Eddie Vedder Parents: Meet Edward Louis Severson, Jr., Karen Lee Vedder

Eddie Vedder is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam.

Eddie Vedder was born in Evanston, Illinois to Karen Lee Vedder and Edward Louis Severson Jr. When Vedder was a baby, his parents divorced. His mother remarried soon after to a man named Peter Mueller.

Eddie Vedder was raised believing Mueller was his biological father, and for a time he went by the name Edward Mueller.

In the mid-1970s, the family relocated to San Diego County, California, including Vedder’s three younger half-brothers.

When Vedder was in his late teens, his mother and Mueller divorced. Following the divorce, Vedder discovered the truth about his parentage: Mueller was his stepfather, not his father.

Vedder briefly met his biological father as a child but was led to believe that Severson was simply a family friend. Severson had died of multiple sclerosis by the time Vedder discovered the truth.