Sammy Hagar

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fter playing around in several local bands, Sammy Hagar (Full Name: Samuel Roy Hagar; a.k.a. The Red Rocker; Born October 13, 1947) would join the proto-'80s hair band Montrose in 1973 to complete two albums that greatly helped his career before departing for a solo life. With Montrose he would record Montrose (1973) and Paper Money (1974), two sets which featured some classic Hagar backed material including Space Station No. 5, Rock The Nation and Bad Motor Scooter.

After leaving Montrose, Hagar formed two short-lived projects titled Dust Cowboys and Sammy Wild before inking a deal with 'Capitol Records' to release the solo album Nine On A Ten Scale (1976) with the membership of him on vocals, Gary Phil (guitar), Bill Church (ex-Montrose; bass), Alan Fitzgerald (keyboards), plus session drummers. Scott Matthews would finally become the permanent drummer after the album's release.

His following efforts of Sammy Hagar (1977), Musical Chairs (1978; which saw the addition of David Lewark on guitar and Denny Carmassi replacing Scotton drums), and the live set All Night Long (1978) with Gary Pihl replacing Lewark, struggled but his 1979 effort Street Machine made it onto the charts at 71 US (38 UK) Once again, Street Machine saw membership changes with Chuck Ruff replacing Denny on drums, and Neal Schon replacing Fitzgerald, with Geoff Workman joining on keyboards after the release. Danger Zone (1980) was a more commercial but nonetheless hard rocking album that kept him in the top 100 in the US and top 30 in the UK, competing nicely with its predecessor. He would then move to 'Geffen' to release several more workmanlike albums that made respectable charting including Standing Hampton (1982; with David Louser replacing Ruff), Three Lock Box (1983) and VOA (1984) with the membership of Hagar, Schon, Shrieve, and Aaronson (bass), with Jesse Harms joining on keyboards. During this stint he would also release Through The Fire (1984) under the moniker Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve.