The Reason Alex Van Halen Sued His Ex-Wife

Divorces are often messy, and when the stakes are ramped up — financially or emotionally, but let's be honest, especially financially — it just gets worse. Ask any mere mortal who's been through it. As for rock-and-roll royalty? Come to find out, they're human, too, and their stories are similar to everyone else's — just add some zeroes. A bunch of zeroes. Plus a good healthy dose of "That's mine, and you can't have it!"

As evidence, we present to you The Case of the Missing Moniker. (Well, borrowed, anyway.) The moniker in question is that of Van Halen — yes, a band, but also the surname of two of the founding members, the Brothers Van Halen — Eddie on guitar, Alex on drums. (Says All Music, they changed the name from Mammoth when they found out another band already called itself Mammoth. So many bands, so few names, apparently.) As such, band names have become a tidy cottage industry unto themselves, in terms of intellectual property. Away back in 1984, Alex married Kelly Carter, says The Hollywood Reporter, and though perhaps it was intended as Happily Ever After, "Ever After" was loosely defined as about 12 years.