Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker out of Salinas, born in 1947, came up hollering in Montrose in the early '70s before striking out on his own, and he's been running at full throttle ever since. Guitar in hand, voice cranked past the red line, he makes hard rock the way muscle cars get made: loud, shiny and built for the highway.

The solo years stacked up a pile of meat-and-potatoes rockers, from the self-titled 1977 album and Street Machine to Standing Hampton, which delivered "There's Only One Way to Rock" and "Heavy Metal", and Three Lock Box. Then came VOA in 1984 and "I Can't Drive 55", his big solo hit, with a title that tells you everything about the man's relationship with the gas pedal.

A year later he was the new voice of Van Halen, fronting them from 1985 to 1996 and again from 2003 to 2005, which got him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them in 2007. He never sat still otherwise, either, with Chickenfoot, the Waboritas and more on the side, plus a second career in spirits and restaurants.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.