After spending several years as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the mid-'70s hard rock band
Montrose,
Sammy Hagar began a solo career that produced several hits and made him an album rock favorite.
Hagar became a true star once he joined
Van Halen in 1985, but he'd been a popular hard rocker ever since his first album with
Montrose.
After giving up a boxing career,
Hagar began singing in the late '60s, performing with various California bands including Skinny, the Fabulous Catillas, Justice Brothers, and Dust Cloud. During this time, he built up a solid reputation in the California hard rock scene. Former
Edgar Winter guitarist
Ronnie Montrose asked
Hagar to join his band,
Montrose, in 1973.
Hagar recorded two albums with
Montrose before going solo in 1976, taking the group's bassist,
Bill Church, with him.
Montrose's drummer
Denny Carmassi later joined
Hagar's band, along with keyboardist
Geoff Workman.
Hagar's self-titled "red album" was his first chart entry; it eventually went gold. In 1979, he created a new supporting band featuring
Workman,
Church, guitarist
Gary Pihl, and drummer
Chuck Ruff. This lineup played on
Hagar's most popular solo album, 1981's platinum
Standing Hampton, plus 1982's gold
Three Lock Box with only one member missing -- drummer
Ruff was replaced by
David Lauser. After
Three Lock Box and its number 13 hit single "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy,"
Hagar played several shows with guitarist
Neal Schon, bassist
Kenny Aaronson, and drummer Mike Shrieve; the group recorded a live album under the name
Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve (HSAS), as well as a studio version of
Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale." His 1984 album
VOA contained the hit single "I Can't Drive 55," which peaked at number 26.
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 in 1987; the record was coined
I Never Said Goodbye in an MTV contest.
Hagar stayed with
Van Halen throughout 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), and
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 Van Halen, 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.
Not 4 Sale arrived in 2003, followed by his first live album in 20 years, Live: Hallelujah.
Livin' It Up! was released in 2006, while
VOA was reissued the following year in deluxe format, courtesy of the newly launched American Beat Records. In 2008,
Hagar released
Cosmic Universal Fashion, his 11th solo album and first for Roadrunner imprint Loud & Proud Records. That same year, he debuted a new band,
Chickenfoot, after jamming with
Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist
Joe Satriani, and
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer
Chad Smith. The supergroup released its self-titled debut album in 2009. The debut went gold, which was good enough to guarantee a 2011 sequel called
Chickenfoot III (despite its joking title, this was indeed their sophomore set).
Hagar didn't abandon his
Chickenfoot brothers for the 2013 album Sammy Hagar & Friends; each member, along with several other kindred spirits, showed up on this party-hearty 2013 LP. 2014's
Lite Roast saw the tireless
Hagar and
Wabos guitarist Vic Johnson gently tearing through some coffeehouse-ready versions of
Hagar classics, while 2015 saw the release of the live album
At Your Service, the first album to be released under the moniker Sammy Hagar & the Circle, his newest touring incarnation featuring Michael Anthony on bass, drummer
Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson.
The Circle released their first studio album, The Space Between, in 2019. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine