Name: Samuel Roy Hagar
Birthday: October 13th, 1947
Birthplace: Monterey (California), USA
Marital Status: Married, one child
Other bands: Montrole, Los Tres Gusanos, Waboritas, solo artist

After parting ways with vocalist David Lee Roth, Van Halen looked for a vocalist who could rise above the shadow created by the flamboyant Roth. Riding upon their previous contact with Hagar from a previous tour (and the fact that Eddie and him had their cars repaired with the same mechanic), they hired Hagar to fill the opening. With Hagar at the front, Van Halen produced four multi-platinum albums as well as many number 1 hits. Yet, trouble in paradise ensued after Hagar's dispute with manager Bruce Fairbairn of Balance, and Hagar was fired from the band after a dispute with Edward Van Halen over the forthcoming Best of featuring tracks with Roth.

Sammy Hagar is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose father was a professional boxer. Legend has it that Elvis Presley persuaded him not to follow in his father's footsteps, and instead he started out in 60s San Bernardino bands the Fabulous Castillas, Skinny, Justice Brothers and rock band Dust Cloud. He joined Montrose in 1973 (formed by ex-Edgar Winter guitarist Ronnie Montrose) and became a minor rock hero in the Bay Area of San Francisco, in particular acquiring a reputation as a potent live performer. After two albums with Montrose, he left to go solo, achieving a string of semi-successful albums and singles.

He took with him Bill Church (bass) and added Alan Fitzgerald (keyboards), and later Denny Carmassi (drums, also ex-Montrose). The band attracted good press on support tours with Kiss, Boston and Kansas, but by 1979 Hagar had fashioned a radically altered line-up, with Gary Pihl (guitar), Chuck Ruff (drums) and Geoff Workman (keyboards) joining Hagar and Church.

In 1983, Three Lock Box became their first Top 20 entry, and included "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy", which reached number 13 in the singles chart. Hagar then took time out to tour with Journey guitarist Neal Schon, Kenny Aaronson (bass) and Michael Shrieve (drums, ex-Santana), recording a live album under the band's initials HSAS. Under this title they also cut a studio version of Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade Of Pale".

Returning to solo work, Hagar enjoyed his biggest hit to date with the Voice Of America out-take, "I Can't Drive 55".

In 1985, Hagar replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen; his first album with the group was 1986's 5150. Hagar released his last solo album, Sammy Hagar, in 1987; the title of the record was changed to I Never Said Goodbye in an MTV contest, but no copies of the record were ever issued with that name.


Hagar stayed with Van Halen through the remainder of the '80s and half of the '90s. During that time, the band had four other multi-platinum albums -- OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), LIVE: Right Here, Right Now (1993), Balance (1995) -- before tensions began to surface between Hagar and the rest of the band. In the summer of 1996, Hagar either quit Van Halen or was fired; the band had Roth return to sing two tracks on Best Of, Vol. 1 before hiring former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone as Hagar's replacement.

The entire incident became a media sensation, ensuring that Hagar's 1997 solo album Marching to Mars -- his first in ten years -- would be greeted with much media-generated fanfare. It sold surprisingly well, peaking in the Top 20 and re-establishing Hagar as a viable solo act. With a backing band called the Waboritas in tow (consisting of guitarist Vic Johnson, keyboardist Jesse Harms, bassist Mona, and drummer David Lauser), Hagar followed the success with Red Voodoo two years later; it too sold very respectably on the strength of the single "Mas Tequila," just missing the Top 20. Hagar's resurgence continued with 2000's Ten 13.

Since then, Sammy has enjoyed relative success, both with records and concerts with "his" Waboritas or The Three Gusanos. After the 2004 tour, he and Michael Anthony (the only Van Halen member that remained a close friend) went on to create The Other Half in a clear allusion to being the relegated part of Van Halen. These projects have had some air time in Sammy's Cabo Wabo cantinas (in New Mexico and Lake Tahoe) and they have also embarked on some US concert tours with the same moderate success.