INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this intimate and open account—nothing like any
rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family
friendship music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band
mate Edward Van Halen. Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy Brothers is
seventy-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen’s love letter to his younger brother Edward (Maybe
“Ed ” but never “Eddie”) written while still mourning his untimely death. In his rough yet
sweet voice Alex recounts the brothers’ childhood first in the Netherlands and then in
working class Pasadena California with an itinerant musician father and a very proper
Indonesian-born mother—the kind of mom who admonished her boys to “always wear a suit” no
matter how famous they became—a woman who was both proud and practical nonchalant about taking
a doggie bag from a star-studded dinner. He also shares tales of musical politics infighting
and plenty of bad-boy behavior. But mostly his is a story of brotherhood music and enduring
love. "I was with him from day one ” Alex writes. “We shared the experience of coming to this
country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player an 800 square foot house a
mom and dad and a work ethic. Later we shared the back of a tour bus alcoholism the
experience of becoming successful of becoming fathers and uncles and of spending more hours
in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of
understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime." There has never been an
accurate account of them or their classic rock band and Alex wants to set the record straight
on Edward’s life and death. Brothers includes never-before-seen photos from the author’s
private archives. This landmark music biography is the only book that tells the Van Halen story
from the inside straight from the heart: Brotherly Love: Follow Alex and Ed from an
800-square-foot house in Pasadena to the biggest stages in the world sharing everything from a
record player and a work ethic to the back of a tour bus. Setting the Record Straight: For the
first time Alex shares the accurate account of the band's formation the musical politics the
infighting and the real story of his brother's life and death. A Rock Family Story: Meet the
itinerant musician father and the proper Indonesian-born mother who shaped the brothers
admonishing them to "always wear a suit" no matter how famous they became. An Intimate Tribute:
Written in his own rough-yet-sweet voice while still in mourning this is Alex's love letter to
Ed featuring never-before-seen photos from his private archives.
