Sammy Hagar

Can Sammy Hagar still find the drive at nearly 55?

The 53-year-old former Van Halen singer says he`s ignoring every age-limit sign on the rock `n` roll highway.

"As time goes on, I don`t see an end to doing this," Hagar says, phoning from his home in Marin County in Northern California. "This is what I do for a living. I`ll be here when I`m 75 years old. I`m more like John Lee Hooker than I am like some pop star."

Hagar recently released his dozenth solo album, "Ten 13." It`s named for his Oct. 13 birthday, which he celebrated this year with a week-long party at the nightclub he owns in Mexico, drinking the brand of Tequila he bottles. (Both are called Cabo Wabo, after a 1988 Van Halen song.)

"Ten 13" marks a return to the heavy-rock riffage of Hagar`s early `80s albums, the ones that made him an obvious candidate to replace David Lee Roth in Van Halen 15 years ago. Screamers such as "Shaka Doobie (The Limit)" and the title track wallop the ear with the high-register intensity of a young Robert Plant.

"I don`t smoke," Hagar says, "at least not cigarettes, so my voice has never been a problem. I`ve never had nodes or any problems, unless I get sick and get a sore throat."

One place the Red Rocker does act his age these days is in his lyrics. A marked maturity and concern for the future is reflected in new Hagar songs such as "The Message" and "Serious Juju," both of which bemoan environmental mistreatment.

"Juju is healing," Hagar explains. "This Earth can completely heal itself over time, but the damage is being done at such a rapid pace that it can`t keep up with us. I`m saying we need some serious juju to clean this thing up."

Hagar has reason to heed the future. He`s been a grandfather for two years. Hagar`s second wife, former model Kari Karte, is also expecting his fourth child in April (which, incidentally, will make the child younger than its own niece).

"To me, raising children is probably the most important thing you can do," Hagar says. "I`m all for doing it for the rest of my life. I`m gonna have my own kids running around the house, playing with my grandkids."

Since getting fired from Van Halen in 1995 (or quitting, depending on whose story you believe), Hagar has found it increasingly difficult to get any message across to young people outside his family, however. As youthful as Hagar may fancy himself, "Total Request Live" watchers do not confuse him for a colleague of Kid Rock`s or Britney Spears`.

"Let`s put it like this - I`m not gonna have a number one video on MTV," Hagar says. "I know that, you know that. MTV is one of the greatest promotional tools ever invented, but they`re not into my age group. So I just have to go around that media."

In recent weeks, Hagar could be found hosting "Talk Soup" on cable`s E! channel and performing live on CBS Sports` "The NFL Today." The un-rock-like promotion campaign was spearheaded by Beyond Music, the boutique label Hagar fled to after his last album, 1999`s "Red Voodoo," bombed under the watch of MCA Records.

"They think different, and I like it," Hagar says of Beyond, a BMG-distributed arm of Left Bank Management (Motley Crue, Meat Loaf). "When you`ve got a new album, you`ve got to find ways of telling people it`s out there. And doing this stuff is more fun than doing a video any day."

One place you won`t find Hagar is back in Van Halen. The blood between Hagar and guitarist Edward Van Halen is worse than ever.

"I don`t feel any better about what those guys did, and I`m not happy for them if they have any success without me, because I just don`t think you go about your life that way," Hagar says. "You don`t screw with people the way they were screwing with me. Between their manager (Ray Danniels) and Ed, they really tried to make me miserable, and they ended up stabbing me in the back for no reason.

"The only problem we ever had was them bringing Dave back for the greatest-hits record. I hit the ceiling on that, obviously. And that was manipulated by their manager, who they`ve now fired. If you look at the whole thing, they have no reason to be pissed off at me, but they are because I went off. They can`t stand that."

Hagar confirms long-swirling rumors that Van Halen rehired Roth after firing its third singer, Gary Cherone, last year. But the reunion has ended just as abruptly as it did in 1995, he claims.

"The last thing I heard was that Roth was in again and now he`s out again," Hagar says, citing sources close to the band. "And there`s not anything going on now that I know of."

Spokespeople for Van Halen and Roth would not comment.

Hagar says he feels sorry for Roth, his former adversary, "because I was in the band when Dave left, and they did everything in their power to crush his career. And I know that`s what they tried to do to me, but it didn`t work."

Hagar says he`s perfectly willing to appear and sing during Van Halen`s imminent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, either with or without Roth. The band becomes eligible in 2003.

"If I was invited, of course I would go," he says. "And I`d check the vibe out. If it was funky, I`d split. But if I know those guys, they`ll work it out where they won`t invite me somehow."

Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com. Can Sammy Hagar still find the drive at nearly 55?

The 53-year-old former Van Halen singer says he`s ignoring every age-limit sign on the rock `n` roll highway.

"As time goes on, I don`t see an end to doing this," Hagar says, phoning from his home in Marin County in Northern California. "This is what I do for a living. I`ll be here when I`m 75 years old. I`m more like John Lee Hooker than I am like some pop star."

Hagar recently released his dozenth solo album, "Ten 13." It`s named for his Oct. 13 birthday, which he celebrated this year with a week-long party at the nightclub he owns in Mexico, drinking the brand of Tequila he bottles. (Both are called Cabo Wabo, after a 1988 Van Halen song.)

"Ten 13" marks a return to the heavy-rock riffage of Hagar`s early `80s albums, the ones that made him an obvious candidate to replace David Lee Roth in Van Halen 15 years ago. Screamers such as "Shaka Doobie (The Limit)" and the title track wallop the ear with the high-register intensity of a young Robert Plant.

"I don`t smoke," Hagar says, "at least not cigarettes, so my voice has never been a problem. I`ve never had nodes or any problems, unless I get sick and get a sore throat."

One place the Red Rocker does act his age these days is in his lyrics. A marked maturity and concern for the future is reflected in new Hagar songs such as "The Message" and "Serious Juju," both of which bemoan environmental mistreatment.

"Juju is healing," Hagar explains. "This Earth can completely heal itself over time, but the damage is being done at such a rapid pace that it can`t keep up with us. I`m saying we need some serious juju to clean this thing up."

Hagar has reason to heed the future. He`s been a grandfather for two years. Hagar`s second wife, former model Kari Karte, is also expecting his fourth child in April (which, incidentally, will make the child younger than its own niece).

"To me, raising children is probably the most important thing you can do," Hagar says. "I`m all for doing it for the rest of my life. I`m gonna have my own kids running around the house, playing with my grandkids."

Since getting fired from Van Halen in 1995 (or quitting, depending on whose story you believe), Hagar has found it increasingly difficult to get any message across to young people outside his family, however. As youthful as Hagar may fancy himself, "Total Request Live" watchers do not confuse him for a colleague of Kid Rock`s or Britney Spears`.

"Let`s put it like this - I`m not gonna have a number one video on MTV," Hagar says. "I know that, you know that. MTV is one of the greatest promotional tools ever invented, but they`re not into my age group. So I just have to go around that media."

In recent weeks, Hagar could be found hosting "Talk Soup" on cable`s E! channel and performing live on CBS Sports` "The NFL Today." The un-rock-like promotion campaign was spearheaded by Beyond Music, the boutique label Hagar fled to after his last album, 1999`s "Red Voodoo," bombed under the watch of MCA Records.

"They think different, and I like it," Hagar says of Beyond, a BMG-distributed arm of Left Bank Management (Motley Crue, Meat Loaf). "When you`ve got a new album, you`ve got to find ways of telling people it`s out there. And doing this stuff is more fun than doing a video any day."

One place you won`t find Hagar is back in Van Halen. The blood between Hagar and guitarist Edward Van Halen is worse than ever.

"I don`t feel any better about what those guys did, and I`m not happy for them if they have any success without me, because I just don`t think you go about your life that way," Hagar says. "You don`t screw with people the way they were screwing with me. Between their manager (Ray Danniels) and Ed, they really tried to make me miserable, and they ended up stabbing me in the back for no reason.

"The only problem we ever had was them bringing Dave back for the greatest-hits record. I hit the ceiling on that, obviously. And that was manipulated by their manager, who they`ve now fired. If you look at the whole thing, they have no reason to be pissed off at me, but they are because I went off. They can`t stand that."

Hagar confirms long-swirling rumors that Van Halen rehired Roth after firing its third singer, Gary Cherone, last year. But the reunion has ended just as abruptly as it did in 1995, he claims.

"The last thing I heard was that Roth was in again and now he`s out again," Hagar says, citing sources close to the band. "And there`s not anything going on now that I know of."

Spokespeople for Van Halen and Roth would not comment.

Hagar says he feels sorry for Roth, his former adversary, "because I was in the band when Dave left, and they did everything in their power to crush his career. And I know that`s what they tried to do to me, but it didn`t work."

Hagar says he`s perfectly willing to appear and sing during Van Halen`s imminent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, either with or without Roth. The band becomes eligible in 2003.

"If I was invited, of course I would go," he says. "And I`d check the vibe out. If it was funky, I`d split. But if I know those guys, they`ll work it out where they won`t invite me somehow."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: George Varga