В глазах многочисленных хард-рок-фэнов David Lee Roth is the prototypical frontman. With a flamboyant, larger-than-life stage presence and a party hearty/surfer dude persona (not to mention his acrobatic leaps, long mane of blond hair, and skintight spandex outfits), Roth was an integral part of Van Halen's meteoric rise to global dominance from 1978 through 1984. Родился он 10 октября 1955 in Bloomington, IN, Roth was introduced to music at an early age, via his father's affinity for Al Jolson, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Prima. By the dawn of his teenage years, его семья переехала в Калифрнию и в начале 70х Roth had become a major rock fan (Led Zeppelin, Black Oak Arkansas, Grand Funk, ZZ Top, Alice Cooperrи т.д.). Roth was soon singing in local bands, including the Red Ball Jets, who would play shows along with another up-and-coming rock band from Pasadena, CA — Mammoth. The members of Mammoth, с братьями Eddie (гитара) и Alex (барабаны) Van Halen, would often borrow Roth's PA system for their gigs, and a friendship was struck up. Soonafter, Roth was asked to join forces with the братьям Van Halen, who had enlisted a new bassist as well, Michael Anthony. Новый квартет decided on a name change by the mid-'70s as they played the Sunset Strip — Van Halen (reportedly Roth's idea). В 1977 квартет подписал контракт с Warner Bros и 1978 увидел свет их одноименный дебют, one of rock's all-time great recordings. Смесь хэви-рифов с панк-яростью, Van Halen was onto a whole new sound, which resulted in the band taking the world by storm. The band issued a string of classic mega-selling albums (1979's Van Halen II, 1980's Women & Children First, 1981's Fair Warning, 1982's Diver Down, and two years later, 1984), while becoming a major arena-headlining concert draw in the process.

Just as the group had hit their peak and appeared they could do no wrong, Roth issued a four-track solo EP in 1985, Crazy From the Heat, with rumors swirling that the group was bickering behind the scenes and that the singer was going to make a major motion picture. Still, it was a shock to rock fans everywhere when Roth left Van Halen later that year (Van Halen would soldier on with Sammy Hagar filling Roth's spot) — leading to a war of words in the press. When his plans for the movie proved to be a bust, Roth immediately formed a top-notch solo band, consisting of ex-Talas bassist Billy Sheehan (часто называемый "the Eddie Van Halen of bass"), быший гитарист Френка Заппы Steve Vai и бывший барабанщик Maynard Ferguson - Gregg Bissonette. В 1986 Roth issued his first full-length solo effort, Eat Em & Smile, which was another hit and gave way to another sold-out tour. Roth had also become a master of creating hilarious and highly original music videos (featuring a wide assortment of wacky characters), especially Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher," and Roth's solo clips "California Girls," "Just a Gigolo," "Yankee Rose," and "Goin' Crazy." But while Roth's new solo band seemed to be on their way to a very promising future, the lineup began to splinter with each subsequent release (1988's Skyscraper, 1991's A Little Ain't Enough), until Roth was the only remaining member. With interest waning, Roth attempted to branch out musically on his experimental 1994 release, Your Filthy Little Mouth (продюссер Nile Rodgers), but it was met with a cool reception, as was his attempt to break into the Vegas circuit around the same time.

 By 1996, Van Halen had parted ways with Hagar, leading to an onslaught of rumors that a Roth/Van Halen reunion was in the works. The rumor appeared to become reality on September 4, 1996, when Van Halen and Roth appeared together at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York to present an award. Despite the fact that they had recorded several new songs the previous summer (two of which would appear on their forthcoming Best Of: Vol. 1 collection), the reunion was short-lived — Eddie and Roth got into a near fist fight backstage on the night of the awards show, as relations soured once again when it became known that Van Halen tricked Roth into thinking that he was back in the band (meanwhile, they had secretly hired ex-Extreme singer Gary Cherone a few months prior).

 Undeterred, Roth penned a tell-all biography, 1997's Crazy From the Heat, and issued his best solo album in years, 1998's back-to-basics DLR Band. When Cherone was dismissed from Van Halen in 1999 after only a single album (the horrific Van Halen III), rumors began swirling once again о возможном воссоединении Roth/Van Halen. With both camps keeping things very hush-hush, Roth окончательно прервал молчание в апреле 2001, issuing a statement on his website that he and his former Van Halen bandmates had indeed regrouped the previous year in the recording studio, but that he hadn't heard back from them in months. Barely a week later, Eddie Van Halen went public with the fact that he was diagnosed with cancer.

Greg Prato