Here's How Much Eddie Van Halen Was Worth When He Died

Van Halen has been a monumental force in the world of rock music, and, unfortunately, the band's guitarist and one of its founding members, Eddie Van Halen, passed away from a battle with cancer on October 6, 2020. Eddie was a songwriter, producer, and guitarist with some of the sickest riffs to come out of the late '70s and early '80s. He was arguably the most famous member of the band, which is a rarity for any member other than a frontman. But Eddie's riffs guaranteed his stardom, not to mention his wealth.

Eddie Van Halen has never been as rich as the ultra-elite, and the musician didn't die a billionaire, but he was pretty well off. The bulk of Eddie Van Halen's fortune came from exactly where you'd think it did: record sales and live performances. Van Halen's first record went platinum in 1978, so Eddie Van Halen's career was off to a good financial start. Well, not quite. Their first year of touring ended up with the band owing their record label money, but they fired their former manager in favor of Noel Monk, who made the band and its members rich.

Noel Monk, according to Forbes, talked the band into handling their own merchandising instead of going through a middle man. This brought them millions, doubling what they would've made otherwise. Monk invested the band's money into advertising and helped their albums reach new heights. One of Monk's greatest achievements was in the band's contracts, where he once inserted a clause that guaranteed no other band — including David Bowie — could be paid more than Van Halen during 1983's US Festival. Boom. Big money. They ended up dropping Monk after about seven years, but the work he did for them set up the foundation for the band and Eddie Van Halen's future wealth.

Van Halen has been paid up to $1.5 million for a single performance, which happened in 1983, and they continued to tour through 2015. They were set to tour in 2020 and 2021, but those tours aren't likely to happen following the loss of Eddie Van Halen.

So, how much was Eddie worth in the end? Several sources, including Celebrity Net Worth, Money Inc, and Metal Head Zone, claim that Eddie Van Halen was worth a whopping $100 million before his death.