David Lee Roth - Biography

Last Editor: c.g				David Lee Roth Biography -   Name : David Lee Roth Profession : American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and radio personality Date of birth : 10 October 1954 Place of birth : Bloomington, Indiana, USA Nickname : Diamond Dave Height : 6' (1.83 m)

David Lee Roth Trivia -

Lead singer of Van Halen from the mid 70s through 1985. His last two public appearances with the other members of Van Halen (besides Sammy Hagar) were at awards shows: In 1996, he appeared with Eddie, Alex, and Michael as a presenter at MTV's Video Music Awards; his last appearance before that was in 1985, as a nominee (with the other members of Van Halen) at the American Video Awards, a precursor to the MTV awards and produced by Casey Kasem. The last Video Music Awards show was held in 1987. One of the few all-time famous rock stars who has never married. He is an avid Mountain Climber. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1996, he reconvened with Van Halen again in 2000. They recorded a couple of songs but soon parted ways due to legal reasons. He will be appearing on "The Sopranos" (1999) this year (2004). He will be playing himself in a VIP poker game that involves Tony Soprano!! He will be training in New York City to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) [2004] was against having too many synthesizers in the Van Halen sound - especially during the 1984/Jump period, which was one of the things that led to his departure because David wanted more of a bluesy sound (this is according to Dave in his book Crazy from the heat) Works with guitarist Brian Young, who was a member of an early Van Halen Tribute band called The Atomic Punks. His Uncle Manny Roth owned the famous Cafe Wha in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Back in the mid 1970s when Van Halen was forming, the band originally agreed on the name "Mammoth". When they found out later that "Mammoth" was already taken. It was Dave's idea to call the band Van Halen. Will start as an "all talk format" radio disc jockey in January 2006. He will replace Howard Stern on New York's K-Rock Station and some other US cities as well. He is fluent in Spanish. Although known as a lead singer, he can also play guitar quite well; on tour he plays a three to four minute bluesy acoustic guitar solo that will eventually lead into the "Ice Cream Man" riff; then his band will break into the heavy part of the song; at this point Dave puts his guitar away and sings

David Lee Roth Detailed Biography -

David Lee Roth, also known as Diamond Dave, (born October 10, 1954[1] in Bloomington, Indiana) is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and radio personality, best known for his work with the band Van Halen and his fast-talking, oversized personality. David Lee Roth is the son of Nathan Roth, a prominent ophthalmologist, and Sybil Roth. Roth's Jewish grandparents emigrated to Indiana from Ukraine. Roth's uncle, Manny Roth, is an influential New York City nightclub owner and entertainment entrepreneur. Manny Roth owned the famous Cafe Wha? in the early 1960s when the likes of Bob Dylan and Bill Cosby were working there, and seven-year-old David Lee got his first taste of, and desire for, show business from the inside by hanging out at the Wha?. David Lee Roth moved to Pasadena, California, in his teens after living in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and Bloomington, Indiana. David Lee Roth was educated at The Webb Schools in Claremont, California and John Muir High School in Pasadena. He later attended Pasadena City College, although he did not graduate. David Lee Roth rose to prominence in the 1970s Los Angeles rock scene as the lead singer of Van Halen. In 1974 David Lee Roth rented his PA system to the brothers Edward and Alex Van Halen, and later joined their hard rock band as lead vocalist. David Lee Roth soon persuaded the Van Halen brothers to change the band's name from Rat Salade to Van Halen. (The group had also performed as Mammoth.) In the late 1970s, Van Halen developed a local following while playing the nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. In 1978, David Lee Roth sang lead vocals on Van Halen's eponymous first album. Van Halen is considered one of rock music's greatest debuts. It quickly established the group as a commercial success, and it is credited with establishing Los Angeles as pop music's unofficial capital during the 1980s and early-1990s. Soon after Van Halen's debut, David Lee Roth became well-known for his acrobatic showmanship and outrageous off-stage behaviour. He became a media celebrity; his ribald witticisms were frequently quoted. Establishment criticism came—the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said that David Lee 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 prowess, David Lee Roth's bluesy baritone voice and distinctive screams, along with his often humorous and campy lyrics, were integral to Van Halen's sound. David Lee Roth was able to take his voice into a multi-pitched wheeze/rasp, almost like a train whistle (see Throat singing), 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 $1,000,000 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. Soon after, tensions boiled over between David Lee Roth and his bandmates. In early 1985, while still a member Van Halen, David Lee Roth released a solo EP of off-beat standards, which became wildly popular. Singles for "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", and "California Girls" succeeded largely due to their innovative music videos, which featured ridiculous characters created by David Lee Roth. In April 1985, David Lee Roth either quit Van Halen or was fired, according to differing reports. Reportedly, tensions broke between David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen 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, David Lee Roth characterized Van Halen's music just before his 1985 departure as "morose". Reportedly, David Lee 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, David Lee Roth also disliked Eddie Van Halen's behavior regarding an appearance on Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Beat It"—Van Halen did not tell David Lee Roth that he had recorded the song, for fear that David Lee Roth would prevent him from releasing it. In Crazy From The Heat, David Lee 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. Differing reports persist to this day regarding the causes of David Lee Roth's departure from Van Halen. Regardless, since 1985, David Lee Roth and his former bandmates have engaged in an acrimonious (if often colorful) feud that has made headlines for decades, and has become the subject of much popular debate and speculation. In late-1985, David Lee Roth assembled a band that many considered a supergroup, composed of guitarist Steve Vai, bass player Billy Sheehan and drummer Greg Bissonette. He later enlisted Van Halen producer Ted Templeman to produce the band's debut album. Eat'em and Smile saw David Lee Roth return to hard rock music, and met with considerable commercial success. The Eat'em and Smile Tour was one of the most successful concert tours of 1986. Van Halen's first album with Sammy Hagar, David Lee Roth's replacement as lead vocalist, entitled 5150, met with greater commercial success than Eat'em and Smile. Van Halen titled their 1988 album OU812 (i.e. Oh, you ate one too?) to ridicule Eat 'Em And Smile. In early 1988, David Lee Roth released Skyscraper, a more experimental album with a pop sound. Although it featured David Lee Roth's most famous original solo song, "Just Like Paradise", Skyscraper met with a more tepid commercial response than anything David Lee Roth had released previously. Soon after Skyscraper's release, Billy Sheehan left David Lee Roth's band. Following the Skyscraper Tour, Steve Vai left. In 1991, David Lee Roth released A Little Ain't Enough, a basic hard rock album, produced by Bob Rock; it achieved RIAA gold status. Twenty-year old guitar prodigy Jason Becker played on the album, but he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease shortly before the accompanying arena tour. He was replaced by Joe Holmes. The stage for the A Little Ain't Enough Tour featured statues that spat vodka at David Lee Roth's audience, and a pair of giant inflatable legs, positioned 'spread-eagle', wearing ripped, fishnet stockings. Musical tastes changed dramatically at about 1991, with the arrival of grunge music, hence David Lee Roth's tour did not sell out many venues, as in the past. In 1993, David Lee Roth was arrested in New York City's Washington Square Park, for buying what he once described as "$10 worth of Jamaican, bunk reefer" from an undercover police officer. The arrest made headlines, and became a late-night television punch-line. When asked by Howard Stern whether the bust was a publicity stunt, David Lee Roth said, "Howard, in New York City this small of a bust is a $35 traffic citation. It literally says 'Buick, Chevy, Other'. Your dog poops on the sidewalk it's $50. If I was looking for publicity, I would have pooped on the sidewalk." In 1994, David Lee Roth released Your Filthy Little Mouth, an eclectic, lyrically intricate album produced by Nile Rodgers. It combined elements of rock, country, reggae, hip hop, lounge, and others; for example, it included the song "Cheating Heart Cafe", a duet with the popular country singer Travis Tritt. It did not sell well, failng to achieve gold status. David Lee Roth then began to perform at smaller venues in the US. Nevertheless, many partisan fans remained; for example, in the film Airheads released that year, people who sided with David Lee Roth in the Van Halen split were denoted as cool, whereas a character siding with Van Halen was fingered as an undercover police officer. [2] (Similarly, in 2001, the title character of the film Joe Dirt declared he was a Van Halen fan, not a "Van Hagar" fan.) In 1995, David Lee Roth devised and performed an adult lounge act, largely in Las Vegas casinos, with a brass band that featured Nile Rodgers, Edgar Winter, and members of the Miami Sound Machine. It also featured several exotic dancers, who in David Lee Roth's words were "so sweet, I bet they shit sugar!" In June 1996, David Lee Roth reunited with Van Halen for a brief time and to great public fanfare. He recorded two new songs for Van Halen's Best of Vol. 1 album, "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic". After an infamous appearance on September 5, 1996, at the MTV Video Music Awards during which David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen reportedly threatened each other, David Lee Roth was passed over for Van Halen's new lead vocalist job in favor of Gary Cherone. (Cherone's previous band, Extreme, had opened for David Lee Roth in 1991). In 1997, David Lee Roth wrote a well-received memoir, entitled Crazy From the Heat. The 359 page book was whittled down from over 1,200 pages of monologues, which were transcribed by a Harvard University graduate student, who followed David Lee Roth around for almost a year. Among the book's revelations, aside from stories about backyard parties, Van Halen, and catching malaria in Third world jungles, was the infamous "Brown M&Ms" clause written into Van Halen's early contract riders. The clause was included in contracts, but not because of ego, rather to make sure that structural stage specifications in the contract were read thoroughly and were adequately provided. David Lee Roth writes of a time when he found brown M&M's in a bowl and subsequently had a fit. In the press, he was accused of causing $85,000 worth of damage to the arena. Most of the monetary damages were due to Van Halen's staging sinking through the floor. David Lee Roth writes, "they didn't bother to look at the weight requirements or anything, and this sank through their new flooring and did eighty-thousand dollars worth of damage to the arena floor. The whole thing had to be replaced. It came out in the press that I discovered brown M&M's and did eighty-five thousand dollars' worth of damage to the backstage area. Well, who am I to get in the way of a good rumor?" In 2001, rumors swirled that David Lee Roth and the members of Van Halen had recorded several new songs together and were in the process of attempting yet another reunion. David Lee Roth later confirmed this, but nothing became of the music. A box set was also rumored, but never materialized. Instead, Warner Bros. re-released remastered versions of all six early Van Halen studio albums. In 2002, David Lee Roth's Heavyweights of Rock and Roll Tour with Sammy Hagar succeeded beyond expectations and revived his career somewhat. Despite this, David Lee Roth's future with Van Halen remains uncertain. The recent Van Halen/Hagar reunion indicates that David Lee Roth will not reunite with them anytime soon. In 2003, David Lee Roth released Diamond Dave, an album of (mostly) classic rock cover songs ("If 6 Was 9", "Soul Kitchen", and a solo/big band version of "Ice Cream Man"). In 2004, he appeared on The Sopranos as a poker-playing guest of Tony Soprano, to which David Lee Roth was quoted on his website as saying, "Mom says I'm going to look like Lee Marvin in 10 years whether I'm in movies or not, so I might as well get after it!" On July 4, 2004, David Lee Roth performed with the Boston Pops at Boston's annual Pops Goes the Fourth celebration. According to news reports in July 2004, David Lee Roth relocated to New York City where he became an Emergency medical technician. David Lee Roth also took extensive flight training on the way to becoming a helicopter pilot. David Lee Roth's website has stated that he is also working on the book The Tao of Dave: Rock 'n' Roll Philosophy with David Lee David Lee Roth, a follow-up to his autobiography.