David Lee Roth
Roth rose to prominence in the 1970s Los Angeles rock scene as the lead singer of Van Halen. In 1974 Roth rented his PA system to the brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen, after failing a previous audition, and later joined their hard rock band as lead vocalist when the band members decided that letting him join would both save them money and allow Eddie to focus on guitar playing. After finding out that the name Mammoth (which the Van Halens called their band at the time) was being used by another band, Roth persuaded the Van Halen brothers to change the band's name from Mammoth to Van Halen.
In February 1978, Van Halen released their debut album, Van Halen. It quickly established the group as a commercial success, and is credited with establishing Los Angeles as hard rock's unofficial capital during the 1980s and early-1990s.
Soon after Van Halen's debut, Roth became well-known for his flamboyant showmanship and outrageous off-stage behavior. He became a media celebrity; his ribald witticisms were frequently quoted. Establishment criticism came—the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide Vol 2. said that Roth was "the most obnoxious singer in human history, an achievement notable in the face of long tradition and heavy competition"—but it had little effect. Although often noted more for physical than for technical vocal prowess, Roth's bluesy baritone voice and distinctive screams, along with his often humorous and campy lyrics, were integral to Van Halen's sound. Roth was able to take his voice into a multi-pitched wheeze/rasp, almost like a train whistle, that few can imitate successfully.
1979 to 1984 saw Van Halen release five more albums: Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, Diver Down, and 1984, each to increasing popular success and critical acclaim. In 1983, Van Halen was paid $1,500,000 to play one set at the US Festival in California, and thus became one of the two highest paid bands in modern history, along with the festival's other headlining act, David Bowie. Van Halen achieved their greatest commercial success, including their first Billboard #1 single, for the song "Jump", in 1984.
In early 1985, while still a member of Van Halen, Roth released a solo EP of off-beat standards, which became popular. Singles for "California Girls", and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" succeeded largely due to their innovative music videos, which featured ridiculous characters created by Roth.
In April 1985, Roth either left Van Halen or was fired, depending on who is telling the story. Reportedly, tensions between Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen broke over Van Halen's desire to incorporate keyboards, synthesizers, and power ballads into the group's sound. In his 1998 autobiography, Crazy From the Heat, Roth characterized Van Halen's music just before his 1985 departure as "morose." Roth wished to record an album quickly, tour, and then shoot a movie (the ill-fated Crazy From the Heat), but found his bandmates apathetic, lethargic, and drunk.
Reportedly, Roth also disliked Eddie Van Halen's behavior regarding an appearance on Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Beat It"—Van Halen did not tell Roth that he had recorded the song, for fear that Roth would prevent him from releasing it. In Crazy From The Heat, Roth writes that he approved of Van Halen's participation on "Beat It"; he believed that the Quincy Jones-produced track provided an excellent vehicle for Van Halen to showcase his talents. Roth later claimed that his issue with Eddie's participation on the track was that Eddie had declined to be paid for his work, receiving only a thank you note. Roth lamented, "We don't think alike at all."
Differing reports persist to this day regarding the causes of Roth's departure from Van Halen. Regardless, since 1985, Roth and his former bandmates have engaged in an acrimonious, if often colorful, feud that has made headlines for twenty years and has become the subject of much popular debate and speculation.
Eddie Van Halen
Van Halen, originally called "Mammoth", was formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, United States. The band consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and vocals, his brother, Alex on drums, and bassist Mark Stone. They had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth — a service for which he charged $10 a night. Eddie quickly became frustrated singing lead vocals, and decided they could save money by letting Roth into the band. Soon, Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone on bass. They opted to change the name of the band, reportedly due to another band using the same name — Roth is normally attributed with suggesting the name 'Van Halen'.
In 1976 Gene Simmons saw one of Van Halen's shows at Gazzari's in Hollywood,and subsequently financed their first demo tape, flying the band to Electric Lady Studios in New York to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With the Devil". Eddie disliked his playing on the demo, because he wasn't using his own equipment, and had to overdub guitar parts (which he had never done before.)
In 1977, Van Halen was offered a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Later that year, they recorded their first album, "Van Halen", which was released on February 10, 1978. Eddie claims that their first single, "You Really Got Me", a cover of the original Kinks song, was not his first choice. The band was forced to release the song before other bands (notably L.A. rival "Angel") who heard Van Halen's rendition and were trying to beat them to the punch.
Van Halen released a total of 6 albums: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and 1984 (1984); however, the band had trouble working together as a cohesive unit; according to Gene Simmons' book Kiss and Make Up, Eddie Van Halen approached Simmons in 1982 about possibly joining Kiss, replacing Ace Frehley. According to Simmons, Eddie did so chiefly due to his personality conflicts with Roth.
Simmons persuaded Eddie to return to Van Halen, and shortly afterwards the band released the album 1984; which yielded the band's first #1 hit, "Jump". Other singles released from the album also sold well, particularly "Hot for Teacher", the video for which featured a skimpily dressed model playing the part of elementary-school teacher and school-age boys portraying younger versions of the band members. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, behind Thriller by Michael Jackson, to whom he contributed a guitar solo in the hit song "Beat It".
Alex Van Halen
Alex had several early bands with Eddie before Van Halen came to be. Names of these previous bands include The Broken Combs, Genesis, The Space Brothers, and The Trojan Rubber Company.
In 1972 Roth, Alex and Eddie formed Mammoth with Mark Stone on bass. Later, in 1974, The name Mammoth was replaced by Van Halen, and Mark stone was replaced by Michael Anthony. In addition to his musical duties at this time, Al was busy handling managerial duties, such as booking gigs, etc. for the band. Their 1978 album Van Halen was released to much fanfare, influencing many musicians in hard rock.
In spite of the fact that the term "brown sound" is generally associated with Eddie's guitar, Alex originated the term to refer to the sound of his snare drum.
At live shows, Alex is known for being an entertainer, performing aggressive drum solos and stage pyrotechnics.
The only non–Van Halen example of Alex's musicianship can be found on the soundtrack to the movie Twister. The instrumental "Respect the Wind" (for which the Van Halen brothers were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance) features Alex on keyboards (with Eddie on guitar). The song was used for the movie soundtrack Twister and plays during the end credits of the movie.
Wolfgang Van Halen (Current Bass Guitar Player)
Wolfgang William Van Halen (born March 16, 1991), is an American musician. He is the current bassist for Van Halen, replacing Michael Anthony in 2006.
His parents, who named him after the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, are Van Halen lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli. His uncle is Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen. His middle name is rumored to be taken from the title of the Van Halen song "Big Bad Bill (is Sweet William Now)," a cover of a jazz standard David Lee Roth sang about Eddie.
Wolfgang was a part of his father's vision for Van Halen from a very young age. The instrumental "316" was named in his honour, after Wolfgang's birthday. Later, his father named a custom guitar after him, the EVH Wolfgang. Eddie stated that Wolfgang is new to the bass guitar.
Wolfgang later began actively participating in the band. He also made guest appearances during some dates of Van Halen's 2004 tour, appearing during his father's extended guitar solo spot and playing "316" with him.
Although Wolfgang began working on new material with his father and uncle in late 2006, it is unclear if or when any of it will be released. A fall 2007 Van Halen tour was announced during a press conference on August 13, 2007. The tour began on September 27, 2007 and finished in July 2008.
Like his father, Wolfgang is a multi-instrumentalist; in addition to bass, he also plays drums, guitar, and keyboard.
Wolfgang made headlines in early 2008 by appearing on the cover of the April issue of Guitar World with his father, in the magazine's very first father-son issue. Wolfgang was also mentioned on the Rachael Ray talk show in 2007 when his mother, Valerie, spoke with Rachael about the stresses of having her son on the road. She said, "He's just like, 'Mom, don't say anything stupid about me on Rachael Ray!" She also said that Wolfgang is a "good boy" and when he finds himself in an adult situation, calls her and says, "Mom, I'm not comfortable here."
Michael Anthony (Former Bass Guitar Player)
In 1974, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen along with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony became known as Van Halen, dropping the name Mammoth because they discovered that another local band was using that moniker. They were signed to Warner Brothers in 1977 and released their self titled debut album on February 8, 1978. Anthony's bass lines and high vocal harmonies became a distinctive part of the Van Halen sound. The band released a total of ten studio albums from 1978–1995, along with a live album and a compilation CD in 1996 that featured two previously unreleased songs. Despite the Van Halen brothers falling out with both their vocalists frequently (David Lee Roth in 1985, 1996, 2000 and 2001 and Sammy Hagar in both 1996 and 2004), Anthony maintained positive relationships with all of the musicians.
As early as 1996, rumors periodically surfaced that Anthony had been fired from Van Halen. Despite claims to the contrary and his continued work with the band, these persisted until his final departure.
Anthony's involvement in the 1998 album Van Halen III was less than for previous albums. Anthony performed on only three songs; Eddie Van Halen recorded the others. Anthony is credited as a songwriter for the album along with the rest of the band as is always the case for Van Halen albums. Anthony performed with the band for the 1998 tour, and was credited for messages from the band thereafter. He participated in the band's three reunion attempts with David Lee Roth from 2000 through 2001. Anthony's name was also credited in a few band newsletters during this time, and he appeared in band interviews. Sometime after this, however, Anthony disappeared from public view until the 2004 reunion.
In interviews, Eddie and Alex Van Halen suggested they were jamming and writing/recording new material during this time period but appeared to be working without Anthony.
Anthony began periodic appearances with Sammy Hagar during his solo tours. He usually played as part of The Waboritas, Hagar's band. During 2002's David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar tour, both Michael Anthony and ex-Van Halen vocalist Gary Cherone make guest appearances at concerts, sometimes together. Anthony never performed during Roth's segment however.
In 2002, Anthony, Hagar, Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo, and Joe Satriani formed the "supergroup" Planet Us and Anthony began making more frequent performances at Sammy Hagar concerts. Planet US recorded two songs, one of which was intended for the Spider-Man soundtrack but ultimately did not make the album. The band did perform the unreleased song Vertigo on the Internet radio show RockLine.
Initially when Eddie and Alex asked Hagar to rejoin at the end of 2003 for a 2004 tour, the plan was not to invite Anthony back. Hagar, however, refused to perform if Anthony did not rejoin, and Anthony agreed to play but on a reduced royalties contract. The contract drawn up was for the duration of the tour only, with his role within the band resting in the hands of the Van Halen brothers thereafter. Throughout this time, and during the Van Halen III period, the public was unaware of Anthony's tenuous status within the band and was led to believe that he was still a full-time member.
In 2004, Van Halen released the compilation album The Best of Both Worlds which included three new songs. Anthony did not participate in the writing or play bass on the new songs and was not credited on the album for the new material (Anthony did sing backup vocals on all three tracks).
Anthony now states in media interviews that he has not spoken to the Van Halen brothers since the 2004 tour (except to Alex Van Halen at Van Halen drum-tech Greg Emerson's funeral). He has also speculated that since the brothers were not pleased with Hagar's commercial ventures such as the Cabo Wabo product line, their similar displeasure with Anthony's hot sauce brand may have caused the rift that ultimately separated Hagar and Anthony from the band.
Anthony spent the Summer of 2006 touring as a member of The Other Half during a segment of the Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas tour. The Other Half featured Anthony and Hagar performing classic Van Halen songs from both the Roth and Hagar periods.
On September 8, 2006, Eddie Van Halen announced that his son, Wolfgang, was replacing Michael Anthony as Van Halen's bass player. On February 2, 2007, it was announced that Van Halen was reuniting for a tour with original vocalist David Lee Roth. The tour began on September 27, 2007. Anthony commented that he heard about his replacement "on the Internet" and stated, "I'm a little miffed that they're calling it a Van Halen reunion. If I was dead and they needed someone to play, that's one thing, but to me this is not a reunion."
Anthony joined his former bandmate and good friend Sammy Hagar on live national TV on February 25, 2007. During a pre-race performance for the California race on FOX television, the bassist jumped onstage and joined Sammy Hagar during a performance of "I Can't Drive 55". Hagar could only respond "Michael Anthony's in the house."
Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar were the only members, former or current, to appear at Van Halen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007. Eddie Van Halen was in rehab at the time, and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth declined to appear.
Anthony is currently developing a side project called "Chickenfoot" with Sammy Hagar, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Joe Satriani, which will include a yet unnamed studio album release. He has also recently established a band named the Mad Anthony Xpress that will tour with Hagar in 2007 and 2008.
