Bit of further history of the last one...Jan Van Halen (their father), was a professional Jazz musician who met their mother in the (then) dutch Territory of Indonesia. When Jan and his new bride moved back to Holland, he was unable to find lasting work as a musician and joined the Dutch Air Force to pay the household bills. After his stint in the air force, he packed up his Indonesian wife and two young sons making the trip to the United States. Both brothers started out taking piano lessons, but Eddie played Drums and Alex played guitar. Finding Alex was better at Drums, They switched instruments and the rest is history.