Eddie Van Halen's teenage son joins the band

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Musi...eut/index.html


NEW YORK (Billboard) -- Eddie Van Halen has brought his 15-year-old son, Wolfgang, into Van Halen as the veteran rock band's new bass player, a spokesperson told Billboard.com.

Father and son, along with Eddie's drummer brother Alex, have been rehearsing for a 2007 tour, but it is unknown who will serve as the band's vocalist. (Wolfgang's substitution for original bass player Michael Anthony was first reported by news Web site TMZ.com a week ago.)

Rumors continue to swirl that original singer David Lee Roth, who was replaced by Sammy Hagar in the mid-1980s, will return to the fold, despite years of enmity. Roth, who has recently worked as a radio DJ and a paramedic, told Billboard.com in May that he saw it "absolutely as an inevitability."

No details have been provided about the departure of Anthony, a fan favorite who generally kept out of the internecine warfare in the band.

As for the musical acumen of Wolfgang, Eddie Van Halen enthused to Howard Stern in September, "If I excel at the speed of sound, he excels at the speed of light. This kid is just a natural."

Van Halen is one of nine acts on the ballot for the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.