Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist and songwriter who helped give the rock band its name Van Halen, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 65.

His death was announced by his son, Wolf Van Halen on Twitter where he stated, “I can't believe I'm having to write this," the statement said, "but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I've shared with him on and off stage was a gift."

Eddie Van Halen, whose full name was Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, and his brother Alex Van Halen began performing together as teens, but formed the core of what would later become Van Halen after meeting David Lee Roth.

Over four decades, Van Halen released more than a dozen albums together. The band is known for Van Halen’s guitar wizandry that anchored the band through four turbulent decades of platinum albums, sold-out tours and a revolving door of lead singers, from Roth to Sammy Hagar to Gary Cherone and back to Hagar and Roth again. While his brother, Alex, remained constant throughout, appearing on 12 studio albums that reached across five decades and sold tens of millions of copies, the multiple changes were always there.

Going back in time to 1972, with Alex on drums, Eddie Van Halen formed the band that would become Van Halen. By 1974, it had the lineup that would make it one of the biggest groups in rock history: the two Dutch-born brothers, plus bassist Michael Anthony and singer David Lee Roth. From there, Eddie Van Halen stood at the center of an era-spanning but unmistakably volatile rock-and-roll juggernaut.

Eddie Van Halen battled an assortment of health issues in recent decades, including hip-replacement surgery in 1999, a bout with tongue cancer in the early 2000s, a history of drug and alcohol abuse that led him to enter a rehabilitation facility in 2007 and surgery for diverticulitis in 2012.

The rock music world will miss him a lot. His guitar solo work with Michael Jackson on Beat It will always be remembered.