Samuel Roy Hagar, aka The Red Rocker, went from the singer of a major hard rock band, to successful solo artist, to singer of the biggest hard rock/metal band in the world, from the 1960s through 80s.

The first of these was the band Montrose, who capitalized on breakthrough success with Hagar’s songwriting, most notably Bad Motor Scooter and Rock Candy.

After two albums, Sammy argued with band founder Ronny Montrose and left. His solo efforts snowballed into an arena-filling touring schedule and chain of gold records.

After a short stint as part of supergroup HSAS (Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, & Schrieve)…

…Sammy’s Ferrari mechanic informed him that another customer, Eddie van Halen, was looking for a new singer for his band.

They hit it off, and the rest is pop Metal history, Van Halen cranking out their most chart-topping hits with Hagar at the mic, including some of their longest-lasting classics.

Sammy still cranks out the red rock, to this day, with his friends in rock bands Chickenfoot, The Circle, and The Waboritas.