The accolades are plenty for guitar great Eddie Van Halen, but there s one more to add to his legacy as the National Guitar Museum has named Van Halen as their Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2020.
Every year for more than a decade, the museum has saluted a living guitarist who has contributed significantly to the legacy of the guitar. The guidelines state that the person must have been a performing or recording artist whose talents had an effect on guitar playing and whose career inspired and influenced other guitar players.
In the museum s announcement, they state: This year, the year of the pandemic, has given us reason to make an exception to our annual presentation. For 2020, we are recognizing Eddie Van Halen as the recipient of our Lifetime Achievement Award. It is being awarded, for the first time, in memoriam.