Sammy Hagar shares key to Van Halen’s success, reveals if he’d ever reconcile with David Lee Roth
30.05.2023 - 10:29
/ foxnews.com
Sammy Hagar reflected on the key to Van Halen's massive success during his years with the rock band. The 75-year-old singer joined guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Eddie's brother and drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist/vocalist Michael Anthony in 1985. At the time, Van Halen, co-founded by the Van Halen brothers in 1974, was already one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
Hagar rose to fame in the early 1970s as the lead singer of the hard rock band Montrose and later established himself as a successful solo act before becoming a member of Van Halen. In an interview with Fox News Digital, the Red Rocker explained how the musical partnership he formed with Eddie after he replaced David Lee Roth as lead vocalist took the band to the next level. "When I joined Van Halen, they were already big, and they were a great band.
And I was already a solo artist with platinum albums and selling out arenas all over the world. So, the thing that made Van Halen great — stay great — when I joined the band is that Eddie and I, as musicians and as human beings, we connected real strong," Hagar said. "I mean, real strong.
I connect with Alex, too, and Mike. He's still my dearest friend in the world. But Eddie and I found this bond because Eddie was a frustrated musician because the former singer didn't have a range and a type of voice that could sing a lot of music that Eddie could write.
"So Eddie was always stuck with, you know, playing these guitar riffs," Hagar added. "And when I walked in, it was like, he starts playing a piano part and I start singing. He goes, ‘Whoa!’ So the second he said, ‘You can do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I'm going, ‘You can do that?’ I had no idea he played keyboards that good.