Sammy Hagar Gets Personal in "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock"

The first thing Imus noticed about his guest Sammy Hagar, the former lead singer of Van Halen, is how darn good he looks for a 63-year old rock star. “Don’t be falling off the wagon in front of me,” Hagar cautioned Imus. “That’s not what I’m here for!”
 
He was here, as they always are, to promote his book, entitled Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. The title comes from Hagar’s nickname, “The Red Rocker,” which is based on a song he wrote called “Red.” The decision to write a tell-all book about his life came easily to Hagar.
 
“While I still remember, I want my story told,” he joked. And so after 35-plus years of nonstop touring, he took a year off to write Red, which is also a tribute of sorts. “My mother passed two years ago, and she’s a very big part of this book, and a very big part of who and what I am.”
 
And whether he was a member of Montrose, Van Halen, Chickenfoot, or a slew of other bands he’s played with over the years, Hagar has always been true to himself. The circumstances surrounding him, however, tended to change, as they did in 2004, at the end of Van Halen’s highly anticipated reunion tour. 
 
“A lot changed between the beginning and end of that band,” Hagar said. He had been looking forward to going back out on the road with Eddie Van Halen, but found that he was, for the most part, “out of it.”
 
As for whether drugs and alcohol were the culprits, Hagar said, “Probably just about everything. Is there anything besides those two? Because I would throw that in there.”
 
Eddie, whom Hagar described as “one of the great guitar players in the history of rock and roll,” and “a sweet, wonderful guy,” was also one of Hagar’s closest friends in the world during his first ten years with Van Halen. But as with many music industry stories, outside influences affected thr relationship.
 
“You take us off the leash too long, and with sex, drugs, rock and roll, fame, fortune—it’s all right there for you,” Hagar said, and presumed Imus had “been there” too.
 
Shocked, Imus replied, “Why do you have to drag me into this? I’m not going to write a book about what I did!”
 
Hagar got hooked up with the Van Halen brothers in the 1980s by a Los Angeles mechanic named Claudio, who serviced fancy Italian cars, like Hagar’s Ferrari and Eddie’s Lamborghini. One day, not long after David Lee Roth parted ways with Van Halen, Eddie was in Claudio’s shop, and asked whose Ferrari he was working on.
 
“Claudio goes, ‘That belongs to Sammy. You should call him and get him in the band,’” Hagar said. “Eddie calls me up from the damn shop!”
 
The two had met a few times when Hagar was with Montrose and playing solo gigs, and Eddie was already a fan of Hagar’s. Hagar, in turn, was a fan of the Van Halen brothers, both as artists and as people.
 
“Alex is a great man,” he said of Eddie’s brother, the band’s drummer. “I wish he were my big brother.”
 
Though it’s obviously more fun to focus on the strife, Hagar noted that much of Red is positive. “There’s two chapters on the beautiful times, when we had more fun than any band’s ever had in their life, and made more money, and more fame and fortune for ten lifetimes,” he said.
 
Since leaving Van Halen in 1996, Hagar has done pretty well for himself with his new band Chickenfoot, and his tequila brand Cabo Wabo, 80 percent of which he sold in 2007  for $100 million. “I think that drove the Van Halen brothers crazy,” he said, laughing.
 
It’s likely that Red has also driven them crazy, and Hagar can feel it, even though he has not spoken to them since the reunion tour. But he’s not too worried.
 
“So far,” he reported, “I’m very happy.”
 
-Julie Kanfer