Van Halen was one of the most famous hard rock bands of the 1970s and ‘80s who helped popularize glam metal and arena rock. Today, they are more often considered classic rock.

Brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen began playing music together in the 1960s when they were still children. By 1964, they started their first band Broken Combs. In 1972, they changed the name of the band three times: first to Trojan Rubber Co, then to Genesis, and lastly to Mammoth.

During this period, David Lee Roth was invited to join the band as lead singer. In 1973, he recommended the band use the name “Van Halen,” which both Eddie and Alex accepted as the band’s final name.

While Alex and Eddie Van Halen were creating music together before the formation of Van Halen, it wasn’t until 1973 that the band officially formed with the name “Van Halen.” The original members when Van Halen officially started were:

• Eddie Van Halen on backing vocals, guitar, and keyboard
• Alex Van Halen on drums
• David Lee Roth on lead vocals and acoustic guitar
• Michael Anthony on bass guitar and backing vocals

Mark Stone was a shortlived bassist and backing vocalist when the band was still called “Genesis” and “Mammoth.” But when he left Anthony joined and remained one of the longest permanent members after Eddie and Alex.

Throughout the 1970s and early ‘80s, David Lee Roth played an important role as the lead vocalist of Van Halen. But as the years passed, he and Eddie Van Halen developed differences of opinion on a number of issues:

Where Roth was interested in creating music that focused on partying, dancing, women, and sex, Eddie wanted to focus on deeper themes. Additionally, where Eddie liked to use integrate experimental elements into the music with synthesizers and keyboards, Roth was more interested in traditional guitar-based hard rock.

These differences reached a boiling point and, in 1983, Eddie built a home studio that would allow him to work on the albums without the band's intervention, a very passive aggressive way of targeting David Lee Roth who responded by spending less time focusing on Van Halen and more time working on his solo career. After a couple years, Roth finally decided to leave the band in 1985.

Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth as lead vocalist of Van Halen in 1985.

Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen in July 1985 and released four albums with the band before leaving in June 1996 due to internal disputes with other members of the band. Roth returned to the band temporarily to accept an award with other members of the band at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards and to record new songs for Van Halen’s Best Of – Volume I album. There was no official reunion, however, and Roth was soon replaced by Gary Cherone. Hagar returned as lead singer between 2003 and 2005 before retiring from the band a second time.

Eddie Van Halen died on October 6, 2020 at the age of 65 from a stroke while at Saint John’s Health Center.

Prior to his stroke, Eddie Van Halen had been struggling with several types of cancer. In 2000, he received treatment for tongue cancer and was hospitalized in 2019 with throat cancer.

Eddie Van Halen had a close relationship with his former and current family members. Even though there have been no official statements regarding the issue, it’s most likely that his money and estate was divided among his brother, widow, son, and ex-wife.

Alex Van Halen, co-founder and drummer of Van Halen, was born on May 8, 1953 and is 70 years old. Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of Eddie Van Halen who joined the band in 2006, was born on March 16, 1991 and is 33 years old.

Eddie Van Halen met and fell in love with actress Valerie Bertinelli in Shreveport, Louisiana, at a band concert in 1980. He married her eight months later in California on 11th April 1981. They divorced in 2007. Not long after, Eddie Van Halen proposed to Janie Liszewski. They wed in 2009 in the company of his son Wolfgang and his ex-wife Bertinelli.

Van Halen has had 1,886 concerts.

Van Halen is most often considered to be Rock, Metal, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, and Album Oriented Rock (AOR).

The last Van Halen concert was on December 07, 2023 at Pacific Coloseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The songs that Van Halen performs live vary, but here's the latest setlist that we have from the October 04, 2015 concert at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, United States:

1. Light Up the Sky
2. Runnin' With the Devil
3. Romeo Delight
4. Everybody Wants Some!!
5. Drop Dead Legs
6. Feel Your Love Tonight
7. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
8. She's the Woman
9. I'll Wait
10. Drum Solo
11. Little Guitars
12. Dance the Night Away
13. Beautiful Girls
14. Women in Love...
15. Hot for Teacher
16. "Dirty Movies"
17. Ice Cream Man
18. Unchained
19. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love
20. Guitar Solo
21. You Really Got Me
22. Panama
23. Jump