Since the boys did not speak English as a first language, they were considered 'minority' students and experienced bullying by white students. They settled near other family members in Pasadena, California, where Eddie and his brother Alex attended a segregated elementary school. Īfter experiencing mistreatment for their mixed-race relationship in the 1950s, the parents moved the family to the U.S.
The family eventually settled in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Jan was a Dutch jazz pianist, clarinetist and saxophonist, and Eugenia was an Indo ( Eurasian) from Rangkasbitung on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Van Halen was a son of Jan van Halen and Eugenia ( née van Beers).
