Alex Van Halen

Dutch-American musician Alexander Arthur van Halen, known professionally as Alex Van Halen was born May 8, 1953 in The Netherlands. Van Halen grew up in the Dutch town Nijmegen until he was nine years old before the family moved to California. His father was a jazz musician and he and his younger brother, Eddie Van Halen, aspired to follow in his footsteps as musicians. Alex initially learned piano and guitar before finding that he had a knack for drumming. The brothers formed a band, initially called Mammoth in1972, and changed the name to Van Halen after adding David Lee Roth as lead vocalist. Their debut album "Van Halen" (1978) was an enormous success and is widely regarded as one of the greatest debut rock albums of all time. The brothers would continue to carry the band name and released eleven more studio albums over a career spanning nearly 50 years. Not long after the death of Eddie Van Halen in 2020, Alex Van Halen retired completely from music, even auctioning off his drum gear in 2024.