January 26: Rock n Roll Birthdays

Happy Birthday today (Jan. 26) to Eddie Van Halen. The guitar god is 61. Other rockers celebrating today include Mountain drummer Corky Laing (68) and Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer (55).

Eddie Van Halen is the lead guitarist, and co-founder of Van Halen. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential rock guitarists of all time. Van Halen formed out of Pasadena, California in 1972 featuring Eddie along with singer David Lee Roth, drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony. The band became one of the most successful rock acts of all time, being one of only five rock bands to have two studio albums sell over 10 million copies in the U.S. and they are the 19th best selling band/artist in U.S. history according to the RIAA.

Van Halen were inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.