On his 1982 release Standing Hampton Sammy Hagar delivered the track “There’s Only One Way to Rock,” an album that catapulted him to solo stardom roughly a decade after his first recordings as Montrose’s lead singer. Already well into the middle phase of his professional life, the vocalist nicknamed the Red Rocker showed he knew several routes to musical success, reaching even greater heights when he stepped in for David Lee Roth inside Van Halen in 1986 and later exploring assorted upbeat heavy-rock ensembles after leaving that lineup in 1996. He circled back to solo work, then assembled the Waboritas, a band that opened the door to the supergroup Chickenfoot featuring guitarist Joe Satriani and Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony. The bassist became a lasting creative ally, appearing again in Sammy Hagar and the Circle, the unit that carried the singer through the 2020s with high-spirited rock & roll whose drive recalled Standing Hampton yet arrived on a grander, tougher scale, confirming that he had discovered many ways to rock across a lengthy career.
After setting aside a boxing career, Hagar started singing in the late ’60s with several California groups such as Skinny, the Fabulous Catillas, Justice Brothers, and Dust Cloud, steadily earning respect on the state’s hard-rock circuit. In 1973 former Edgar Winter guitarist Ronnie Montrose recruited him for Montrose, where Hagar cut two albums before launching his solo path in 1976 and taking bassist Bill Church along. Montrose drummer Denny Carmassi and keyboardist Geoff Workman later joined Hagar’s own band.
Hagar’s self-titled “red album” marked his first appearance on the charts and eventually earned gold status. In 1979 he formed a fresh backing group with Workman, Church, guitarist Gary Pihl, and drummer Chuck Ruff; this lineup supported his best-known solo effort, the platinum Standing Hampton of 1981, and the gold Three Lock Box of 1982, the latter missing only Ruff, who was replaced by David Lauser. After Three Lock Box and its number 13 single “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy,” Hagar performed with guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Kenny Aaronson, and drummer Mike Shrieve; the musicians issued a live album as Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve (HSAS) and recorded a studio take of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” His 1984 album VOA featured the hit “I Can’t Drive 55,” which reached number 26.
In 1985 Hagar took David Lee Roth’s place in Van Halen; their first album together was 5150, released in 1986. He issued his final solo record of that era in 1987, titled I Never Said Goodbye after an MTV naming contest. Hagar remained with Van Halen through the rest of the ’80s and into the mid-’90s, a stretch that brought four additional multi-platinum albums—OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), Live: Right Here, Right Now (1993), and Balance (1995)—before friction arose between Hagar and his bandmates.
During summer 1996 Hagar either quit or was dismissed from Van Halen; the group briefly reinstated Roth for two tracks on Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 before installing former Extreme singer Gary Cherone. The episode generated heavy publicity that surrounded Hagar’s first solo album in ten years, 1997’s Marching to Mars, which climbed into the Top 20 and revived his standing as an individual artist. Touring with the Waboritas—guitarist Vic Johnson, keyboardist Jesse Harms, bassist Mona, and drummer David Lauser—he followed up two years later with Red Voodoo, another strong seller driven by the single “Mas Tequila” that nearly reached the Top 20.
The upward trend continued with 2000’s Ten 13. Not 4 Sale appeared in 2003, followed by the live set Live: Hallelujah, his first concert album in two decades. Livin’ It Up! arrived in 2006, while a deluxe reissue of VOA surfaced the next year on the new American Beat label. In 2008 Hagar released his eleventh solo album, Cosmic Universal Fashion, on Roadrunner’s Loud & Proud imprint. That same year he launched Chickenfoot after jamming with Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith; the supergroup’s self-titled debut came out in 2009 and went gold, prompting the 2011 follow-up Chickenfoot III. Hagar kept ties with his Chickenfoot colleagues for the 2013 party-oriented album Sammy Hagar & Friends, which included contributions from each of them plus other guests. Lite Roast, a 2014 acoustic collection, paired Hagar with Waboritas guitarist Vic Johnson for laid-back reinterpretations of earlier material, while 2015 brought the live recording At Your Service, the first release credited to Sammy Hagar & the Circle, whose lineup featured Michael Anthony on bass, drummer Jason Bonham, and guitarist Vic Johnson.
The Circle delivered their initial studio album, The Space Between, in 2019, debuting at number four. They returned in 2022 with Crazy Times, whose lead single was a cover of Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up.”
