BROTHERS, a biography by Alex Van Halen dedicated to his late brother Edward, is due out in Australia on October 24 and New Zealand six days later.
The 70-year-old drummer Alex has been a virtual recluse since guitarist Eddie died of cancer on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65. He has seemingly rebuffed attempts by people connected with the band to stage a tribute concert or tour.
But now Alex Van Halen has signed a book deal with Harper Collins, with the focus of the tome to be on the siblings’ childhood in California after emigrating from Holland.
In a statement Harper Collins said Brothers would be “nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read.
“Alex Van Halen shares his story of family, camaraderie, immigration, music, and loss and offers a remarkable tribute to his late little brother and bandmate, Edward, a once-in-a-generation talent who transformed our understanding of what it’s possible to do with a guitar.”
Stating the rather obvious, Alex said in a Harper Collins media release “I was with him from day one.
“We shared the experience of coming to America 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.”
