Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hagar was born Samuel Roy Hagar on October 13, 1947 in Monterey, California. Hagar's musical career spans four decades, from his time with the hard rock band Montrose to the present. All told, Hagar's exploits have tallied over 60 million records sold to this point in his long, productive career.

Hagar wrote six of the eight songs on the initial Montrose LP and was a part of two Montrose albums before the band came apart when frontman Ronnie Montrose announced he was quitting the music scene. Hagar went on to start a solo career of his own, and in the process, added Montrose bass guitarist Bill Church to his group.http://www.redrockerdiscography.com/

Hagar began his solo career in 1976 after signing a deal with Capitol Records and his first album, titled "Nine on a Ten Scale", was released in May of that year. Hagar would go on to release six more albums over the following four years with decent, but unspectacular results.

After moving to Geffen Records in 1983, Hagar had probably his biggest success as a solo artist when he released the album Three Lock Box in that same year followed by VOA in 1984. That album featured the song "I Can't Drive 55", which was Hagar's way to complain about the federally imposed speed limit on all roads in the United States. The law would eventually be repealed in 1995 and has been used for both NASCAR on NBC and the video game NHL Rivals in 2004.http://www.billboard.com/artist/sammy-hagar/4767#/artist/sammy-hagar/chart-history/4767?f=379&g=Singles

Hagar's career turned even hotter when he became the front man for Van Halen after the band parted ways with David Lee Roth. With Hagar at the front, Van Halen produced four multi-platinum, #1 Billboard charting albums: 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance, as well as many chart hits, including nine #1 Mainstream Rock hits. Internal disputes eventually led to Hagar's departure from the band in June 1996.http://www.redrockerdiscography.com/

Hagar would go on to form a long term band to back him, called the Waboritas, and in 2008 formed a supergroup of sorts featuring guitarist Joe Satriani, along with former Van Halen member Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. Their self titled debut album came out in June 2009 and went to number four on the Billboard charts. In September 2009 the record was certified as gold by the RIAA, signifying that it had sold 500,000 copies.http://www.redrocker.com/index.php?s=media&a=discographyhttp://www.chickenfoot.us/news/album-certified-gold

Hagar also has created a business venture for himself, with the Cabo Wabo Cantina that he purchased with his fellow Van Halen members in 1990 and tequila under the Cabo Wabo name. He sold 80 percent of his stake in the company to Gruppo Campari for $80 million in 2007, retaining a 20 percent stake.http://www.redrocker.com/index.php?s=band&id=1http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2007/07/01/100122129/index.htm