Eddie Van Halen (born January 26, 1955 in Nijmegen) is a Dutch-born American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest guitarists, and one of the most influential rock guitarists of the 20th century. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Halen number seventy in the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. In 2012, he was voted in a Guitar World magazine reader’s poll as the number one of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” over Brian May of Queen (number two) and Alex Lifeson of Rush (number three). (More from Wikipedia)
In 1998, an organization called Native American Music Association & Awards was started in order to bring awareness of the contributions of Native Americans to music in all its forms; the Awards have been presented annually since that time. The surprise at taking even a quick glance at their “Did You Know” roster at www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/halloffame.cfm is the incredible number of stars of popular music who have Native American blood – the tribe or confederation name(s) are given in parentheses here and elsewhere in this post: Elvis Presley (Cherokee), Jimi Hendrix (Cherokee), Hank Williams (Choctaw), Willie Nelson (Cherokee), Ritchie Valens (Yakui), Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers (Choctaw/Cherokee), Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle (Cherokee), Kitty Wells (Cherokee), Wayne Newton (Powhatan), Michael Jackson and the Jacksons (Choctaw/Cherokee), Link Wray (Shawnee), Richie Havens (Blackfoot), Robbie Robertson of the Band (Mohawk), Tina Turner (Navaho), Cher (Cherokee), Rita Coolidge (Cherokee), Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen (Native Hawaiian – Native Americans who are not among those often called Indians), Tori Amos (Cherokee), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (Cherokee), Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus (Cherokee), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mohican), LL Cool J (Cherokee), Beyoncé (Creole), etc.
Tommy Allsup (Cherokee) was a member of Buddy Holly’s new band in 1959; he “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and was thus not on board the airplane that crashed on the day the music died.
(August 2013)
The Allmusic piece on Dick Dale by Steve Huey begins: “Dick Dale wasn’t nicknamed ‘King of the Surf Guitar’ for nothing: He pretty much invented the style single-handedly; and no matter who copied or expanded upon his blueprint, he remained the fieriest, most technically gifted musician the genre ever produced. Dale’s pioneering use of Middle Eastern and Eastern European melodies (learned organically through his familial heritage) was among the first in any genre of American popular music, and predated the teaching of such ‘exotic’ scales in guitar-shredder academies by two decades. The breakneck speed of his single-note staccato picking technique was unrivalled until it entered the repertoires of metal virtuosos like Eddie Van Halen, and his wild showmanship made an enormous impression on the young Jimi Hendrix.”
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The soundtrack for the Roger Corman film The Wild Angels (1966) was a breakthrough for Davie Allan and the Arrows and yielded their biggest hit song, “Blues’ Theme”. From Wikipedia: “The song from the film’s opening, ‘Blues’ Theme’ (sometimes listed as ‘Blue’s Theme’), an aggressive, repetitive and very catchy instrumental showcasing [Davie] Allan’s new fuzzed-out (heavily distorted) guitar sound became their biggest hit (it was also one of the first songs Eddie Van Halen learned to play on brother Alex [Van Halen]’s guitar). The song stayed on the Billboard charts for 17 weeks (it peaked at #37); the single, backed with ‘Bongo Party’, and the soundtrack album [The Wild Angels] both sold well. Rumors have stated that the melody in ‘Blues’ Theme’ was stolen from the Monkees’ guitar lick in ‘Last Train to Clarksville’; but ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ was recorded on July 25th, 1966, and The Wild Angels debuted in the theaters on July 20th, 1966.”
(December 2014)
