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On Wednesday, Alex Van Halen announced his memoir Brothers slated for publication this fall via Harper. The 384-page book is an “open and intimate account” of his life with Eddie, who died of cancer in 2020. It was written with New Yorker writer Ariel Levy.
In the blurb, Halen insists on calling his brother “Edward” rather than “Ed” or “Eddie,” and explains he “wants to set the record straight on Edward’s life and death.” Read the full blurb below.
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 bandmate. 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 famous, 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.
Brothers is out 10/22 via Harper.