  Van Halen has spanned 3 decades
with their form of rock and heavy metal
music, always making news and selling
millions - even with a changing roster of
lead singers. When Van Halen formed the band
consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar,
keyboards, and vocals, Alex Van Halen on
drums and percussion, Michael Anthony on bass
and vocals, and David Lee Roth on lead
vocals. The conception of Van Halen began in
Holland with the conception of the Van Halen
brothers (the brothers grew up in
California), and in the mid-70s the brothers
formed a band named Mammoth with Anthony and
Roth. In the late 70s, the band renamed
themselves Van Halen, were flown to New York
to record a demo produced by Gene Simmons of Kiss,
and were signed by Warner Bros. Records.
 Van
Halen was released with the favorites
"Runnin' With The Devil,"
"Jamie's Cryin'," and the cover,
"You Really Got Me." The LP went on
to sell over 10 million copies in the U.S.
Van
Halen was certified gold.
Van
Halen was certified platinum.
 Van
Halen II was released with the hit
"Dance The Night Away" and began
their first headlining tour in the summer.
Van
Halen II was certified gold.
Van
Halen II was certified platinum.
 # 214
Singles Artist of the Year
 Van Halen released Women
& Children First.
Women
& Children First was certified
platinum.
 Fair
Warning was released.
Eddie Van Halen received a lot
of press when he married actress Valerie
Bertinelli.
Fair
Warning was certified gold.
Fair
Warning was certified platinum.
 # 72
Singles Artist of the Year
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
their cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman."
 Van Halen released Diver
Down.
Van Halen hit the Top 10 with "(Oh) Pretty Woman."
Diver
Down was certified platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Dancing In The Street."
 # 11
Singles Artist of the Year
 1984 was released and Van
Halen topped the pop charts with "Jump."
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Jump."
1984 was certified
platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 10 and #1 for 2 weeks with "Jump."
 Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"I'll
Wait"
The single "Jump" was certified
gold.
Van Halen hit the Top 10 with "I'll
Wait"
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Panama"
The video for "Jump" won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Stage Performance Video and was nominated for Best Group Video and Best Overall Performance.
 1984 was certified 4x
platinum, Van
Halen was certified 5x platinum, Van
Halen II was certified 3x
platinum, Women
& Children First was certified 2x
platinum, and Diver
Down was certified 2x platinum.
 David
Lee Roth: # 39
Singles Artist of the Year
1984 was certified 5x
platinum.
Van Halen were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group.
Eddie Van Halen was nominated
for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("Doubt City").
David Lee Roth officially quit
the band (or was officially fired) after
releasing his solo EP, Crazy
From The Heat. Problems over replacing a
charismatic lead singer were conquered by Van
Halen when Sammy Hagar
joined the band in June.
 Van
Halen: # 16
Singles Artist of the Year ~ David
Lee Roth: # 99
Singles Artist of the Year
 The new lineup of Van Halen
released 5150. The band was back in
the Top 10 with "Why Can't This Be
Love."
5150 was certified 2x
platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Dreams."
5150 was certified 3x
platinum.
Van Halen were nominated for 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group and Favorite Pop/Rock Album (5150).
1984 was certified 6x
platinum.
 Van
Halen: # 27
Singles Artist of the Year ~ David
Lee Roth: # 71
Singles Artist of the Year
 OU812 was released with the
hits "Finish What Ya Started" and
"When It's Love."
OU812 was certified 2x
platinum.
During the summer, Van Halen
headlined the Monsters of Rock tour.
 # 154
Singles Artist of the Year
5150 was certified 4x
platinum and OU812 was certified 3x
platinum.
Van Halen were
nominated for 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group, Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Artist,
and Favorite Heavy
Metal/Hard Rock Album (OU812).
Diver
Down was certified 3x platinum and Van
Halen was certified 6x platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Feels So Good."
The video for "Finish What
Ya Started" was nominated for s MTV Video Music
Award for Best Direction.
Van
Halen II was certified 4x platinum.
 # 131
Singles Artist of the Year
 Van Halen released For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which contained the
award-winning video hit "Right Now."
For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was certified
platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Top Of The World."
For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was certified 2x
platinum.
 # 152
Singles Artist of the Year
Van Halen won an American Music
Awards for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Album
(For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge) and was nominated for
Favorite Heavy
Metal/Hard Rock Artist.
Van Halen won a Grammy
Award for Best Hard Rock Performance (For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge).
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Right Now."
The video for "Right Now" won 3 MTV Video Music
Awards for Video of the Year, Best Direction (Mark Fenske), and Best Editing (Mitchell Sinoway),
and was nominated for Best Group Video, Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video, Breakthrough Video, and Viewer's Choice.
 Van Halen released the live LP, Van
Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now.
Van Halen topped the Billboard
Album Rock Tracks chart for a week with
"Won't Get Fooled Again."
Van
Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now was certified
platinum.
Van
Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now was certified 2x
platinum and Van
Halen was certified 7x
platinum.
Rolling
Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" included "Right Now" at # 6
and
"Hot For Teacher" at # 26.
1984 was certified 7x
platinum and Van
Halen was certified 8x platinum.
5150 was certified 5x
platinum, Fair
Warning was certified 2x platinum, Women
& Children First was certified 3x
platinum, and For
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was certified
3x platinum.
 # 49
Singles Artist of the Year
 Balance was released and
rumors about band conflicts began as well as
Eddie Van Halen's treatment for alcoholism
(which began in 1990).
Van Halen topped the Billboard
Album Rock Tracks chart for 3 weeks with
"Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)."
Balance topped the Billboard
Pop Albums chart for a week.
Van Halen were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Jump").
Van Halen hit the Top 40 with
"Can't
Stop Loving You."
Balance was certified 2x
platinum.
Van Halen hit the Top 10 with "Can't
Stop Loving You."
 Van Halen were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard
Rock Artist.
Van Halen were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance ("The Seventh
Seal").
Hagar quit the band after
reportedly being fired, as the group could be
heard on the soundtrack for Twister with "Humans
Being."
Van Halen topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 2 weeks with
"Humans Being."
1984 was certified 9x
platinum and Van
Halen was certified 10x platinum.
 A hit collection, The
Best Of Van Halen, Vol. 1, was released and
appeared to mark the return of David Lee Roth
- but it was short-lived, and Roth was out of
the band once again followed by publicized
bickering by Roth and band members.
Van Halen topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 6 weeks with
"Me Wise Magic."
The
Best Of Van Halen, Vol. 1 topped the
Billboard Top 200 Albums chart for a week.
Rock
'N Roll Hall Of Fame's 500
Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll includes "Jump" and
"Runnin' With The Devil."
Eddie and Alex were nominated
for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("Respect The Wind").
 Van Halen released a brand new
LP, Van
Halen III, with a brand new lead singer,
Gary Cherone (formerly of Extreme).
Cherone was the 3rd lead singer for the band
following David Lee Roth,
who was with Van Halen for over a decade, and
Sammy Hagar who also spent
over a decade as lead singer until he quit
(although Hagar contends he was fired) in
'96. Cherone told the Los Angeles Times:
"It seems like every 10 years they kick
out the singer... so I've got 8 or 9 more
years to misbehave before I have to worry
about being on my best behavior. There will
always be a percentage of people who will
hate me because I'm not those other guys, and
then there will be a percentage who will hate
me because I'm too much like those other
guys..." Van Halen topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart with
"Without You" for 6 weeks.
 Ranked # 48 on VH1: Greatest
Artists of Rock & Roll (and
# 31 on Rock On The Net's
Poll).
The
Best Of Van Halen, Vol. 1 was certified 2x
platinum and Diver
Down was certified 4x platinum.
Van Halen cancelled a concert in
Germany after a piece of plaster fell on
drummer Alex Van Halen's arm during a
pre-show warm-up session. The drummer was
only "bruised" by the incident and
did not affect further dates. Alex Van
Halen's arm injury earlier this month has
resulted in Van Halen canceling their
remaining European performance dates.
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