Rocker Eddie Van Halen started drinking to battle crippling nerves.

The Van Halen guitar great has revealed he was just 12 years old when his father gave him a shot of vodka - and alcohol became his "wonder drug".

The rock star has been a heavy drinker ever since and had to halt Van Halen's recent reunion tour plans to sober up in rehab.

He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "It (alcohol) really worked for a lot of years, but I certainly didn't drink to make music or to write. It had nothing to do with it. I just get nervous. I'm nervous now.

"I stopped drinking over a year ago, and I'm done with it. For 42 years, I drank. It just shows you anything is achievable."

During the late 1990s Eddie Van Halen was treated twice for tongue and mouth cancer. During an interview with Howard Stern on September 8, 2006, Eddie claimed that holding a metal pick in his mouth 12-14 hours per day while immersed in the electromagnetic radiation of his music studio caused his tongue cancer. He said he continues to smoke because "cigarettes didn't cause the cancer.

Eddie's son -В Wolfgang took over the bass in the band while still aged just 15