virtuosos rarely make records that are so much damn fun. The first six Van Halen LPs are about as joyous as hard rock gets."