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Who did Eddie Van Halen leave his money to?

Introduction

Anybody who has even the remotest interest in music will almost certainly be familiar with Eddie Van Halen.

Eddie Van Halen was a true legend of the music world, and his band Van Halen, is widely regarded as one of the most popular and successful rock bands in the history of music.

When Eddie passed away in 2020, aged just 65, his death sent shockwaves through the music world and resulted in touching tributes flooding in.

One common topic of debate that arose following his death, however, was who did Eddie Van Halen leave his money.

As you know, you can’t it with you, and as Van Halen was one of the biggest bands in the world, Eddie had a considerable chunk of wealth to his name when he sadly passed away.

Stories of Eddie dying broke, donating his money to charities, or simply leaving it to his family started becoming more and more common, but who did Eddie Van Halen leave his money to?

Keep reading to find out.

Who was Eddie Van Halen?

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Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Amsterdam on January 26, in the year 1955.

He was an incredibly famous American songwriter and musician, who was the co-founder, backing vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and keyboardist of the legendary rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex in the year 1972.

Eddie was so much more than a musician, he was considered a legend and is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar players to ever live and a true rock legend.

When you consider the fact that we’ve seen legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck, to name but a few, this shows just how amazing Eddie really was.

Eddie popularized what was known as the ‘tapping guitar technique,’ which enabled the guitarist to achieve rapid arpeggios with two hands on the fretboard of the guitar.

From a young age, Eddie and his brother Alex were keen musicians, and after their parents relocated to the USA in the 1950s after receiving racial abuse because of their mixed-race relationship, the two really began showing a keen interest in music.

Interestingly, Eddie was influenced by classical musicians such as Bach and Mozart. He took up the piano and won first place at the Long Beach City College annual piano competition.

His parents wanted both he and Alex to be classical composers and piano players, but the two started to slowly be influenced by British rock bands such as the Dave Clark Five, and the Beatles.

Van Halen

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As the brothers grew older, their musical skills improved, and they formed their first band with three other teens, calling themselves ‘The Broken Combs.’

The band would perform at lunchtime in elementary school while in fourth grade.

Eddie would later admit that performing for the other students would give him the fire in his belly to perform for others.

In 1972, Eddie joined his brother Alex in forming a band named ‘Mammoth,’ and two years later, David Lee Roth would join.

The band would change its name and become known as ‘Van Halen,’ where they would become well known in the LA music scene.

The band would be booked to play in clubs and bars before eventually being discovered by Gene Simmons of Kiss.

While Van Halen were opening for the band ‘UFO,’ Gene heard them backstage, and when they finished, he would ask them about their plans.

Initially, they were to be invested in by a yogurt manufacturer. Gene asked them to go with him instead and invited them to record demos with him in New York.

Gene would sign Van Halen to his record label though this would cause tension with his band ‘Kiss,’ resulting in Gene regretfully being forced to let them go.

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Van Halen would be signed by Warner Records the following year, and there were no hard feelings between Eddie and Gene.

Eddie was even rumored to replace Ace Frehley as the guitarist of Kiss after he left, but was talked out of leaving Van Halen by Gene, who could see just how much potential Eddie had.

In the 70s and 80s, Van Halen really began to take off, and by the early 1980s, Van Halen were huge and were one of the biggest rock bands of all time.

Van Halen merchandise was everywhere, and rightfully so.

Eddie would work with Michael Jackson and many other legends in the music world, with the band winning countless awards, including Grammy Awards, and in 2007, Eddie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

READ MORE: Who is the Tall Guy in the Goldfish Commercial?

Who did Eddie Van Halen leave his money to?

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As is often the way with rock and roll stars, Eddie embraced the rock and roll lifestyle and began smoking, drinking alcohol, and using recreational drugs from a young age.

Eddie later stated that he was an alcoholic and couldn’t function without alcohol in his system.

He would enter rehab for drinking and drugs numerous times, though, in 2008, he reported got clean.

Eddie suffered numerous injuries due to his acrobatics on stage, as well as diverticulitis, tongue cancer, avascular necrosis, and much more besides.

In 2019, Eddie was hospitalized following throat cancer, and it was rumored he also had lung cancer.

On October 6th, 2020, however, Eddie sadly died following a stroke.

Following his death, Eddie, of course, left a considerable amount of his wealth (about $100 million before his death) and estate to his family, though he also made a very charitable donation to the Mr Holland’s Opus Foundation.

After his death, Mr Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF) revealed that Eddie had left them a 7 figure donation.

The MHOF is a charitable organization that donates musical instruments and resources to children with musical talent and interests, who don’t have the resources to get into music.

The organization helps to provide musical resources to schools across the USA.

Eddie clearly had a soft spot for this charity as, back in 2017, he had donated 75 guitars to the charity from his personal collection.

Thanks to his generosity, children across the USA get the chance to make music and chase their dreams of becoming musicians, just like he did.

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