Eddie Vedder: Talented Rock Superstar

By Peter Adams

Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who currently serves as the lead vocalist and one of three guitarists for the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam. Vedder left the Southern California music scene and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1990 to join Pearl Jam where he rose to fame amid the grunge movement of the early 1990s. He was also involved in other music outside of Pearl Jam, including soundtrack work and contributions to albums by other artists. Vedder collaborated with Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for his contributions to the “Dead Man Walking” soundtrack. He covered The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" for the “I Am Sam” soundtrack. In 2007, Vedder released his first solo album as a soundtrack for the film “Into the Wild.” It includes covers of the Indio song "Hard Sun" and the Jerry Hannan song "Society." Vedder won a 2008 Golden Globe Award for the song "Guaranteed" from “Into the Wild.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: May 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304919144

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Disturbed Childhood

Eddie Vedder had a tumultuous childhood. Raised in Chicago, Vedder was just 1 when his parents divorced. His mother quickly remarried and with her new husband ran a small orphanage out of their home. For many years Vedder was led to believe that his stepfather was his biological dad. The angst he felt when he finally discovered the truth fueled much of his later music, including the creation of one Pearl Jam's earliest hits, Alive.

After dropping out of high school, Vedder adopted his mother's maiden name and moved to San Diego, where he soon immersed himself in Southern California's vibrant surfing scene. He also carried with him a passion for music—bands like the Sex Pistols, The Who, the Ramones and Black Flag were big influences—and Vedder became a fixture at a number of different nightclubs.

While living in San Diego Vedder was a part of several bands, including one called Bad Radio. But the groups never went anywhere.

The Last Member of Pearl Jam

Vedder was the last member to join the band that would become known as Pearl Jam. In the early 1990s, former Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard had started a new band that consisted of bassist Jeff Ament, lead guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Dave Krusen. The group still needed a singer. Needing lyrics for some music he and his band mates had created, Gossard turned to Jack Irons, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Irons, who lived in Southern California and had become friends with Vedder, passed a demo tape of the group on to the prospective singer. Vedder set to work and composed three songs—Alive, Once and Footsteps—to the music. When Gossard listened to Vedder's tape, he immediately called him and invited him up to Seattle to join the group.

Pearl Jam (named for Vedder's great-grandmother Pearl's famous homemade jam) released its first album, Ten, in 1991. The record featured a string of hits, including two of Vedder's original songs, Alive and Once. In addition, it included a hit single, Jeremy, which was accompanied by a dramatic video that quickly fell into heavy rotation on MTV and powered the album to the top of the charts.

Along with bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam blazed a new path for a growing contingent of grunge artists, bringing the genre to the forefront of America's youth culture. As it did, the group explored hard subjects like angst, depression and suicide, giving a voice to a new generation of teenagers and young adults known as Generation X.

Furthering their anti-mainstream stance, Pearl Jam refused to produce any videos for songs from their second release, Vs., which came out in 1993 and featured a new drummer, Dave Abbruzzese. In addition, the band's summer 1994 tour was canceled when the band entered into a heated battle over high ticket prices with Ticketmaster. The dispute was eventually settled in 1995 when the Justice Department sided with Ticketmaster.

The band's third album, Vitalogy, featured yet another new drummer, this time Vedder's friend Jack Irons. Just like the first two albums, the record quickly climbed to the top of the charts and was registered multiplatinum. In 1995 the