Welcome to Litsy!

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. 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 the 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.