8A — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020
NATION
Guitar rock legend Eddie Van Halen dies of cancer at 65
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Eddie
Van Halen, the guitar vir-
tuoso whose blinding
speed, control and inno-
vation propelled his band
Van Halen into one of
hard rock’s biggest groups,
fueled the unmistakable
fi ery solo in Michael Jack-
son’s hit “Beat It” and
became elevated to the
status of rock god, has
died. He was 65.
A person close to Van
Halen’s family confi rmed
the rocker died Tuesday,
Oct. 6, due to cancer.
With his distinct solos,
Eddie Van Halen fueled
the ultimate California
party band and helped
knock disco off the charts
starting in the late 1970s
with his band’s self-titled
debut album and then with
the blockbuster record
“1984,” which contains the
classics “Jump,” “Panama”
and “Hot for Teacher.”
Van Halen is among the
top 20 best-selling artists
of all time, and the band
was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in
2007. Rolling Stone maga-
zine put Eddie Van Halen
at No. 8 in its list of the
100 greatest guitarists.
Eddie Van Halen was an
autodidact who could play
almost any instrument but
couldn’t read music. He
was a classically trained
pianist who created some
of the most distinctive
guitar riffs in rock history.
He was a Dutch immigrant
who was considered one of
the greatest American gui-
tarists of his generation.
U.S. trade defi cit up to
$67.1 billion in August
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
U.S. trade defi cit rose in
August to the highest level
in 14 years.
The Commerce Depart-
ment reported Tuesday,
Oct. 6, the gap between
the goods and services the
United States sells and what
it buys abroad climbed
5.9% in August to $67.1 bil-
lion, highest since August
2006. Exports rose 2.2% to
$171.9 billion on a surge in
shipments of soybeans, but
imports rose more — up
3.2% to $239 billion — led
by purchases of crude oil,
cars and auto parts.
The U.S. defi cit with the
rest of the world in the trade
of goods such as airplanes
and appliances set a record
$83.9 billion in August. The
United States ran a surplus
of $16.8 billion in the trade
of services such as banking
and education, lowest since
January 2012.
The politically sensitive
defi cit in the trade of goods
with China fell 6.7% to
$26.4 billion.
So far this year, the
United States has recorded
a trade gap of $421.8 bil-
lion, up 5.7% from Janu-
ary-August 2019.
Hammered by the coro-
navirus and its fallout on
the world economy, total
U.S. trade — exports plus
imports — is down 15.1%
so far this year to $3.2
trillion.
President Donald Trump
campaigned on a pledge to
bring down America’s per-
sistent trade defi cits. He
imposed taxes on imports
of steel, aluminum and
most products from China,
among other things; and
renegotiated a North Amer-
ican trade pact in an effort
to encourage more produc-
tion in the United States.
“You changed our
world. You were the
Mozart of rock guitar.
Travel safe rockstar,”
Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx
said on Twitter.
Eddie Van Halen was
born in Amsterdam and
his family immigrated to
California in 1962 when he
was 7. His father was a big
band clarinetist who rarely
found work after coming
to the U.S., and their
mother was a maid who
had dreams of her sons
being classical pianists.
Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File
David Lee Roth, left, and Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen
perform on Aug. 13, 2015, in Wantagh, New York. Van Ha-
len, who had cancer, died Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. He was 65.
During National PA Week: October 6
6- 12, 2020
We honor them for their essential role in caring for patients, and all they do to benefit the health
of our communities and improve our quality of life. We appreciate you!
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