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A British police van on patrol in Carlisle

Yellow Mercedes Benz Sprinter

A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or people.

In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs (such as pick-up trucks). There are vans in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the classic van version of the tiny Mini to the five metre long (LWB) variants of the Mercedes Sprinter van. Vehicles larger than this are classified as lorries (trucks).

Word usage and etymology[link]

Polish Lublin III van

The word van is a shortened version of the word caravan, which originally meant a covered vehicle.

The word van has slightly different, but overlapping, meanings in different forms of English. While the word always applies to boxy cargo vans, the most major differences in usage are found between the different English-speaking countries.

United Kingdom[link]

British English speakers will generally refer to a passenger minivan as a people-carrier or MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle, and a larger passenger van as a minibus. Ford makes a distinct line of vans with short bonnets (hoods) and varying body sizes. Minivans are the same vans but smaller. The driver's mate of a delivery van was sometimes referred to as a "vanguard." The Sun newspaper introduced the idea of "White Van Man", a typical working class man or small business owner who would have a white Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter or similar panel van. The Top Gear TV programme did a piece where the presenters had to buy a cheap panel van and then perform a series of tests. In reference to the reputation of van drivers' style of driving on British roads, one of the tests was to tailgate a car travelling at 60 mph as closely as possible.

United States[link]

Full-size van in the United States

Minivan in the United States

In the United States, a van can also refer to a box-shaped trailer or semi-trailer used to carry goods. In this case there is a differentiation between a "dry van", used to carry most goods, and a refrigerated van, or reefer, used for cold goods. A railway car used to carry baggage is also called a van.

A vehicle referred to as a full size van is usually a large, boxy vehicle that has a platform and powertrain similar to their light truck counterparts. These vans may be sold with the space behind the front seats empty for transporting of goods (cargo van), or furnished for passenger use by either the manufacturer (Wagon) or another company for more personal comforts, such as entertainment systems (Conversion van). Full size vans often have a very short hood (bonnet), with the engine block moved to within the passenger cabin.

A cutaway van chassis is a variation of the full size van which was developed for use by many second stage manufacturers. Such a unit generally has a van front end, and driver controls in a cab body which extends only to a point aft of the driver and passenger seats, where the rest of the van body is cutoff (leading to the terminology "cutaway"). From that point aft, usually only the chassis frame rails and running gear extend to the rear when the unit is shipped as an "incomplete vehicle". A second stage manufacturer, commonly known as a bodybuilder, will complete the vehicle for uses such as recreational vehicles, small school buses, minibuses, type III ambulances, and delivery trucks. A large portion of cutaway van chassis are equipped with dual rear wheels. Some second stage manufacturers also add a third weight-bearing single wheel "tag axle" for larger minibus models.

The term van may also refer to a minivan. However, minivans are usually distinguished by their smaller size and traditionally front wheel drive powertrain, although many now are being equipped with four wheel drive. Minivans offer similar seating capacity (traditionally seven to eight passengers), and better fuel economy than full-size vans, at the expense of power, cargo space, and towing capacity. In addition, many new minivans have dual side sliding doors.

Japan[link]

Early Japanese vans include the Mazda Bongo and the Subaru 360 van. The Japanese also produced many vans based on the American flat nose model, but also mini-vans which for the American market have generally evolved to the long-wheelbase front wheel drive form factor first pioneered by the Nissan Prairie and Mitsubishi Chariot. Microvans, vans that fulfill kei car regulations, are very popular for small business. The term is also used to describe full-fledged station wagons (passenger car front sheetmetal, back seats, windows all around) and even hatchbacks with a basic trim package intended for commercial use.

Australia[link]

In Australian English, the term van is commonly used to describe a minivan, a passenger minibus, or an Australian panel van as manufactured by companies such as Holden and Ford at various times.

India[link]

In India, van is one of the most common modes of transport and is often used for commuting school children to and from schools as parents, especially working parents are too busy to themselves pick their children from school and when school buses are full and unable to accommodate other children.

A full size van used for commercial purposes is also known as a van; however, a passenger vehicle with more than 7 or 8 seats is more likely to be called a minibus.

Finally, the term van can sometimes be used interchangeably with caravan, which in the U.S. is referred to as a travel trailer.

The British term people mover is also used in Australian English to describe a passenger van. The American usage of van to mean a cargo box trailer or semi-trailer is used rarely, if ever, in Australia.

Examples[link]

Roger Fenton's photographic van, Crimea, 1855

The precursor to American Vans would be the Sedan Deliveries of the 1930s to late 1950s. The first generation of American vans were the 1960s compact vans, which were patterned in size after the Volkswagen Bus. The Corvair-based entry even imitated the rear-mounted, air-cooled engine design. The Ford Falcon had a flat nose, with the engine mounted between and behind the front seats. The Dodge A100 had a similar layout and could accommodate a V8 engine. Chevrolet also switched to this layout. The Ford, Dodge and Corvair vans were also produced as pickup trucks.

The standard or full size vans appeared with Ford's innovation of moving the engine forward under a short hood and using pickup truck components and taillights. The engine cockpit housing is often called a dog house. Over time, they evolved longer noses and sleeker shapes. The Dodge Sportsman added a plug to the rear of a long wheelbase to create the 15 passenger van. They have been sold as both cargo and passenger models to the general public and as cutaway van chassis versions for second stage manufacturers to make box vans, ambulances, campers and other vehicles. Second stage manufacturers also modify the original manufacturer's body to create custom vans for the general public.

In the 1970s, songs like "Chevy Van", written and performed by Sammy Johns, and nicknames like "sin bin" or "screw canoe" became part of the culture as owners transformed them into rolling bedrooms and lounges. Conversion vans became a large market with plusher accommodations than factory seats.

Dodge ended production of their full-size vans in June 2002 (as 2003 models), and replaced it with the German originated Dodge Sprinter, which is based on a narrower, more fuel-efficient European design pattern with a 150 hp (110 kW) diesel turbo I5. Typical versions of the Sprinter are taller than other unmodified vans (tall enough to stand in), with a more slanted (aerodynamic) profile in front. They have been adopted primarily for delivery and lightweight Class-C van cab motor home applications.

Usage[link]

A van equipped with professional carpet cleaning tools in Durham, North Carolina

In urban areas of the United States full-size vans have been used as commuter vans since 1971, when Dodge introduced a van that could transport up to 15 passengers. Commuter vans are used as an alternative to carpooling and other ride sharing arrangements.

Many mobile businesses use a van to carry almost their entire business to various places where they work. For instance, there are those who come to homes or places of business to perform services or to install or repair appliances. Vans are also used to shuttle people and their luggage between hotels and airports, to transport commuters between parking lots and their places of work, and along established routes as minibuses. Vans are also used to transport elderly and mobility-impaired worshipers to and from church services or to transport youth groups for outings to amusement parks, picnics, and visiting other churches. Vans are also used by schools to drive sports teams to intermural games. Vans have been used by touring music groups to haul equipment and people to music venues around the country; for example, the Portland band AgesandAges converted a 12-seat passenger van into a 15-seater to take the seven-member singing group on tour around the United States.^[1]

Step Van[link]

A Postal Service step van

A Federal Express step van

Another type of van, peculiar to North America, is the step van, so called because of the ease with which one can step in and out of it. Widely used by delivery services, courier companies and the parcel division of the US Postal Service and Canada Post, they are often seen driven with the door open, especially in big cities. Step vans have more obviously boxy shapes and higher rooftops than other vans, and they are rarely employed for carrying passengers.

Rollover safety[link]

Recently, the larger passenger versions have appeared in news stories for having a tendency to roll over, particularly in the case of inexperienced operators. The van body is taller than the cab and bed of the pickup that uses the same style frame and powertrain resulting in the basic van having a higher center of gravity than a similarly loaded pickup from which it is derived. The suspension is also higher because of the extreme weight capacity of 15 passengers of between 150 lb (68 kg) and 200 lb (91 kg) each which may be over one ton of passengers alone. The seats in the passenger version raise the load, passengers, above the floor, further raising the center of gravity (and often shifting it rearward). The bench seats allow passengers to slide if safety belts are not used. In the United States it is common for only the front seat passengers to use their safety belts, perhaps because belted passengers feel they can still lean and shift a large amount. However, the NHTSA, cited below, has determined that belted passengers are about four times more likely to survive in rollover crashes.

Safety can be greatly improved by understanding the unique characteristics of 12- and 15-passenger vans and by following a special set of guidelines developed for drivers, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A summary of this information is available at "Reducing The Risk of Rollover Crashes in 15-Passenger Vans".^[2] Among other things, this document advises that carrying 10 or fewer passengers (preferably towards the front of the van) greatly reduces the risk of rollover crashes, and it suggests that repeated operation by the same drivers tends to increase their ability to handle these vehicles more safely over time.

Tire pressure for 12- and 15-passenger vans is a critical safety concern that is often overlooked, as these vans are designed to have a higher pressure in the rear tires in order to carry the heavier load safely.^[3] Vehicle manufacturers tire pressure requirements can be found on the vehicle information label, usually located in the door jamb of the drivers side door. Under-inflated tires can overheat when driven at speed and under heavy loads, causing tire failure and leading to a roll-over.

Car rental companies have also started adding stickers to warn renters about the difference in handling while compared to standard cars. Items should not be added to a roof rack of an already top-heavy vehicle.

Safety equipment[link]

Many vans are fitted with cargo barriers behind the front seats (or rear seats, if fitted) to prevent injuries caused by unsecured cargo in the event of sudden deceleration, collision or a rollover. A cargo barrier can also help prevent a collapse of the vehicle roof in the event of a rollover.^[4][5] Cargo barriers in vans are sometimes fitted with doors permitting the driver to pass through to the cargo compartment of the vehicle.^[4][6]

See also[link]

• List of vans

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vans

Cars portal

References[link]

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: citations requested since 2009, so either sources need to be added, or uncited stuff deleted. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (March 2011)

Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen onstage in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Edward Lodewijk van Halen
Also known as	EVH
Born	(1955-01-26) January 26, 1955 (age 57) Nijmegen, Netherlands
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Guitar, keyboards, vocals, bass, drums
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Van Halen, Michael Jackson, Derek Sherinian, Steve Vai, Brian May
Website	www.van-halen.com
Notable instruments
"Frankenstrat" Ernie Ball Music Man EVH model Peavey EVH Wolfgang

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 26, 1955) is a Dutch-born American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the eponymous hard rock band Van Halen. Allmusic described him as "Second to only Jimi Hendrix... undoubtedly one of the most influential, original, and talented rock guitarists of the 20th century."^[1] He is ranked 8th in Rolling Stone's 2011 list of the Top 100 guitarists.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

Born in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Edward Lodewijk van Halen is a son of clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist father Jan van Halen and mother Eugenia. Eugenia van Halen was originally from Indonesia which was a former Dutch colony. Eugenia was half Dutch and half Indonesian. Edward's middle name "Lodewijk" was derived from composer Ludwig van Beethoven (Lodewijk is the Dutch version of Ludwig). Edward continued this naming tradition by naming his son Wolfgang Van Halen after composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.. In February 1962, at the age of seven, Edward moved with his family to the United States, settling in Pasadena, California.[1]

Van Halen and his older brother Alex learned to play the piano as children.^[1] The brothers were shuttled from Pasadena to San Pedro to study with an elderly man who taught them classical piano. Eddie and Alex hated the commute but continued as their mother would discipline them if they refused to go. Eddie revealed in an interview that he never could read the music. He learned from watching and listening. So during recitals of Bach or Mozart, he would simply wing it. Afterward, the judges would comment that he had an interesting interpretation of the classical piece. Eddie thought, "What? I thought I was playing it correctly!" However, playing the piano did not prove to be challenging or interesting to him — he once said in an interview.^[3] Consequently, while Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing. He would practice for hours day after day.

After Eddie heard Alex's performance of the The Surfaris' drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar. He stated^{[citation needed]} that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing. He claims^{[citation needed]} that he would sit in his room for hours with the door locked as a teen, practicing the guitar. Van Halen notes the importance of supergroup Cream, holding their improvisation in high regard, considering 'I'm so Glad' on 'Goodbye Cream' to be mind-blowing.^[4] He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream "note for note". Eddie has stated: "I've always said Eric Clapton was my main influence, but [Jimmy Page] was actually more the way I am, in a reckless-abandon kind of way."^[5]

[edit] Van Halen

Van Halen, originally called Genesis with bass player Mark Stone, changed their name to "Mammoth" when they discovered there was already a band from England with the name Genesis. The band consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and vocals, his brother Alex on drums, and bassist Mark Stone. They had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth^[6] — a service for which he charged by the night. Eddie quickly became frustrated singing lead vocals,^[6] and decided they could save money by letting Roth into the band.,^[6] Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone on bass. They opted to change the name of the band because David Lee Roth suggested that the last name of the two brothers "sounded cool." Roth also thought that changing the name would give the group staying power. Would people think it was a name? A place? The name would be more cryptic, with more to think about.

At one point the group considered calling themselves Rat Salade, before deciding on Van Halen.^[7] The band originally began playing cover material, ranging from pop to disco, before settling on original material.^[7] In 1976, Rodney Bingenheimer took Gene Simmons to see one of Van Halen's shows.^[8] Simmons then produced a Van Halen demo tape with recording beginning at the Village Recorder studios in Los Angeles and finished with overdubs at the Electric Lady Studios in New York.^[9] In mid-1977, Van Halen was offered a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. After recording a set of demos, they recorded their first album "Van Halen" in mid September to early October 1977, which was released on February 10, 1978.

David Lee Roth fallout[link]

Van Halen in New Haven, 1977

Van Halen released a total of six albums with vocalist David Lee Roth: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982) and 1984 (1984). However, the band had trouble working together as a cohesive unit. According to Gene Simmons' book Kiss and Make-Up, Eddie Van Halen approached Simmons in 1982 about possibly joining Kiss, replacing Ace Frehley. According to Simmons, Eddie did so chiefly due to his personality conflicts with Roth.

Simmons and Alex persuaded Eddie to remain in Van Halen, while Kiss replaced Frehley with Vinnie Vincent, and shortly afterwards the band released the album 1984, which yielded the band's first #1 hit "Jump". Other singles released from the album performed well, particularly "Hot for Teacher", the video for which featured a skimpily dressed model playing the part of a female elementary school teacher and school-age boys portraying younger versions of the band members. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, behind Thriller by Michael Jackson, on which Eddie also played.

Jimmy Page said at the time: "For my money, Eddie Van Halen was the first significant new kid on the block. Very dazzling".^[10] In 1982, Eddie was invited by producer Quincy Jones to contribute the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's recording for Thriller's "Beat It". Van Halen improvised and integrated for the recording the familiar Van Halen-styled guitar solo bridge in the new song. Part of rock lore was that credit for his work on the noteworthy track would be sufficient and Van Halen declined the payment he was offered for his performance.^{[citation needed]}

Sammy Hagar[link]

With the arrival of former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar in July 1985, the band's sound changed somewhat to adapt to the strengths of the new vocalist, as Eddie's keyboard playing became a permanent fixture, heard in songs such as "Dreams" and "Love Walks In". Even on the more guitar-driven songs, Eddie's performances became looser, less aggressive, and some said more thoughtful, while others said more commercial. The change in sound and pace prompted many fans, both positively and negatively, to refer to the band as "Van Hagar" or "Sam Halen". However, tensions within the band again arose over identity and artist direction, and Hagar, like Roth earlier, departed in June 1996.

Hagar appeared on 4 studio albums with the band, 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance, as well as one live album Live: Right Here, Right Now. Even though some fans of the original Van Halen were upset over both the separation of Roth and the hiring of Hagar, the band achieved something never attained by the original line-up, a #1 record. With Hagar, all four studio releases reached #1 on the Billboard charts. "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" earned the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal. And their live album Live: Right Here, Right Now peaked at #5.

Gary Cherone[link]

Following Hagar's departure, the group briefly reunited with original singer David Lee Roth and released Best of Volume I, a greatest hits package, in October 1996. Two new songs were recorded for the album, with the single "Me Wise Magic" reaching #1 on the mainstream rock chart "Can't Get This Stuff No More". However, previous disagreements resurfaced and the reunion did not last, as Roth left in September 1996, after the MTV Video Music Awards.

The band auditioned many prospective replacements for Hagar, finally settling on Gary Cherone, former front man for Extreme, a band also represented by Van Halen's manager. Cherone predicted that the new line-up would last 'ten years', however the Van Halen III album was poorly received. The band completed a world tour with their new single "Without You" and did go back in the studio to start on a second record. However, Cherone soon had an amicable departure, and without a lead singer, Van Halen went on hiatus.

Reunion with Hagar and Roth[link]

Van Halen (right) with David Lee Roth (left), November 2007

In 2004, Van Halen returned with Hagar as their lead singer. A greatest hits package, The Best of Both Worlds, was released to coincide with the band's reunion tour. The album included three new tracks recorded with Hagar, "Up For Breakfast", "It's About Time" and "Learning to See". The band toured the U.S., covering 80 cities.^[11] On February 2, 2007, it was officially announced on the band's website that David Lee Roth would rejoin Van Halen for their summer tour.^[12] The excitement regarding the tour waned when on February 20, 2007, reports surfaced that the tour was indefinitely postponed. A previously planned compilation of Roth era Van Halen hits was shelved.^[13]

After six months and a stint in rehabilitation for Eddie, it was confirmed by the band on August 13 at a press conference in Los Angeles that they would do a tour with the new lineup from late 2007-2008 across North America, with worldwide touring and a new album proposed to follow.^[14] Persistent rumors had long indicated the Van Halen brothers were in talks with Roth to rejoin the band for a tour and/or new material. Van Halen's then 15-year old son Wolfgang was to play bass in Van Halen in the fall, replacing Michael Anthony. Van Halen claimed his son's presence would have a positive effect on the band.

2000s[link]

Suffering from lingering injuries from past high-risk acrobatic stage antics and crashes, Eddie Van Halen underwent hip replacement surgery in November 1999, after his chronic avascular necrosis, which he was diagnosed with in 1995, became unbearable.^[15] In April 2001, Eddie confirmed that since May 2000, he had been undergoing treatment for tongue cancer. The subsequent surgery removed roughly a third of his tongue. He was declared cancer-free in May 2002. Since the 2004 tour, Eddie Van Halen has largely disappeared from the public eye, with the exception of occasional appearances such as the 14th annual Elton John Academy Awards party, and a performance at a Kenny Chesney concert. In December 2004, Eddie attended "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott's funeral, and donated the black and yellow guitar featured on the Van Halen II album inlay, stating that it was always a favorite of Dimebag's. The guitar was put in Darrell's Kiss Kasket and was buried with it.^[16]

On December 5, 2005, Eddie's wife, Valerie Bertinelli, filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court, after four years of separation. On March 8, 2007, Van Halen announced on the official band website that Eddie was entering rehabilitation for unspecified reasons. However, both Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have made statements indicating that Eddie's personality had changed due to alcohol abuse. Van Halen emerged from rehabilitation and appeared publicly as an honorary official during the April 21, 2007 NASCAR event at Phoenix International Raceway. He also unveiled a new Fender Stratocaster with a paint-job made for the NASCAR races before the ceremony. In 2007, Eddie was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. A player receives the "Eddie Van Halen" achievement for hitting 500 or more notes in succession.^[17]

Van Halen toured the U.S. and Canada (Eddie, Alex, Wolfgang, and Roth) from September 2007 until summer 2008. On October 6, 2008, it was reported that Eddie Van Halen proposed to his girlfriend Janie Liszewski, an actress and stuntwoman who became Van Halen's publicist in 2007. He proposed to her while vacationing in Hawaii. The two married on June 27, 2009 at his Studio City estate, with his son and ex-wife Valerie in attendance.^[18] The rocker's brother, Alex Van Halen, officiated the ceremony, while his son served as best man.^[19] On January 1, 2011, Eddie attended Valerie Bertinelli's wedding, along with his son Wolfgang. In mid-January 2011, he attended the winter NAMM Show to present his new Wolfgang guitars, sharing the Fender booth with fellow guitar player Yngwie Malmsteen.

Van Halen released their twelfth studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, on February 7, 2012: their first album for 14 years and their first album with David Lee Roth since 1984.

Style and influence[link]

Eddie van Halen's approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking, combined with his rhythmic sensibility and melodic approach, have influenced an entire generation of guitarists. The solo in "Eruption" was voted #2 on Guitar World magazine's readers poll of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.^[20][21]

Tapping[link]

The instrumental "Eruption" showcased a solo technique called tapping, utilizing both left and right hands on the guitar neck. Although Van Halen popularized tapping, he did not, despite popular belief, invent the tapping technique. The tapping technique in blues and rock was being picked up by various guitarists in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Duane Allman, Frank Zappa and Ace Frehley, tapped with a pick in the early 1970s. Steve Hackett used tapping to play Bach like keyboard passages on the guitar in the early 1970s. Larry Carlton also had a tapped note at the end of his solo on the song Kid Charlemagne.

Brian May also used the tapping technique, which he picked up in America in the early 1970s, on songs such as It's Late from the News Of The World album. From a January 1983 Guitar Player Brian May interview,

I stole it from a guy who said that he stole it from Billy Gibbons in ZZ Top.^[22]

George Lynch has said in an interview that he and Eddie saw Harvey Mandel tap at the Starwood Club in the 1970s. From a March 2009 Metal Den George Lynch interview,

We both witnessed Harvey Mandel from Canned Heat do a neo classic tapping thing at a club called the starwood in Hollywood back in the 70’s. Other people were doing it to a limited extent, Brian May from Queen dabbled… George Van Eps was doing it in the 50’s.^[23]

Early Van Halen stage photographs,^[24] and demo and bootleg recordings from 1976 and before, do not indicate Eddie using any tapping techniques. Eddie's comments about how he came across the tapping technique vary from interview to interview. This is one interview excerpt,

I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his Heartbreaker solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string... pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around? I just kind of took it and ran with it.^[25]

Eddie also employs tapping harmonics. He holds the pick between his thumb and middle finger, which leaves his index finger free for tapping and also makes for easy transitions between picking and tapping. In support of his two-handed tapping techniques, Van Halen also holds a patent for a flip-out support device which attaches to the rear of the electric guitar.^[26] This device enables the user to play the guitar in a manner similar to the piano by orienting the face of the guitar upward instead of forward.

Tone[link]

Van Halen (a self described "tone chaser") achieved his distinctive tone, known as the "Brown sound", by using the EVH "Frankenstrat" guitar, a stock 100-watt Marshall amp, a Variac (to lower the voltage of the amp to keep the same tone as an amplifier running full-blast at lower volumes) and effects such as an Echoplex, an MXR Phase 90, an MXR Flanger and EQs. Van Halen constructed his now legendary Frankenstrat guitar using a Boogie Bodies factory "2nd" body and neck (cost ), a single vintage Gibson PAF humbucker pickup sealed in molten surfboard wax done at home in a coffee can to reduce microphonic feedback, This also warped the bobbin of the pickup. a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge (later to be a Floyd Rose bridge) and a single volume control with a knob labeled "tone". Eddie has used a variety of pickups including Gibson PAF's, 1970s Mighty Mites, DiMarzios and Ibanez Super 70s. Eddie was using Mighty Mite pickups in 1977 club photos, just prior to the recording of the first Van Halen album. Mighty Mite pickups were OEM pickups made by Seymour Duncan ^[27] and were copies of DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups and can be identified by their lack of bobbin holes. Seymour Duncan started advertising pickup rewinding services In late 1977/early 1978 ^[28] and apparently rewound a Gibson PAF for Eddie around the early 1978 period.^[29]

The now famous single pickup, single volume knob guitar configuration was the chosen platform due to Van Halen's lack of knowledge in electronic circuitry, primitive wire soldering skills, and his disappointment in not finding an adequate, durable bridge and neck pick-up combination on his own. Upon installing the humbucking pickup he did not know how to wire it into the guitar circuit, so he wired the simplest working circuit to get it to function.

His later guitars include various Kramer models from his period of endorsing that company (most notably the Kramer "5150", from which Kramer in its Gibson-owned days based their Kramer 1984 design, an unofficial artist signature model) and three signature models: the Ernie Ball/ Music Man Edward van Halen Model (Which continues as the Ernie Ball Axis), the Peavey EVH Wolfgang (which has been succeeded by a similar guitar called the HP Special), and the Charvel EVH Art Series, on which Eddie does the striping before they are painted by Charvel.

In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in July, 1985, Van Halen states that his "brown sound" is "basically a tone, a feeling that I'm always working at ... It comes from the person." He continues, "If the person doesn't even know what that type of tone I'm talking about is, they can't really work towards it, can they?"

Tuning[link]

Though rarely discussed, one of the most distinctive aspects of Van Halen's sound was Eddie's tuning of the guitar. Before Van Halen, most distorted, metal-oriented rock consciously avoided the use of the major third interval in guitar chords, creating the signature power chord of the genre. When run through a distorted amplifier, the rapid beating of the major third on a conventionally tuned guitar is distracting and somewhat dissonant.^{[citation needed]}

Eddie tuned to "Hendrix's tuning" which is flat E, the open G and B reaches a justly intonated, beatless third. This consonant third was almost unheard of in distorted-guitar rock and allowed Van Halen to use major chords in a way that mixed classic hard rock power with "happy" pop. The effect is pronounced on songs such as "Runnin' With the Devil", "Unchained", and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?".

With the B string flat, chords in some positions on the guitar have more justly intonated thirds, but in other positions the flat B string creates out-of-tune intervals. As Eddie once remarked to Guitar Player:

A guitar is just theoretically built wrong. Each string is an interval of fourths, and then the B string is off. Theoretically, that's not right. If you tune an open E chord in the first position and it's perfectly in tune, and then you hit a barre chord an octave higher, it's out of tune. The B string is always a motherfucker to keep in tune all the time! So I have to retune for certain songs.^[30]

Volume swells[link]

Eddie used a volume technique in the instrumental "Cathedral". He hammered notes on the fretboard with one hand while rolling the volume knob with the other. This altered the attack and decay of the notes so they mimicked the sound of keyboards. This "volume swells" sound (also known as "violining", because of the way it sounds) was originally popularized by 1970s progressive rock bands like Genesis (Steve Hackett), Focus (Jan Akkerman), Yes (Steve Howe), and Rush (Alex Lifeson) but was usually performed with a volume pedal, at a slower pace. "Cathedral" also employs an electronic delay, with the delay set at 400 ms and the delayed note set at the same amplitude as the original note. Most of the composition's notes come from hammering on the notes of a major 5th string barre chord (ascending and then descending) and replicating this pattern up and down the neck of the guitar. The end result of this technique made the composition sound as if it is being played on a church/cathedral organ.

Equipment[link]

Guitars[link]

Eddie Van Halen built his guitar (Black and White) by hand, using an imperfect body and a neck bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, whose parts were being sold by Wayne Charvel at the time. Eddie installed a humbucker in the bridge position essentially creating a Fat Strat. In 1979, Eddie began to play a black, rear loaded Charvel with yellow stripes. This was later replicated by Charvel along with the black and white striped model and the red white and black model (EVH Art Series Guitars). He also used a stock unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on a lot of the tracks on Van Halens first album such as You Really Got Me and Runnin' With the Devil. This same Ibanez Destroyer was later modified and nicknamed by Van Halen fans as "The Shark" guitar. Another mostly stock Ibanez Destroyer painted red/orange was borrowed from Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. for the recording of most of the on the Women and Children First album.

Also, in 1979 Eddie's original guitar was repainted with Frankenstein artwork. Eddie also changed the neck, removed part of the pick guard and eventually installed a Floyd Rose vibrato unit. The guitar is known both as a "frankenstrat" and as the "Frankenstein." Fender issued a replica of the guitar in relic form at a retail price of in 2007. A "new" (non-relicced) Frankenstrat was available through the Charvel company for significantly less, but it was discontinued. This Fender/Charvel series was the first time Van Halen had consented to the commercial release of a guitar with his signature graphics on it.

Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstrat Guitar

In 1983, Eddie began to use a brand new Kramer guitar with artwork similar to its predecessor and with a hockey-stick or "banana" headstock, which came to be known as the "5150." This guitar was rear-loaded (no pick guard), had a Floyd Rose vibrato unit and a neck that was later electronically mapped in order for it to be copied on the later Music Man and Peavey signature models. This guitar was last used on the track "Judgment Day" on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Various versions of it can be seen in the music videos for "Panama","When It's Love" and the concert video, Live Without a Net. The guitar itself was a variant of a Kramer Pacer, although not a model that was technically available at the time.

It was painted with Krylon paints by Van Halen and used through the OU812 tour, after which it was "retired." However, Eddie did break out the guitar for use on the 2004 reunion tour, although the neck had finally failed and had apparently been replaced. A copy of this guitar was available (although not with Van Halen's permission) through the current manufacturer of Kramers, Music Yo, a subsidiary of the Gibson company, sadly Gibson ended the Music Yo business and Kramer is just known as a "Gibson Sister Company". In 2012 the Gibson company again began producing the "1984" model Kramer. These guitars did not feature the custom graphics of the 5150 guitar, as the striped EVH graphics are trademarked by Edward Van Halen.

Eddie has used a Steinberger GL-2T guitar with TransTrem on several songs, including "Get Up" and "Summer Nights" (from 5150). It was custom painted with the "Frankenstein" graphics. He has also used Kramer and Peavey model guitars fitted with the Steinberger TransTrem unit.

In the early 1990s, Ernie Ball produced an EVH signature "Music Man" guitar, and Eddie used this on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums. This guitar is still commercially available under the "Axis" name, and retains all of the original features of the Edward Van Halen model. Although rumours abound of a personal falling-out between Edward and the Ernie Ball company's Sterling Ball, the official reason for the cessation of the commercial relationship was that Edward was upset that Ernie Ball could not produce enough of this guitar to meet demand.

Eddie named his line of Peavey signature Wolfgang guitars after his son, Wolfgang. The guitar itself was similar to the previous Axis line, but with a slightly altered shape and many additional options available in Peavey's much larger custom shop. These guitars included a device called a "D-Tuna" which enabled a guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge.

In 2003, at the NAMM show, the relationship between Peavey and Eddie began to strain. Peavey constructed a glass enclosed stage for Eddie in which to play for VIP's at 2 p.m. Eddie arrived late, shocking fans there with his disheveled appearance, as he immediately went upstairs and initially refused to play. After an hour of negotiations, Eddie came down while fans, who had lined up for hours prior to the appearance, roared with approval. Eddie ended up spending his short time on stage, talking about Wolfgang guitar production and his promise to take a keen interest in quality control. Eddie left, having only played a few notes and small riffs, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans and Peavey.^{[citation needed]} The end came in 2004, when Peavey company parted ways with Van Halen, reportedly because Eddie launched an on-line sale of hand patterned (by Edward) Charvel guitars, sold by the name of the "EVH Art Series Guitars", while he was still contractually obligated to Peavey. The guitars sold for large sums on eBay, and were essentially replicas of his famous "Frankenstrat" guitars, played by Van Halen mainly during the David Lee Roth era of the band. Eddie also launched Frankenstein replicas as noted above, which are the only Van Halen guitars currently endorsed by Eddie.

Most recently Eddie has collaborated with Fender guitars to produce a replica of the Frankenstrat. Eddie and Chip Ellis of the Fender Custom Shop teamed up to produce a guitar priced at each. Also, Eddie has collaborated with Fender to launch his own EVH brand of guitars, amps, and musical instrument equipment, starting with his new EVH Brand 5150 III amplifier. Eddie now uses prototypes of his new EVH Brand Wolfgang, which is an updated version Eddie's Peavey Wolfgangs but with new pickups, knobs, a thinner but very elaborate quilted maple top to allow the basswood the dominant tone, providing more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain. Also, the new Wolfgang is equipped with an Original Floyd Rose. In addition, the new guitar has a slightly altered headstock. This is because this was Ed and Hartley Peavey's original design for the headstock, which Eddie had patented without the scoop on final version of the Peavey Wolfgang. He has been seen with three new Wolfgang guitars, first a sunburst one, then a black one which he stated he liked less than the sunburst one and now he uses a white one, the best sounding one out of the three prototypes according to Ed.

The EVH Wolfgang was planned for initial sale to the public in early 2009, and is now commercially available to purchase.^[31] As of February 2012 Eddie Van Halen has released different variations of the Wolfgang Guitar, for instance, there is an option called the "Stealth" it has all black hardware, and an Ebony fretboard. Since NAMM 2011 the Wolfgang Hardtail was introduced with either the aforementioned "Stealth" style or the standard Maple Fretboard/Chrome Hardware option. Eddie has also released the EVH Wolfgang USA Custom, similar to the Wolfgang Hardtail but with a bone nut rather than a locking one, also has a Les Paul style control layout.

In 2011 Eddie Van Halen donated the Frankenstein 2, a replica of the original guitar that was occasionally used on the 2007/2008 David Lee Roth reunion tour, to the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution.^[32]

Amplifiers[link]

Eddie's main amplifier in the early years was a 100 watt Marshall amplifier that had a 12301 serial number, which dates it to the 1967-1968 transitional period at Marshall when the circuit of the 100 watt Marshall 1959 changed gradually from the "Bass" circuit to the "SuperLead" circuit. Eddie's main Marshall's original circuit had an 820 ohm/0.68 uf resistor/capacitor pair on the cathode of Valve(Tube) 1 and the same on the cathode of Valve(Tube) 2. Eddie's main Marshall had a white knob installed at the back of his Marshall head, as seen in the 1978 world tour Japanese leg photos and the Van Halen II studio photos from late 1978. Photos of Eddie's main Marshall in the 1990s show that the white knob had been removed.

For Van Halen I, a single Celestion speaker cabinet was used and a variac set to around 90 volts was also used on Eddie's main 100 watt Marshall head, mainly to lower the amplifier's volume. The volume control and all other controls on his Marshall head were set to maximum or 10. Eddie's Van Halen I recorded guitar tracks were re-amped^[33] by using the Sunset Sound studios live reverb room.^[34] The first Montrose album was recorded in this way^[35] by Ted Templeman and Donn Landee who also produced and engineered the Van Halen I album. Van Halen I was recorded in Studio 1 at Sunset Sound and Van Halen II was recorded in Studio 2 at Sunset Sound.^[36]

From the mid 1980s, Eddie has used a real time re-amping or Master/Slave slaving amplifier setup that was originally designed by Bob Bradshaw and was published in the September 1986 issue of Guitar World Magazine, with the first amplifier being a Tube Amplifier and the second amplifier being a H&H MOSFET solid state power amplifier. Between 1993 and 2004 Eddie was sponsored by Peavey Electronics to use their 5150 Amplifiers, which he had a part in designing. Following the ending of this relationship, Peavey renamed the amplifier as the "Peavey 6505", with slightly updated styling but original circuitry. Eddie is now sponsored by Fender and has debuted his new amp called the 5150 III. The 5150 III features three channels with their own independent controls, a four-button foot-switch and his famous striped design on the head. In 2011 there will be a inexpensive 5150 III, 60 watt, 2 speaker, combo amp and 50 watt miniature head in production.

Floyd Rose system[link]

Floyd Rose Original

A crucial component of Van Halen's style is his use of the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, released in 1977. Early tremolo bars allowed the guitarist to impart a vibrato to a chord or single string via movement of the bar with the picking hand, but the slackening of the strings when the bar was heavily depressed could lead to detuning. The addition of the locking bolts at the nut and bridge kept the strings taut and allowed for drastic depression of the tremolo bar to create effects such as the dive bomb. Van Halen went on to collaborate with Floyd Rose on improvements to Rose's device.

Van Halen pioneered the mainstream use of the TransTrem system on the Steinberger line of guitars on "5150", most notably on the songs "Summer Nights" and on "Me Wise Magic" off of Best of Volume I where the song goes through several key changes while retaining the same chord voicings. The TransTrem system allows for the effect of an instant "capo", increasing the pitch of all strings by up to a minor third or lowering the pitch by as much as a perfect fourth.^{[citation needed]}

Intellectual property[link]

Edward Van Halen is owner of US 4656917 .^[37] The main claim is for a supporting member on the back of a stringed instrument allowing the musician to play and/or fret the instrument in new ways.

Other work[link]

Eddie van Halen has appeared on several projects outside of his enonymous band.

• Eddie van Halen was invited by Quincy Jones to play guitar on the song Beat It, from Michael Jackson's 1982 album, Thriller. Steve Lukather of Toto played the main guitar riff and rhythm, while Eddie played an improvised guitar solo.
• In 1983, Eddie collaborated with Queen guitarist Brian May on the Star Fleet Project, a three-track EP consisting of a rock styled rendition of the theme to the popular anime children's show, a May penned track (Let Me Out), and an improvised blues track (Blues Breaker).
• In 1984, Eddie recorded several instrumentals for a movie called The Wild Life. Some of those recordings used ideas that showed up later in Van Halen songs such as "Good Enough", "A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)", "Right Now", and "Blood and Fire". However, only "Donut City" was included on the soundtrack album, which was released on vinyl and cassette, and never made it to CD format.
• Also in 1984, he provided the score for the 1984 television film, The Seduction of Gina.
• He played bass on Sammy Hagar's 1987 solo album I Never Said Goodbye.
• Also in February 1987, he appeared on Saturday Night Live as a guest musician with G. E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band when Valerie Bertinelli hosted the show. About twenty seconds into the performance, G. E. Smith could be seen telling Eddie, "Go faster!" Eddie Van Halen also appeared in one sketch with Valerie Bertinelli on that evening's show, which actually featured the Robert Cray Band as its scheduled musical guest.
• In 1989 he played bass on the opening track, "Twist the Knife" from Steve Lukather's debut album, as well as giving the guitar part which was taken from an outtake from the 5150 album titled "I Want Some Action". The main riff was also later used by Eddie Van Halen in the 3 album for "Dirty Water Dog".
• In 1993, he co-wrote and played a song with Black Sabbath members, Tony Martin, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler called "Evil Eye" on the Cross Purposes album, but he wasn't credited due to record company restrictions.
• He has also done soundtrack work for movies such as Over The Top (Winner Takes It All, a collaboration with Sammy Hagar), Twister (the instrumental Respect The Wind), The Wild Life (one song was reused in the movie Back to the Future, and Lethal Weapon 4 (The track Fire In The Hole from Van Halen III)
• In 1998 he performed guitar solos for the Roger Waters song "Lost Boys Calling" from the film The Legend of 1900.
• He has recorded with Dweezil Zappa, Jeff Porcaro, and Thomas Dolby.
• In July 2006, Eddie Van Halen recorded two new instrumental tracks (Rise and Catherine) which debuted in an unusual format: in a pornographic feature entitled Sacred Sin directed by a friend of the guitarist, well known adult director Michael Ninn.^[38][39] These tracks have since surfaced on the internet. Eddie also composed some minor uncredited piano interludes in the feature.
• In 2009 Eddie guest-starred as himself in an episode of Two and a Half Men where he played his guitar in a mens bathroom.
• In 2010 Eddie Van Halen appeared on Lopez Tonight and gave George Lopez one of his Wolfgang Guitars.

Hollywood Walk of Fame[link]

Van Halen is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work with electric guitars next to Slash and Jimi Hendrix.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eddie Van Halen

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eddie Van Halen

• Eddie Van Halen at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Van Halen Website

Armin van Buuren
Van Buuren performing on Queensday in Amsterdam, 2011
Background information
Birth name	Armin van Buuren
Also known as	Gaia, AVB
Born	(1976-12-25) 25 December 1976 (age 35) Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands[1]
Origin	Koudekerk aan den Rijn, South Holland, Netherlands
Genres	Trance Progressive Trance Uplifting Trance Neo-trance
Occupations	Remixer, Producer, DJ, Composer, Musician, Pianist, Songwriter
Instruments	Synthesizer, drum machine, equalizer, personal computer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Armada Music (2003–present), Vandit (Co-Joined), Ministry of Sound Australia
Associated acts	Alibi, Dark Matter, Electrix, Lilmotion, Major League, Monsieur Basculant, Red & White, Technology, Triple A, Wodka Wasters, Nadia Ali,[2] Christian Burns,[2] Ferry Corsten,[2] Adam Young,[2] BT,[2] Sophie Ellis-Bextor,[2] Guy Chambers[2]
Website	arminvanbuuren.com

Armin van Buuren (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑr.mɪn vɑn ˈby.rə(n)]), OON (born 25 December 1976 in Leiden, Netherlands)^[1] is a Dutch trance producer and DJ. Between 2007 and 2010, he was voted number one in DJ Magazine's annual top 100 list of the most popular DJs.^[1] In the 2011 list, he ranked in second place. Since 2001, Van Buuren has hosted a weekly radio show called A State of Trance, which claims to have around 15 million weekly listeners in 26 countries,^[3] which would make it one of the most listened-to radio shows in the world. His 2008 studio album, Imagine, entered the Dutch album chart at #1, a first for a dance music artist in Dutch music history.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Armin van Buuren was born in Leiden, Netherlands on 25 December 1976,^[1] but grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. Van Buuren started making music when he was 14.^{[citation needed]} He was inspired by French electronic music composer, Jean Michel Jarre, and wished to become a great electronic music composer like Jarre.^{[citation needed]}

He finished high school at the Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden in 1995, and left for college to study law at Leiden University. While studying law, Van Buuren's interest for making music blossomed, and he began working as a DJ in a local club called Nexus. As his musical career began to take off, he put his law degree on hold, although he did return to finish law school in 2003.

On 18 September 2009, Van Buuren married Erika van Thiel in Wassenaar, Netherlands. They met during a vacation on Crete, and had been together for nine years prior to the marriage.^[5][6]

On 12 January 2011, Van Buuren announced the pregnancy of his wife Erika on Twitter.^[7] He hoped the baby, due that summer, would be his "best production ever."^[7] Their daughter, Fenna, was born on 24 July 2011.^[8]

Career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

1995–1999: Early career and success[link]

In 1995, Van Buuren had his first major success with a track called "Blue Fear", which was released under the Cyber Records label; he was 19 years old at the time. This track, which was produced in the "Euro Trance" mold, made it onto the UK Chart. Another successful track, "Communication" was released under the same label, and became popular in Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Chart at No. 18 in 2000.

Armin van Buuren at Lizard Lounge, Dallas, Texas, 9 August 2008

Van Buuren began his DJ career at club Nexus in Leiden, where he learned to play long DJ sets, which were regularly six to seven hours per set.^[9] During school holidays he played more than four times a week. In 1999, he met Dave Lewis who introduced him as a DJ in England and the United States.^[9] His career accelerated, entering the DJ magazine Top-100 in November 2001 at Number 27.^[9] He has played in more than 25 different countries and can often be found on the main stage at big summer festivals. Van Buuren played a record-breaking twelve and a half hour set for Dancetheater in The Hague (the Netherlands).^[10][11] In the United Kingdom he performs regularly at Passion (resident 2002), Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Slinky, Ministry of Sound, Peach and Golden.

In the beginning of 1999, Van Buuren started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig – "One," was well received. The second release "Touch Me," under the name Rising Star was signed to Ministry of Sound in the UK, before the record was released.

By the time of his third release, Gimmick – "Free" was signed to R&S Records, Van Buuren had managed to make his label popular very quickly. Under the surname Gaia he released "4 Elements" on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers. Teaming up with Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League – "Wonder Where You Are?" was released on Black Hole Recordings and Alibi – "Eternity" was released on Armind. "Eternity" received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk's imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, Van Buuren recorded a riff-classic titled "Exhale" for the System F. album. Released as a single, this track reached gold status in less than a month.

[edit] 2000–2004: A State of Trance and 76

In 2000, Van Buuren started his own Armin van Buuren compilation series. He managed to find a balance between progressive house,and vocal trance music styles. His first compilation album, A State of Trance (not to be confused with his weekly A State of Trance radio shows), sold more than 10,000 copies and contains Van Buuren's well known remix of Moogwai, "Viola." His second album, Basic Instinct featured a new track: "Perpetuous Dreamer" – "The Sound of Goodbye." This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year, the track hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The third album, In Motion was released 6 August 2001. This album contained the real trance sound and was very popular in the United States. A fourth album, Transparence, followed in 2002. In 2003, he worked with such artists such as DJ Seth Alan Fannin throughout a global tour on Dance Revolution in Europe, selling out to crowds of 20,000 people in Armin's home country of the Netherlands.

In March 2001, Van Buuren started his own radio show on ID&T Radio (traditionally broadcast in Dutch and later English since ASOT 183). In this weekly two-hour show, entitled A State of Trance, he plays the latest popular trance music tracks. His show and the artists he features are popularized by publishing the artists and track titles on his website. This radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, Van Buuren left and took A State of Trance with him. The show then moved to Fresh FM, a Dutch radio station. It is now a weekly feature on SLAM!FM, another Dutch radio station, DI.FM, an online radio station, and on XM Satellite Radio, channel 80 in the United States and Canada. A complete list of stations that broadcast A State of Trance can be found at the ASOT section of Armin's website. Also in 2004, Van Buuren remixed the 24 theme song into a trance hit. In June 2005, the 200th episode was celebrated in Amsterdam and subsequently aired on radio. The 250th (eight hour) anniversary episode was celebrated in Club Asta in The Hague, Netherlands, featuring Van Buuren, Jonas Steur, M.I.K.E., John Askew, Rank 1 and Menno de Jong.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, he had a residency at Glow in Washington D.C.,^[9] and he has played all across North America in San Francisco, Vancouver, Houston, Toronto, Boston, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Edmonton, Atlanta, Austin, Denver, New York City, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Seattle and at The Necto (nightclub). He has also regularly appeared at Amnesia on the island of Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain. In October that year, Van Buuren was voted Number 5 in the DJ Magazine 100 top DJ's. The following year, he jumped up to the No. 3 spot, and held 3rd place for the next three years. His work left him at the No. 2 spot, just below Paul van Dyk in the 2006 polls, and, in 2007, Armin reached #1, heading the 2007 DJ Mag Top 100. He was voted No. 1 again in 2008, 2009 and again in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2003, Van Buuren released his debut studio album, 76, a 76-minute album divided into 13 tracks.^[12]

Armin Van Buuren performing at Avalon, Boston, Massachusetts 2007

[edit] 2005–present: Shivers, Imagine and Mirage

On 8 August 2005, Van Buuren released his second studio album, Shivers. On the album Van Buuren worked with artists such as Pakistani-American singer Nadia Ali, English singer Justine Suissa and American trance duo Gabriel & Dresden.

On 11 November 2006, he had a live performance called Armin Only in Ahoy Rotterdam for the second time (after 12 November 2005) with a nine hour solo set, where he performed to over 11,000 fans.

In the summer of 2007, Van Buuren recorded and released a live set at Amnesia, Ibiza. Universal Religion Chapter 3, Live from Amnesia at Ibiza was released on 28 September 2007 as a mix compilation on Armada Records and in the US as "Universal Religion 2008" on Ultra Records on 4 December 2007.

On 17 April 2008, Van Buuren released his third studio album, Imagine. It features collaboration with singers such as Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation and Jacqueline Govaert of Krezip. The album debuted at number one on the Dutch Albums Chart. Since the release of Imagine, Van Buuren has been working with Benno de Goeij and DJ-RA of Rank 1 on solo productions and remixes.^{[citation needed]}

19 April 2008 saw the 3rd edition of Armin Only, this time in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, Netherlands. The event was attended by 16,000 fans and (partly) broadcast live on Dutch National TV. During the second half of 2008, Van Buuren took this show abroad, with visits to Australia, Romania, Poland, Belgium, and a special New Years Eve 2008 show at Together As One in Los Angeles, U.S.

On 29 September 2008, Armin won the DJ Award for "Best Trance DJ" at Ibiza along with other nominees, that of Tiësto, Ferry Corsten and Paul van Dyk.

On 12 January 2008, Van Buuren was given the "Buma Cultuur Pop Award," the most prestigious Dutch music award.

In 2009, Foreign Media Games announced the production of In The Mix: Featuring Armin van Buuren, a music game being produced in collaboration with Cloud 9 Music and Van Buuren's Armada Music label. The title is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010 exclusively for the Wii console.^[13]

He has collaborated with his brother, guitarist Eller van Buuren, in such venues as Together As One in Los Angeles, U.S., on New Year's Eve 2009, as well as on Armin's 2008 album Imagine.

On 3 March 2010, Van Buuren was awarded with the prestigious Golden Harp, for his musical work and contribution to Dutch music, by the music collecting society BUMA/STEMRA at the 2010 Buma Harpen Gala in Hilversum, the Netherlands.^[14][15]

On 23 June 2010, it was announced that Van Buuren's fourth studio album, Mirage was due to be released on 10 September.^[16] The first single "Full Focus", was released through iTunes Store on 24 June at midnight.^[17] The song peaked at number sixty in the Netherlands. One of the confirmed tracks from the album is a collaboration with English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor called Not Giving Up On Love, which was released as a single from Bextor's fourth studio album, Make a Scene.^[18][19] Armin also wrote a song for English singer Seal, but due to the release of his greatest hits album, Hits, the collaboration never came together.^[20]

On 12 September 2010, Van Buuren launched "A State of Sundays", a new weekly 24-hour radio show aired on Sirius XM Radio ^[21]

On 20 October 2010, Van Buuren won the award for Most Popular International DJ presented by The Golden Gnomes.^[22]

On 27 October 2010, Van Buuren was announced, for the 4th year running, as the number 1 DJ, and thus prolonging his title as 'Most Popular DJ in the World'.^[23]

The 2010 edition of Armin Only: Mirage kicked off on 13 November 2010, in Utrecht, Netherlands, with more shows coming in Saint-Petersburg, Kiev, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Beirut, Poznań, Moscow and Bratislava .^[24]

On 27 November 2010, Van Buuren made his third appearance in Shanghai, China.

On 2 February 2012, Van Buuren mentioned a new studio album in the works on episode #546 of his radio show, "A State Of Trance".

A State of Trance 500 (ASOT 500)[link]

To mark the 10 year anniversary and 500th episode of his weekly radio show A State of Trance, Van Buuren performed at five shows across five continents over five consecutive weeks along with various artists.

The first show was held on 19 March 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa at the MTN Expo Center. In addition to Armin, Blake Jarrell, Protoculture, Lange, Leon Bolier, and Jorn van Deynhoven were performers. Super8 & Tab were to be part of the South African show, however a flight cancellation caused them to be absent for the event. The event was attended by over 20,000 people.

Miami's show was performed at the Ultra Music Festival on 27 March, and part of the show were Marcus Schossow, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Cosmic Gate, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten, ATB, and Sander van Doorn.

Argentina held the third celebration of ASOT 500 in club G.E.B.A Buenos Aires, with Heatbeat, Jochen Miller, Dash Berlin, Markus Schulz, John O'Callaghan and W & W. It was the only of the five ASOT 500 celebrations that was held outdoors. Van Buuren recorded a live video with his cell phone and uploaded it to Twitter while playing his live set.

ASOT 500 was celebrated in the Netherlands in Den Bosch. Accompanied by more than 30 DJs from countries all over the world, the event was attended by over 30,000 people. DJs present included Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery, Above & Beyond, Paul Oakenfold and Sean Tyas. The event was radio broadcast live to over 30 countries.^{[25][dated info]}

The final show was held in Sydney, Australia on 16 April at Acer Arena in Olympic Park. It was a sold out event weeks before the night. Artists present included Shogun, tyDi, Menno de Jong, Aly & Fila, and Alex M.O.R.P.H. Van Buuren played for three hours.

A State of Trance 550 (ASOT 550)[link]

In March 2012, Van Buuren performed in six shows across three continents as part of ASOT 550. He began his tour on March 1 in London, continued on to Moscow on March 7, and to Kiev, Ukraine on March 10. Then, he traveled to the United States to host his show at the Beyond Wonderland festival in Southern California. A week later on March 25, he closed out Ultra Music Festival 2012 for the 5th edition. This was followed by the final show in the Brabanthallen of Den Bosch, the Netherlands.

A State of Trance sponsored a tent at the Electric Daisy Carnival at Met Life stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 19, 2012, which by all accounts could be considered an unofficial extension of ASOT 550. ^[26]

Discography[link]

• 76 (2003)
• Shivers (2005)
• Imagine (2008)
• Mirage (2010)

Year Mixes[link]

Van Buuren is well known for his annual "Year Mix" which incorporates clips and custom mashups from the year's most popular trance tracks. Each year-mix consists of about 85 individual releases, edited into a two hour mix which is released on double CD as well as aired on his weekly radio show at the end of each year. According to Van Buuren, each year-mix takes several months to make, including thousands of digital audio edits and hundreds of audio plugins.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Armin van Buuren

• Official website
• Artist Page on ArmadaMusic.com
• Armin van Buuren on Myspace
• Armin van Buuren at Allmusic
• Armin van Buuren discography at Discogs
• Armin van Buuren discography at MusicBrainz
• Armin van Buuren at the Internet Movie Database
• Armin van Buuren's profile on Trancepedia
• Armada Music – the record label of Armin van Buuren
• Armin van Buuren – A State of Trance episodes
• *Flowd - artist channel on *Flowd network.

Sabine Schmitz
Schmitz, in 2007
Born	(1969-05-14) 14 May 1969 (age 43) Adenau, Germany
Other names	Sabine Reck, SpeedBee, Queen of the Ring
Occupation	Racing driver, Television personality
Website
http://www.speedbee.de

Sabine Schmitz (Sabine Reck while married; born 14 May 1969), is a German former professional motor racing driver for BMW, now known for driving the BMW "Ring taxi" around the Nürburgring race track as well as being a television personality. From the start of 2011, Sabine no longer drives the BMW Ring Taxi.

Biography[link]

Born to the local hotel and restaurant owning Schmitz family, Sabine and her two elder sisters grew up in the "Hotel am Tiergarten" (in the basement of which is the Pistenklause restaurant) in Nürburg within the Nürburgring Nordschleife.^{[1][dead link]}

Schmitz trained as Hotelfachfrau and Sommelière. During her marriage to a hotelier she lived in Pulheim, but after her divorce in 2000, up until 2003, she owned a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the Fuchsröhre (Foxhole) after a track section. In 2004^{[citation needed]} she qualified as a helicopter pilot.^[2]

Following occasional drives with the family car on the Nordschleife, all three sisters started racing, but only Sabine continued and collected victories. Schmitz won in CHC and VLN race events, the VLN endurance racing championship in 1998, and is the first woman to win a major 24h race, the 24 Hours Nürburgring, in 1996 and 1997, all with a BMW M3 entered and co-driven by local veteran Johannes Scheid. In 2006 Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by Land Motorsport. They finished a strong third in the 24h 2008, beaten only by the factory-backed Manthey-entered winners of 2007 and 2006.

Nürburgring[link]

Schmitz came to mass public attention driving one of the two BMW M5 "Ring taxi" around the 20.8 km long race track in an entertaining manner.

According to her own estimates, Schmitz has gone around the track more than 20,000 times, increasing by approximately 1200 per year. Her familiarity with the circuit earned her the nicknames "Queen of the Nürburgring" and "the fastest taxi driver in the world". She says her favourite parts of the track are Schwedenkreuz and Fuchsröhre.^[3]

Claudia Hürtgen is her main rival, winning the championship in 2006, and scoring pole and victory in the third VLN race of 2008, with a BMW Z4.

Her company, Nürburgring-based Sabine Schmitz Motorsport, offers advanced driver training and a "Ring Taxi" service for passengers.

Television career[link]

As a result of her popularity as "the fastest taxi driver in the world", and charisma, Schmitz became an occasional motorsport guest commentator, known for her gleefully dry descriptions of driving incidents. Since September 2006, Schmitz has co-hosted a motoring show on German television, D Motor on the DMAX TV channel. In each show, Schmitz takes on another challenge, for example Schmitz in a Ferrari 360 vs. a 1200 hp Race Truck, or Schmitz in a Formula Renault race car vs. a race sidecar.

In December 2004, Schmitz gained recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television show Top Gear with presenter Jeremy Clarkson. After Clarkson (under her tutelage) set a lap time of 9 minutes 59 seconds around the Nürburgring in a Jaguar S-Type diesel (Season 5, Episode 5), she castigated his best lap with the comment "I tell you something, I do that lap time in a van". She did a lap in the Jaguar S-Type, and set a time of 9 minutes 12 seconds, beating him by 47 seconds. When trying to film Schmitz as she drove the S-Type, the film team couldn't keep up so they used Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car,^[4] which means that much of the lap shown on the episode was not the first lap where she set the 9 min. 12 sec. lap time.

Thus, in her second appearance on Top Gear, she actually drove a Ford Transit Diesel in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time set in the Jaguar S-Type diesel. Her final time with the Transit was 10 minutes and 8 seconds (Season 6, Episode 7). For this final lap the van was stripped and streamlined at the front with gaffer tape (Schmitz's belt, hubcaps, spare wheel, toolkit and Richard Hammond were removed) and a Dodge Viper was driven in front to help keep the "air clean" by providing a good slipstream to travel through.

Her first appearance on British television, however, was on the 2002 BBC programme Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours, where she takes Jeremy around the Nürburgring in the "Ring Taxi".

Her third appearance was at the 2005 Top Gear Awards to collect the award for 'Best German' (Season 7, Episode 6).

In 2007, she appeared in Clarkson's Supercar Showdown DVD where she raced an Audi R8 against The Stig in a Porsche 911 GT3 (the Stig won).

Schmitz also appeared in the sixth episode of the Top Gear's 11th series, in a competition between the German motoring equivalent of Top Gear, on which she features, and the British Top Gear team. Both groups engaged each other in a series of challenges, in which Schmitz raced the Top Gear team in a double decker car race, and Clarkson in a one-on-one Mini challenge. She was victorious in both her events; however, due to the timely intervention of James May (dressed suspiciously like The Stig), the overall result was a win for the Top Gear team.

It is rumoured that Schmitz has taken on the role of the Stig in BBC 2's Top Gear in place of 'outed Stig' Ben Collins.^[5]

Race results[link]

• 24 Hours Nürburgring: Overall winner in 1996 and 1997 (BMW), third in 2008 (Porsche), ninth in 2011 (Porsche)

References[link]

External links[link]

• SpeedBee (formerly Sabine Schmitz Motorsport)
• BMW Ring Taxi review by Ian Bevis
• 2006 Team website
• Report on "Ring-Taxi"
• The Fastest Taxi Driver In The World
• BMW Ring-Taxi

Video footage[link]

• Schmitz on the Nürburgring followed by a Porsche 996 GT3 Google video
• Schmitz at the ring, tuned Porsche GT2 vs Caterham CSR260 YouTube video, German
• Nordschleife Tours - Nürburgring Google video, English, Sabine Schmitz at 10:02,20:00
• Part 1, Part 2 One Lap with Ford Transit (diesel) in 10:08 at TopGear
• Dmotor challenge: Schmitz in a 500hp Dodge Viper vs. a 164hp race kart with a Honda CBR 1100 Blackbird engine YouTube video, German

Jean-Claude Van Damme
Van Damme at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (1960-10-18) 18 October 1960 (age 51) Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
Other names	The Muscles from Brussels, JCVD, Van Damage
Nationality	Belgian
Height	1.76 metres (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (180 lb) (currently)[2] 73 kg (160 lb) (fighting weight)
Division	Middleweight
Style	Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Shotokan Karate
Fighting out of	Brussels, Belgium
Team	Team Goetz
Trainer	Claude Goetz Dominique Valera
Rank	black belt in Shotokan
Years active	1976–1982 (martial arts), 1984–present (acting)
Kickboxing record
Total	19
Wins	18
By knockout	18
Losses	1
Amateur career
Total	48
Wins	44
Losses	4
Other information
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, director
Spouse	Maria Rodriguez (m. 1980–1984) «start: (1980)–end+1: (1985)»"Marriage: Maria Rodriguez to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Cynthia Derderian (m. 1985–1986) «start: (1985)–end+1: (1987)»"Marriage: Cynthia Derderian to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Darcy LaPier (m. 1994–1997) «start: (1994)–end+1: (1998)»"Marriage: Darcy LaPier to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme) Gladys Portugues (m. 1987–1992) «start: (1987)–end+1: (1993)»"Marriage: Gladys Portugues to Jean-Claude Van Damme" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme)and (1999–present)
Children	Kristopher Van Varenberg Bianca Bree Nicholas Van Varenberg

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme,^[3] is a Belgian martial artist, actor, and director^[4] best known for his martial arts action films.^[5] The most successful of these films include Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Sudden Death (1995) and JCVD (2008).^[6] He is known as "The Muscles from Brussels".

After studying martial arts intensively from the age of ten, Van Damme achieved national success in Belgium as a martial artist and bodybuilder, earning the "Mr. Belgium" bodybuilding title.^[7] He emigrated to the United States in 1982 to pursue a career in film, and achieved success with Bloodsport (1988), based on a story written by Frank Dux. He attained subsequent box office success with Timecop (1994), which was his highest grossing film with over $100 million, until 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2, which grossed over $665 million.

Early life[link]

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant.^[8][9] He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school.^[10] His styles consist of kickboxing, Shotokan karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo.^[11] He eventually earned his black belt in karate.^[12] He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title.^[7]

Martial arts career[link]

Semi-contact karate career[link]

At the age of 11,^[13] Van Damme joined the Centre National De Karaté (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; later training in full-contact karate and kickboxing by Dominique Valera.^[14]

In 1976, Jean-Claude is reported to have started his competitive career in Ingelmunster, Belgium, in a semi-contact match which was sanctioned by the European Karate Union. He defeated fellow Belgian Roland Vedani. The following year, Van Damme remained undefeated with victories over Maurice Devos, Andre LeMaire and fellow team-mate Patrick Teugels in non-tournament matches sanctioned by the World All-Styles Karate Organization. In his first tournament competition, Van Damme placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials). Jean-Claude defeated 25 opponents in the three day tournament before losing in the finals to fellow team-mate Angelo Spataro.^[14]

In Europe, Jean-Claude was a member of the Belgium Team when it won the European Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe Francois Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels, Belgium. His team won the championship.^[14][15]

1980 Forest National match[link]

On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, Van Damme competed against his one-time stablemate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National arena on the amateur undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera PKA Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout.^[14] Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme at least twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship. Van Damme had a 1977 win over Teugels. Teugels was coming off this latter impressive showing at the WAKO World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match. According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost by TKO in the 1st round. Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue due to that injury.^[14]

Kickboxing and full-contact karate career[link]

Van Damme's martial arts record consists mostly of light and semi-contact matches. However, from 1976 to 1982, Van Damme fought in 19 full-contact matches, and compiled a record of 18 wins, 18 knockouts and 1 defeat.^[16]

Van Damme had his first full-contact match against Toon Van Oostrum in Brussels, Belgium in 1976. The 16 year old Van Damme knocked out Oostrum in 46 seconds of the first round.

Jean-Claude's biggest victories were over the United Kingdom's Michael J. Heming-British and European Middleweight Karate Champion, the United States of America's Sherman Bergman, Turkey's Ajom Mahmud Uddin, and Belgium's Lenny Leikman.

Van Damme's only defeat was early in his career, when he lost to France's Etienne "Tuf" Aubry by 1st round disqualification. Van Damme accidentally kicked and knocked out Aubry when he was down. Aubry was unable to continue and was awarded a victory.

Jean-Claude was only knocked down once in his entire 8-year career. Facing Sherman Bergman, Van Damme was knocked to the canvas after absorbing a powerful left hook,^[17][18] and it was the only knock-down suffered by Van Damme in his fighting career. However, Van Damme got up, and with an axe-kick, knocked Bergman out in 56 seconds of the first round. This match was fought in Tampa, Florida.^[17][18]

Following a knockout victory over France's Georges Verlugels on a Professional Karate Association promotion in 1980(source:FightingArts.com), Van Damme caught the attention of Professional Karate Magazine publisher and editor Mike Anderson, and multiple European champion Geet Lemmens. Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect.^[19]

Jean-Claude Van Damme ended his full-contact career in 1982 following a knockout victory over India's Nedjad Gharbi.

Van Damme was scheduled to fight former boxing Olympic gold-medalist Somluck Kamsing in November 2011.^[20] Early reports have named Las Vegas, USA, Moscow, Russia and Macau, China, Thailand as locations for the bout but it now fight will take place in Dubai, Moscow^[21] or Grozny.^[22] At the prospect of being the first man over the age of 50 to kickbox professionally, Van Damme stated that "it's kind of dangerous, but life is short."^{[dead link][23]} The fight was postponed to May or June 2012.^[21]

Film career[link]

In 1982, Van Damme and childhood friend, Michel Qissi, moved to America in the hope of becoming action stars. They both were cast as extras in the film, Breakin'. Van Damme also had a non-speaking part as a Secret Service agent who carries a polio-crippled President Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) out of a pool in the 1988 TV miniseries War and Remembrance. After a small part in Missing In Action, Van Damme was next cast in the film No Retreat, No Surrender, as the role of the villain, Ivan the Russian. Van Damme worked for director John McTiernan for the 1987 film Predator as an early (eventually abandoned) version of the titular alien, before being removed and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.^[24] His breakout film was Bloodsport, based on the alleged true story of Frank Dux. Shot on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a U.S. box-office hit in the spring of 1988. He then starred in the smaller budgeted film Cyborg. His last role for 1989 was Kurt Sloane in the successful Kickboxer. In this film, his character fights to avenge his brother who has been paralyzed by a Thai kickboxing champion (Qissi).^[25]

Double Impact featured Van Damme in the dual role of Alex and Chad Wagner, two brothers fighting to avenge the deaths of their parents. This film reunited him with his former Bloodsport co-star, Bolo Yeung. He then starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the action film Universal Soldier. While it grossed $36,299,898 in the U.S., it was an even bigger success overseas, making over $65 million, well over its modest $23 million budget, making it Van Damme's highest grossing film at the time. Van Damme followed Nowhere To Run and Hard Target with Timecop in 1994. The film was a huge success, grossing over $100 million worldwide. In the film, Van Damme played a time traveling cop, who tries to prevent the death of his wife. It remains his highest grossing film in a lead role to date.

After his role in the poorly received Street Fighter, his projects started to fail at the box office. The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997) and Knock Off (1998) were box-office flops. The 1999 film Universal Soldier: The Return, also a box-office flop, was Van Damme's last theatrically released film until 2008. In 2003, Van Damme employed his dancing training in the music video for Bob Sinclar's "Kiss My Eyes."

Van Damme returned to the mainstream with the limited theatrical release of the 2008 film JCVD, which received positive reviews. Time Magazine named Van Damme's performance in the film the second best of the year (after Heath Ledger's The Joker in The Dark Knight),^[26] having previously stated that Van Damme "deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar."^[27] Van Damme indicated while promoting the film, he experienced a period of homelessness "sleeping on the street and starving in L.A."^[28]

Van Damme reprised his role as Luc Deveraux in the 2009 film Universal Soldier: Regeneration. Subsequently he voiced "Master Croc" in the 2011 animated vilm Kung Fu Panda 2. Also in 2011, Van Damme participated in various commercials for Coors Light beer, in which he is located on a snow-covered mountain wearing a sleeveless denim jacket, and for washing powder "Dash".

He was offered a lead role in Sylvester Stallone's latest film The Expendables. Stallone called Van Damme personally to offer him the role, but Van Damme turned it down. He scheduled a series of film projects for 2011, including another Universal Soldier movie. On 30 June 2011, Van Damme confirmed his participation in The Expendables 2.^[29]

Van Damme's latest project is starring in an upcoming (2013) feature Welcome To The Jungle directed by Rob Meltzer, in a role as a workplace team building trainer opposite Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Kristen Schaal, Megan Boone, and Dennis Haysbert.^[30]

Controversies[link]

Fight record[link]

In an interview on his website, Van Damme rival, Patrick Teugels states that Van Damme never fought at the 1979 WAKO World Championships in Tampa, Florida, and posts a Dutch-language Samurai magazine report on the tournament in which Van Damme (Van Varenberg) is not mentioned.^[31] On Van Damme's imdb page, as well as his official webpage, Van Damme makes no claims of having fought at the 1979 or 1980 WAKO World Championships. Van Damme's fight with Bergman in Tampa, Florida^[32] was always billed as a non-tournament match, and was not under the sanction of the WAKO World Championships and was not recorded as a championship bout.

At the same time, while Teugels takes credit for two victories over Van Damme (one for the Belgium light-contact Championship), records show that Van Damme defeated Teugels in at least two matches, including one at the Forest National arena in which Van Damme broke Teugels's nose.^[33] At the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings^[14] website, event coverages and results are posted from France's Karate Magazine and from the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) that show Van Damme was an active semi-contact fighter in Europe between 1978–1980, but that he never placed at the 1979 WAKO World Championships. Newspaper clippings do provide information that Van Damme fought in various tournaments from 1978-1980, but internet photos show that Van Damme competed from 1976-1982.

When Van Damme became an action film star a controversy arose because leading martial arts magazines could not find any fights listed for Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jean-Claude had competed under his birth name of Jean-Claude Van Varenberg. Van Damme's office supplied a list of four European karate trophies that he earned under his real name, Van Varenberg, between 1978 and 1981: the Hope Cup; the Cup of Antwerp; World Championship, WAKO; and the Gala International. Van Damme's lawyer, Martin Singer, made a public statement defending his client: "There are records to document his martial-arts acclaim. He's the one who does those splits on chairs. He doesn't have a stunt man do that."^[34]

Paul Maslak of the STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings, who was also the casting director who helped cast Van Damme in his first theatrical role, No Retreat No Surrender, and who was therefore always aware of Van Damme's legal name, researched Van Damme's competitive history and came up with documentation that showed most fights were in tournament karate and that there was no verifiable evidence Van Damme had ever competed as a professional kickboxer.^[14] The term "professional" fighter is open to debate, because many WAKO fighters in Europe were paid money to train.^[35]

Kadyrov event[link]

In October 2011, Van Damme, along with other celebrities including Hilary Swank, Vanessa-Mae and Seal attracted criticism from human rights groups for attending an event in Russian federal subject Chechnya's capital Grozny on the 35th birthday of Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov on October 5.^[36] Human rights groups, who had urged the celebrities to cancel their appearances because of abuses carried out under Kadyrov, criticised the celebrities for attending the event.^[37] Human Rights Watch released a statement which said, "Ramzan Kadyrov is linked to a litany of horrific human rights abuses. It's inappropriate for stars to get paid to party with him. It bolsters his image and legitimizes a brutal leader and his regime. And getting paid to be part of such a lavish show in Chechnya trivializes the suffering of countless victims of human rights abuses there."^[38][39][40]

Personal life[link]

At the age of 16 he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. According to Van Damme, ballet "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."^[41] In the French-speaking world, Van Damme is well known for the picturesque aphorisms that he delivers on a wide range of topics (personal well-being, the environment, etc.) in a sort of Zen franglais.^[42]

Health and addiction[link]

Van Damme used to have a substance abuse issues that started during 1995.^[43] He entered a month-long rehabilitation program in 1996 but left it after only one week.^[43][44] In 1996, he spent up to $10,000 a week on cocaine.^[45] He is also reported to have experienced bipolar disorder. After the filming of the 1998 film Knock Off, Van Damme was diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder after becoming suicidal and started treatment on the mood stabilizer, sodium valproate. A turning point toward improvement of his health came from late 1997 onwards, after having finished divorce procedures.^[43]

Mortal Kombat[link]

The original video game Mortal Kombat was conceived as a fighting game based on the actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme.^[46] Creators Ed Boon and John Tobias originally had desired to author the game starring Van Damme himself. That fell through as Van Damme had a prior deal for another game under the auspices of the Sega Genesis platform. Ed Boon and John Tobias eventually decided to create Mortal Kombat featuring a character named Johnny Cage, who is modeled after Jean-Claude Van Damme, primarily from Van Damme's appearance and outfit in the martial arts film Bloodsport.^[47][48]

Filmography[link]

Semi-contact/light-contact record[link]

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Date	Round	Time	Event	Location	Notes
Win	44-4-0	Jonny Wellum	Decision	7 May 1980	3		W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact(Van Damme avenges early career defeat)
Win	43-4-0	Jordy Claes	Decision	1980	3		Gala InternationalW.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	42-4-0	Patrick Teugels[14]	l'abandon (TKO)	8 March 1980	1		Forest Nationals	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact:Teugels suffers a broken nose and is unable to continue.)
Win	41-4-0	Andres Kovac	Decision	1980	3		W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	40-4-0	Bekim-Moussa Muhammad	Decision	1980	3		W.A.K.O.	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	39-4-0	Mustapha-Ahmad Benamou	Decision	1980	3		WAKO	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	38-4-0	Reinhard Krass	Disq.	26 December 1979	2		Karate Tournament: Belgium Team vs. German Team	Woluwe, Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact[14]
Win	37-4-0	Gilberto Dias	l'abandon	November 1979	1		World-All Styles Karate Organization	Brussels, Belgium	Light-Contact (Dias suffers ankle injury and is unable to continue.)
Win	36-4-0	Hans Kohler	Decision	1979	3		World-All Styles Karate Organization	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	35-4-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1979	3		Cup of AntwerpWorld-All Styles Karate Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact(Both men fight in karate gi uniforms, no pads or gloves)
Win	35-3-0	Matthias Evrard	Decision	1979	3		Cup of AntwerpWorld-All Styles Karate Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	34-3-0	Paul Sperati	Decision	1979	3		World-All Styles Karate Organization	Opprebais, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	33-3-0	Lucus Reinfeld	Decision	1979	3		World-All Styles Karate Organization, Europe Interland Cup	Mulhouse, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	32-3-0	Robbe Bogaerts	Decision	1978	3		Hope CupWorld-All Styles Karate Organization	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact[51]
Win	31-3-0	Leonard Baptiste	Decision	1978	3		World-All Styles Karate Organization	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	30-3-0	Fernando Cabanela	Decision	1978	3		World-All Styles Karate Organization	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	29-3-0	Angelo Spataro[14]	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	29-2-0	Gabriel Van Der Driessche	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	28-2-0	Farid Muhammad Mousseau	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	27-2-0	Jacques van Laere	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	26-2-0	Christian Hedin	Decsion	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	25-2-0	Gerard Charon	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	24-2-0	David Arranz	Decsion	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	23-2-0	Bernard Redden	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	22-2-0	Antoine Redi	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	21-2-0	Ben Salah Ellah	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	20-2-0	Gaston Airey	Foul	1978	1		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	19-2-0	Abdembi Hassan Ali	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	18-2-0	Jonas "Marcel" Cohen	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	17-2-0	Christian Van Tieghem	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	16-2-0	Max Roelandt	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	15-2-0	Andre Verbon	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	14-2-0	Michel Juvillier	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	13-2-0	Joel Maoreau	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	12-2-0	Ronald Duivenbode	Decision	1978	3		Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials)	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	11-2-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1978	3		Belgium Lightweight Championship	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact
Win	11-1-0	Gris Lubbers	Decision	1976	3		European Karate Union	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	10-1-0	Andre Lemaire	Decision	1977	3		World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Open International	Izegem, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	9-1-0	Patrick Teugels	Decision	1977	3		Antwerp Open International Competition W.A.K.O.	Antwerp, Belgium	Light-Contact(source:YouTube Video)
Win	8-1-0	Maurice Devos	Decision	1977	3		World Allstyles Kickboxing Organization	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	7-1-0	Jacques Berri	Decision	1976	3		Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	6-1-0	Johannes Binding	Decision	1976	3		Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	5-1-0	Jean-Morin Devigne	Decision	1976	3		Antwerp Open WAKO	Antwerp, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	4-1-0	Roland Vedani	Decision	1976	3		European Karate Union	Ingelmunster, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Win	3-1-0	Jean-Paul Gaston	Decision	1976	3		European Karate Union	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact
Loss	2-1-0	Jonny Wellum	Decision	22 January 1976	3		La Federation Europeene de Karate (European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with Defaite (loss)
Win	2-0-0	Bernard Briers	Decision	22 January 1976	3		La Federation Europeene de Karate(European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with victoire (win)
Win	1-0-0	Robin Lomard	Decision	22 January 1976	3		La Federation Europeene de Karate (European Karate Federation)	Brussels, Belgium	Semi-Contact(J.Vandenberg credit with victoire (win))-Magazine "boxe francise" (Karate)

Kickboxing record[link]

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Date	Round	Time	Event	Location	Notes
		Somluck Kamsing[52]		December 2012[21]				Las Vegas[21]	Kickboxing
Win	18-1-0	Nedjad Gharbi	KKO	1982	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	17-1-0	Daniel Le Jaouen	KKO	1982	1	1:05		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	16-1-0	Lenny Leikman[14]	KKO	1982	3		1st Journée Des Arts Martiaux	Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	15-1-0	Ajom Mahmud Uddin	KO	1981	1	0:19		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	14-1-0	Mustapha-Ahmad Benamou	KKO	1981	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	13-1-0	Henk Besselman	KO	1981	1			Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	12-1-0	Michael J. Heming	KKO	1980	1	0:46		Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing[53]
Win	11-1-0	Georges Verlugels	KO	1980	2		P.K.A.	Brussels, Belgium	Kickboxing[19]
Win	10-1-0	Sherman Bergman[54]	KKO	1974 Nov 04	1	0:56		Tampa, Florida, USA	Full-Contact (Van Damme climbs off floor to win.)
Win	9-1-0	Rolf Risberg	KKO	1979	1			Ingelmunster, Belgium	Kickboxing[16]
Win	8-1-0	Emile Leibman	KKO	1979	1			Iseghem, Belgium	Kickboxing[16]
Win	7-1-0	Cyrille Nollet	KKO	1978	1			Iseghem, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	6-1-0	Orlando Lang	KO	1978	1	0:26		Antwerp, Belgium	Kickboxing
Win	5-1-0	Jacques Piniarski	KKO	1978	1			Belgium	Kickboxing[16]
Win	4-1-0	Eric "Basel" Strauss	KKO	1978	1	0:18		Antwerp, Belgium	Kickboxing[16]
Win	3-1-0	Andre "Robar" Robaeys	KKO	1978	1			Mulhouse, Belgium	Kickboxing[16]
Win	2-1-0	Michel Juvillier	KO	1978	1	0:39		Antwerp, Belgium	Full-Contact[16]
Loss	1-1-0	Etienne "Tuf" Aubry	Disq	7 March 1977	1	1:02		Marseilles, France	Full-Contact(Magazine "boxe francise"(Karate))
Win	1-0-0	Toon Van Oostrum	KKO	1976	1	0:46		Brussels, Belgium	Full-Contact

Notes[link]