Eddie Van Halen

 Jan van Halen's son Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, the son of Eugenia (nee van Beers) was born in Amsterdam on the 26th of January 1955. His father was a Dutch jazz musician and clarinettist as well as the Saxophonist. His mother was Indo (Eurasian) and was from Rangkasbitung located on the island of Java located in the Dutch East Indies. The family eventually settled in Nijmegen, Netherlands. After suffering from discrimination due to their mixed-race status during the 1950s, the parents decided to move their family to the U.S. in 1962. They settled near other family members in Pasadena, California, where Eddie and his brother Alex attended a segregated elementary school Since they did not speak English as their first language, they were regarded as "minority" students and faced bullying by white students. [6] They began learning the piano at age six,[8][9traveling from Pasadena to San Pedro, Los Angeles, to study with an old piano teacher, Stasys Kalvaitis.Van Halen was never taught to read music, but instead, he watched recitals of Bach or Mozart repertoire and improvised. He was awarded the Long Beach City College annual piano competition with the first prize in 1964 and 1967. His parents wanted the boys to be classically trained pianists however, Van Halen was drawn to rock and roll music. He was greatly inspired by the 1960's British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five. So that when Alex started playing guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit. However, when Alex's performance of the Surfaris drummer solo in the track "Wipe Out", he gave Alex the drums, and started learning the electric guitar. [12] He says he used to practice in his teens while walking around with his guitar on his back, or in his bedroom for hours, even with the door left open.