Eddie Van Halen dies from cancer at the age of 65

The guitarist, known as one of rock's greats, died following a long battle with lung cancer

Members of the rock group Van Halen, from left, bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and singer Sammy Hagar, perform during the first of two sold-out shows at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada late August 6, 2004. Reuters

Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli in the 1980s. Gary Lewis / mptvimages / AFP

Singer David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, bassist Wolfgang Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen of the legendary rock group Van Halen perform on a stop of their US Tour held at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 30, 2012. Sipa USA

Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, left, performs 'Beat It' with Michael Jackson during Jackson's Victory Tour concert in Irving, Texas, on July 14, 1984. AP Photo

Eddie Van Halen plays the final chord of 'Jump' during the Van Halen concert at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford on June 22, 2004. AP

Van Halen is seen in Los Angeles, January 17, 1993. Members of Van Halen, from left, Michael Anthony, bass guitar; Sammy Hagar, lead singer; Alex Van Halen, drums; and Eddie Van Halen, lead guitar. AP Photo

Eddie Van Halen of the band Van Halen performing in 2012. AP file

David Lee Roth, left, and Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen perform in Wantagh, New York on August 13, 2015. AP File

Eddie Van Halen, left, embraces his son Wolfgang Van Halen after the rock group Van Halen officially announced their North American tour during a news conference in Los Angeles on August, 13, 2007. AP Photo

In this June 5, 1995, file photo, the former singer of the rock group Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, left, and lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen, right, perform at the concert Rock am Ring in Germany. AP

Van Halen fan George Salon leaves momentoes, which include flowers, a rose, guitar picks and a cigarette, on the handprints at the Guitar Center in Hollywood, California of late rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen on October 6, 2020. AFP

Legend has it that the name Van Halen, seen etched in concrete at the corner of Allen and Villa in Pasadena, California, was done by brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen when they lived in Pasadena, California, in their younger years. A sidewalk memorial has begun. AP

Flowers, candles and guitar picks sit next to Eddie Van Halen's hand prints on Hollywood's Rock Walk in Hollywood, California. EPA

Flowers, candles and guitar picks sit next to Eddie Van Halen's hand prints on Hollywood's Rock Walk in Hollywood, California. EPA

A person looks at a makeshift memorial next to Eddie Van Halen's hand prints on Hollywood's Rock Walk in Hollywood, California. EPA

Flowers, candles and guitar picks sit next to Eddie Van Halen's hand prints on Hollywood's Rock Walk in Hollywood, California. EPA

Flowers, candles and guitar picks sit next to Eddie Van Halen's hand prints on Hollywood's Rock Walk in Hollywood, California. EPA

An Eddie Van Halen fan photographs a makeshift memorial for the late musician near Van Halen's childhood home in Pasadena, California. AP

Eddie Van Halen and son Wolfgang, 21, at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco on June 4, 2012. USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters

Members of the band Van Halen, from left, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Eddie Van Halen are reunited with former lead singer David Lee Roth, right, on stage at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards in New York on September 4. Photo by Jeff Christensen

Eddie Van Halen holds a coarse oil-paper umbrella, Tokyo, June 1978. Getty Images

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen (white shirt), bassist Mark Anthony (beard), singer Sammy Hagar (blonde curls) and drummer Alex Van halen (suit, sunglasses) of the rock and roll band "Van Halen" pose for a photo session by the pool at Eddie's house-studio on Coldwater Canyon in circa 1985 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images

Wolfgang Van Halen performs "Panama" with his father Eddie Valen Halen, right, at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada May 17, 2015. Reuters

Musician Eddie Van Halen accepts the Guitar God award from actor Robert Downey Jr. onstage at Spike TV's 2009 "Guys Choice Awards" held at the Sony Studios on May 30, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

Janie Liszewski and musician Eddie Van Halen attend the Esquire 80th anniversary and Esquire Network launch celebration at Highline Stages on September 17, 2013 in New York City. AFP

INGLEWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 08: Musician Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen performs at their dress rehearsal for family and friends at the Forum on February 8, 2012 in Inglewood, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

(Original Caption) : Picture shows the four members of the band Van Halen posing together in a studio. They are standing next to each other in front of a blue background waving sparklers in the air. (Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Eddie Van Halen, one of rock’s most celebrated guitarists, died of cancer on Tuesday. He was 65.

His death was announced by his son, Wolfgang, 29, a bass player in the band Van Halen, best known for songs such as Jump and Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love.

"I can't believe I'm having to write this but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning," Wolfgang wrote on Twitter.

Representatives for Eddie Van Halen did not disclose details of his death. However, People magazine reported the rocker died at a Los Angeles-area hospital with his wife, Janie, son and other family members at his side.

"Through all your challenging treatments for lung cancer you kept your gorgeous spirit and that impish grin," his ex-wife of 26 years, actress Valerie Bertinelli, wrote.

Fans placed flowers and guitar picks on Van Halen's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"What a long, great trip it’s been," the band's frontman during its glory years, David Lee Roth, said in a message on Twitter, written above a black-and-white photo of the two men clenching hands backstage at a concert.

Eddie Van Halen was born in Amsterdam on January, 26, 1955, and studied classical piano after moving to the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena with his family in the 1960s.

After switching to guitar, he and his older brother, Alex, who took up the drums, formed bands that would eventually become Van Halen in the mid-1970s, with lead singer Roth and bassist Michael Anthony.

The hard-rock band, featuring Eddie Van Halen's explosive riffs and solos, quickly became a staple of Sunset Strip clubs such as Gazzari's and Whisky a Go Go, before they released their eponymous debut album in 1978.

That album shot to Number 19 on the Billboard charts, becoming one of the most successful debuts of the decade and the first in a string of top-selling albums that would make Van Halen one of the biggest rock acts of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Eddie Van Halen, known for his two-handed tapping technique on the strings, earned a place alongside Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page as one of rock's most celebrated guitarists. In 2012, readers of Guitar World magazine voted him the greatest of all time.

Roth, who often clashed with the Van Halen brothers, split from the band in the mid-1980s and was replaced for a decade by Sammy Hagar. The original line-up reunited in 2007 for a tour and, four years later, an album.

"My heart is broken. Eddie was not only a Guitar God, but a genuinely beautiful soul," said Gene Simmons, lead singer of Kiss and an early champion of Van Halen with record companies.