Jan Van Halen

Jan Van Halen, born Jan van Halen (18 January 1920 – 9 December 1986), was a Dutch musician and the "patriarch" of the Van Halen family.
He was the father of Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen, and the grandfather of Wolfgang Van Halen.

Van Halen was born in January 1920 to Jannetje Berg and Hermanus van Halen, a butcher in Amsterdam. He had already made a career in music when, at age 19, World War II erupted. He joined the Dutch air force and played marches for the troops until the country was occupied in 1940.

After the war, Van Halen emigrated to the Dutch East Indies where he further pursued his career and met his future wife, the Dutch-Indonesian Eugenie van Beers (1915–2005). They married in August 1950 in Jakarta and moved back to the Netherlands, arriving March 4, 1953.

Alex was born two months later in Amsterdam. The Van Halen family moved to Nijmegen, where Eddie was born in 1955. Eugenia became convinced that it would be better for the family to emigrate to the United States. They left in February 1962 by boat and moved across the continent by train to Pasadena, California.

Jan continued to play until a collaboration with his sons in 1982, which was to become his last performance. He died due to the effects of alcoholism in 1986.