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When Van Halen undergoes a lineup change, it\'s big news. For the third time in their illustrious twenty years together, the members of Van Halen have welcomed a new lead singer, Gary Cherone, formerly of the group Extreme. "I\'ve been looking for a singer like Gary all my life," says an admiring Eddie Van Halen of his new colleague. Not surprisingly, this match-made-in-heaven has resulted in one of Van Halen\'s finest albums to date, VAN HALEN III, which marks the third incarnation in the life of America\'s supreme rock \'n\' roll band.
Produced by Mike Post and Eddie Van Halen, and written, as usual, by the band, VAN HALEN III is over an hour of richly textured music, all of which will amaze long-time fans of the band and will undoubtedly rein in a new, younger throng of admirers. Recorded and mixed at Eddie\'s 5150 Studios in L.A., the album\'s eleven tracks cross every musical boundary, and take the band to undiscovered terrain, as the opening piece, the aptly-titled acoustic instrumental "Neworld," suggests.
Of course, anyone who has followed Van Halen over the years has come to expect the unexpected from them. From the start, the band established its own rules, and then broke them at will. Brothers Alex and Edward were born in Holland, where they lived until 1962, when the family moved to Pasadena, California. Both began playing guitar and drums at an early age, and throughout high school played in cover bands, with Eddie often singing lead. The brothers\' first serious band was named Mammoth, which by the mid-\'70s had featured the lineup of the Van Halen brothers, bassist Michael
Anthony and singer David Lee Roth. Because another band had come up with the name Mammoth, the band members settled on the simpler moniker, Van Halen.
By 1977, after establishing themselves solidly on the L.A. club circuit, Warner Bros. Records staff producer Ted Templeman convinced label chief Mo Ostin to sign the band, and in February 1978, their self-titled debut album was released. The band met with instant and overwhelming international success, with Van Halen going on to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide.
From there, a string of multi-platinum hit albums ensued, including Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and 1984 MCMLXXXIV (1984), which spawned the No. 1 smash hit "Jump." The world had by then long acknowledged Eddie Van Halen as an unparalleled musical genius, both as a guitarist and composer.
In 1985, Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen as lead singer, and the band\'s next album, 5150, took them to the No. 1 spot on the charts. They repeated this feat with their next two albums, OU812 (1988) and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991). Van Halen followed this up with LIVE: Right here, right now (1993) and Balance (1995), their last studio album, which entered the charts at No. 1. The group ventured into the realm of film scoring with the songs "Humans Being" (the last Van Halen song to feature lead vocals by Sammy Hagar) and "Respect The Wind" (written and performed by Eddie and Alex) for the soundtrack to the smash hit movie Twister. In 1996, Van Halen released Van Halen - Best of - Volume 1, yet another No.1 album - which included two new tracks, "Can\'t Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic."
Last year, as the band sought a new lead singer, Van Halen manager Ray Danniels suggested Boston-native Gary Cherone as a possible new singer for the band, after Cherone\'s group Extreme had disbanded. Gary met with Van Halen, jammed a little with them, and was immediately invited to join the band. Most of 1997 was devoted to the writing and recording of VAN HALEN III, which is now ready for unveiling.
Already well-known throughout the world for his dynamic stage presence, Gary Cherone has brought a fresh, youthful energy to Van Halen, both with his extraordinary vocals as well as his skills as a co-writer and lyricist. Everyone close to the band, as well as Eddie, Alex and Michael, agrees that Gary has contributed to the group reaching a new artistic level.
As they gear up for a year of touring (which will include stops in locales the band has never played before), it\'s worth remembering that Van Halen is truly an international band. A quick scan of the more than 100 Van Halen websites - some in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch and Japanese - attests to the group\'s enduring global appeal. That\'s not bad for a little ol\' rock \'n\' roll band from L.A., which, twenty years on, is still having as much fun as ever. If some skeptics ever wonder whether it\'s possible for the best to get better, let them look to VAN HALEN III for the answer.
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (Dutch; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor. He was the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the American rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded in 1972 with his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, bassist Mark Stone, and singer David Lee Roth. He was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with two hands on the fretboard. In 2012, he was voted number one in a Guitar World magazine reader\'s poll for "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
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