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Eddie Vedder was born December 23, 1964 in Evanston, Illinois. His biological name was Edward Louis Seversen III but later changed his last name to Vedder, after his mother's maiden name.

Eddie Vedder had been raised for 13 years thinking that his father was Peter Mueller. Later it was revealed to him that Peter wasn't his real father, but rather a man whom was a friend of the family, Ed Seversen. Eddie was enraged that they had kept this secret from him for so long. Ed Seversen had just died of multiple sclerosis before Eddie could get to know him. "I was happy for about a minute, and then I came down...I had to deal with the anger of not being told sooner, not being told when he was alive..."

Soon Eddie became angery and hositle. His grades began to fall and he missed classes. He also became heavily involved in drugs. Eddie failed to graduate high school, being short 2 credits.

Eventually, Eddie Vedder found an outlet for his feelings. Music. "I should be sending Pete Townshend cards for Father's Day. His records---that was more parenting than I got, just relaxing and having an outlet." The music never alleivated the problems with Peter but rather just allowed him to ignore them. He would move between Chicago and San Diego until his 20's. In San Diego he joined a local band called 'Bad Radio' but later quit because he didn't believe he was getting anywhere.

Soon he became friends with Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer, Jack Irons, through the San Diego music scene. They would regularly play basketball together on the beachside where Eddie lived with his long time girlfriend Beth Lebling, on Mission Beach. One day Jack gave Eddie a demo tape of guitarist Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, who were looking for a drummer and singer in Seattle. Eddie took the tape home and dubbed his own vocals on the next morning and then sent it back to Gossard. Stone and Jeff wanted Eddie Vedder to fly to Seattle for an audition. This was the beginning of one of the best-know grudge bands to date.

Vedder instantly hit it off with the band. A few days later, he packed his bags to permanently live in Seattle. They orginially called themselves Mookie Blaylock after their favorite basketball player at the time but soon changed their name to Pearl Jam.

Today Eddie Vedder is one of the most respected people in music to date.

Other Facts:

* Middle Name: Jerome
* Nickname is 'Crazy Eddie'
* Also plays accordian and harmonica
* Musical Influences include Neil Young, The Who, Peter Townshend, The Doors, Minor Threat and    The Clash
* Divorced from Beth Liebling September 2000 after 6 years of marriage
* Good with card tricks
* Stand 5'7"(1.7m) tall
* Appeared in movies 'Singles', 'Hype!' and 'The Party's Over'
* Loves basketball, especially Chicago Bulls
* Modeled for Montgomery Ward's catelog when he was 5

* Is a vegetarian Very extensive biographies can be found at http://www.cathedralstone.net/Pages/PearlJam.htm and http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/senate/8314/edbio.html.

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