Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder (born in Evanston, Illinois as Edward Louis Seversen III on 23 December 1964) is lead singer, lyrics writer, and frontman for the Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam. He also plays guitar and occasionally the ukelele.
While in Seattle to audition for what became Pearl Jam, Vedder sang in Temple of the Dog, a tribute to Andrew Wood who was the singer in Mother Love Bone before he died of a drug overdose. Before that, Vedder was a member of Bad Radio.
Besides Pearl Jam, he has appeared as a guest on live shows and/or albums by Bad Religion, The Fastbacks, Neil Finn, Jack Irons, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cat Power, R.E.M., Supersuckers, Mike Watt, Wellwater Conspiracy and The Who. Sometimes he uses the pseudonym of "Wes C. Addle".
Vedder grew up in Evanston, near Chicago, Illinois. It was not a happy childhood. His parents got divorced when Eddie was only one year old, and he was named Eddie Mueller after his stepfather Peter Mueller, who Eddie was led to believe to be his real father. In the mid-1970s, the family which included three younger brothers, moved to San Diego County, California. Vedder found comfort in music, and was given a guitar for his 12th birthday. At 15, he was already living by himself and his parents divorced. Working at a Long's Drug Store in Encinitas, eventually he dropped out of school. Eddie then started to use his mother's maiden name "Vedder" in stead of "Mueller". After a while he went back to Chicago, where his mother and brothers had already returned to. He had learned about his real father, who had died before Eddie knew about him being his real dad.
In 1984 he returned to San Diego together with his girlfriend (now ex-wife) Beth Liebling.
While doing regular jobs to get an income, Vedder was busy recording demo tapes at home and the rather shy artist became the singer of Bad Radio. After he quit that band, he was given a tape from Seattle musician Stone Gossard by a friend called Jack Irons, who had played in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Vedder recorded three songs, the so-called Mamasan tape, which got him the job in the band to be known as Pearl Jam.
Vedder is known to like surfing and is a fan of The Who and The Ramones.
Songs by other artists referring to Eddie Vedder
Local H has a song called "Eddie Vedder" on their album As Good as Dead. The song refers to Vedder in its chorus.
Weird Al Yankovic has a song called "My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder" on his album Running With Scissors. It refers to Vedder throughout the song.
