Brothers - Alex Van Halen

Brothers

By Alex Van Halen

  • Release Date: 2024-10-22
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 78 Ratings

Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In this intimate and open account—nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate.

Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy Brothers is seventy-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen’s love letter to his younger brother, Edward, (Maybe “Ed,” but never “Eddie”), written while still mourning his untimely death.

In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers’ childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother—the kind of mom who admonished her boys to “always wear a suit” no matter how famous they became—a woman who was both proud and practical, nonchalant about taking a doggie bag from a star-studded dinner. He also shares tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behavior. But mostly his is a story of brotherhood, music, and enduring love.

"I was with him from day one,” Alex writes. “We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800 square foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic. Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming successful, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime." 

There has never been an accurate account of them or the band, and Alex wants to set the record straight on Edward’s life and death. 

Brothers includes never-before-seen photos from the author’s private archives.

Reviews

  • Brothers

    5
    By AngryBird<3
    Makes you relive some great moments in music history. It also makes you really miss Van Halen! See you on the other side Ed!
  • Interesting Read

    3
    By Wood54ollie
    This was a good read. It was nice to read how close the brothers were and about their family life growing up, their parents etc - I was a little disappointed that Mike wasn’t brought up a little more; maybe he didn’t have as much creative input as the other members, but he was still an integral part of VH. He’s not even mentioned in the ‘Acknowledgments’ section which I find odd. However, it’s a nice and heartwarming tribute from Alex to Eddie.

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