Van Halen | en

Van Halen is a hard rock band which formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, United States. The band was originally called Mammoth and changed their name to Van Halen by 1974. The band's first studio album, "Van Halen", released in 1978, is widely regarded as a milestone in rock music. With this first release, the band, featuring David Lee Roth on vocals, Michael Anthony on bass, and Dutch-born Edward Van Halen on guitars (and also keyboards later) and brother Alex Van Halen on drums, established itself as a leader in the emerging and commercially successful U.S. heavy metal music genre...

While you probably haven't heard Michael's music on the radio, you've undoubtedly heard his work in one of the literally thousands of commercials he scored for clients like Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney and Nike. But he's not just a composer-for-hire: Michael is also building a significant discography -- 22 CDs to date -- as a solo recording artist, working in pop, jazz, classical, electronic and those fascinating, unclassifiable spaces in between. Released in January of 2009, “The Tree of Life” (Spout/MWM), is a free download of ambient compositions inspired by the awe-inspiring visits that he has made to the Redwood forests...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Katharine Whalen, former front-person in the roaring nineties swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers, is planning her return to music following a short hiatus with her first solo album in seven years, Dirty Little Secret. The album is slated to hit the streets June 6 on M.C. Records. Squirrel Nut Zippers met with worldwide success with their second album, Hot, which sold more than a million albums on the strength of the hit single “Hell.” Riding high on that success, Whalen found she wanted to explore her inner jazz chanteuse, forming Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad. She enjoys this...