Alexander Arthur "Alex" Van Halen (born May 8, 1953) is a Dutch-born American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. Originally, his brother Eddie had taken lessons for drums, while Alex practiced guitar. After spending time playing Eddie's drum kit, Alex became more skillful at the drums than Eddie.In 1974, the Van Halen brothers, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony formed a band, simply called Van Halen.