Native name Jan van Halen Instruments Clarinet, saxophone Associated acts Van Halen | Occupation(s) Musician Years active 1930s–1972, 1982 Spouse Eugenia van Halen | |
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Born January 18, 1920
Amsterdam, The Netherlands ( 1920-01-18 ) Died 9 December 1986, Pasadena, California, United States Children Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen Genres Jazz, Swing music, Orchestra Grandchildren Wolfgang Van Halen, Aric Van Halen, Malcolm Van Halen Similar Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen, Janie Liszewski, Valerie Bertinelli | ||
Jan Van Halen, born Jan van Halen (18 January 1920 – 9 December 1986), was a Dutch musician and the patriarch of the Van Halen family.
He was the father of Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen, and the grandfather of Wolfgang Van Halen.
Life
Van Halen was born on January 18, 1920, to Jannetje Berg and Hermanus van Halen, a butcher in Amsterdam. He had already made a career in music when in 1939, at the age of 19, World War II erupted. He joined the Royal Dutch Air Force and played marches for the troops until the country was occupied in 1940, forcing him to play propaganda music for the Third Reich.
After the war ended in 1945, Van Halen emigrated to the Dutch East Indies, where he further pursued his career and met his future wife, the Dutch-Indonesian Eugenie van Beers (September 21, 1915 – August 4, 2005). They married on August 11, 1950 in Jakarta. After the government became destabilized, the people of present-day Indonesia kicked all the Dutch colonists out of the country, including Jan, who along with his new wife, moved back to the Netherlands, arriving March 4, 1953.
Alex was born two months later in Amsterdam. The Van Halen family moved to Nijmegen, where Eddie was born in January 1955. In 1960, Jan played his biggest gig with the Ton Wijkamp Quintet, playing the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival. However, after hearing stories from her side of the family, Eugenia became convinced that it would be better for the family to emigrate to the United States. They left in February 1962 by boat and moved across the continent by train to Pasadena, California. To complete their transition, the Americanized their surname from van Halen to Van Halen.
While holding several jobs, Jan continued to play music until losing his middle finger from his left hand to a freak accident in 1972, when it was severed from the trailer, as he was attempted to pick up, fell on his finger. Disheartened, he wouldn't play music again, until a collaboration with his sons in 1982 for "Bad Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)," for the album Diver Down, which was to become his last performance, and his only recording on record. In May 1986, Jan suffered a heart attack. He died due to the effects of alcoholism on December 9, 1986. He was 66 years old. His sons dedicated their 1988 album OU812 to their father, quoting "This one's for you, pa." On August 4, 2005, his wife Eugenia Van Halen passed away at the age of 89.