Sammy Hagar Q&A: On 'Inevitable' Reunion, Alien Downloads and 'Saint' Valerie

By Nicki Gostin Posted Mar 29th 2011 10:33PM

If you're a Van Halen fan, then there's a 50 percent chance you want the rock legends to reunite with Sammy Hagar, the band's second lead singer. (We love ya, Gary Cherone!) You can tentatively count the Red Rocker among that bunch, though he tells PopEater that Eddie Van Halen will have to fire the opening salvo in their reconciliation. "No apologies are necessary but if [Eddie came up to me and] said, 'Hey dude I love you man, let's get together and do it right,' I'd be there in a second."

Sammy calls a reunion "inevitable" but "just not possible right now," as he's busy being an extremely busy, fabulously rich tequila mogul with a searing new memoir, 'Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock,' on his hands. In our free-wheeling chat, Hagar dishes on Eddie's much-appreciated sobriety, why he stays faithful to his second wife, the "not fun" David Lee Roth and his love of "saint" Valerie Bertinelli. And there's that time when aliens "downloaded" information from his brain. Read on.

How the hell did you survive Van Halen?
It was wonderful for nine years. I'm a romantic and optimist, so I thought, oh it's just a little thing my boy's going through and everything will be good, but it never changed. But we had nine years of the greatest fun ever, so that carries a long way.

Any chance of a reunion?
I'm sure that it's inevitable, but not right now. Right now it's probably on a scale of one to hundred, minus seven. Of course no one's going to like somebody putting their stuff in the street, but I didn't make up anything. It's all true, and it's exactly what happened and that story has never been told. I'm walking down the street and fans are coming up into me going, "Hey man, when are you and Eddie going to get back together? What's the problem over there?" And I gotta tell them that it's just not possible right now.

He's clean now, isn't he?
He was clean in 1995 supposedly, but he wasn't. Seeing pictures of him now he certainly looks clean. He looks better, so I'll hand him that, but until I sit in a room with him. I can tell in a second. No apologies are necessary, but if he said, "Hey dude I love you man, let's get together and do it right," I'd be there in a second. But I'm not going to make that call because between you and me, I'm extremely busy and extremely happy and probably if I was to instigate it, it'd be like, oh now we've got him, he wants something, and if they were in that frame of mind it would bite me in the butt. When they're in the right frame of mind, whenever they want to do it, if I could fit it into my life, it would be a top priority.

Is David Lee Roth a, how do you say this nicely, douche bag?
Don't be silly! I've got nothing in common with the person. What I expected from him was a good time, but he ain't that guy. He's not fun. I'm not interested in hanging around with someone who's not fun.

So, there's a story in the book where you explain how you were with so many groupies you actually couldn't ejaculate.
It's not funny! I'd heard of it before, I met a girl, and she told me it happened to Rod Stewart. It's not like you can't function. I heard it and I thought, get out of here, if anything it's premature ejaculation. That was a strange thing to happen. It went on for a while. Hey, I'm into the art and the act, not the finished product, which is kind of like a bummer. It's like, oh no, it's over!

Most number of women in one day?
How about this? In one night at one time I had five girls at once. It was awesome. But usually you hooked up with one girl while you were in town, just occasionally they'd be a girl who'd say, "Mind if my friends come?" and I'd be like, "I don't mind at all!"

You're faithful now to your second wife Kari. How do you do that?
First of all, I don't put myself in that vulnerable situation anymore. In the old days if I saw a gang of girls I'd head straight for them. I was married to my childhood sweetheart for 23 years, and the last five years of that marriage I was extremely unfaithful, but it was really over. I was planning on getting a divorce, but she got pregnant, and we had a baby boy. When Andrew was born, I stuck it out for five more years, but I felt like I was no longer married. I'll be here for the family, but I'm not going to be married. So I was a free man, and I did anything and everything you could possibly do. It was awesome, but when I met Kari, she was different. Once we spent a few days together 24/7; I fell in love. The truth of the matter is when you're in love, you're not interested in anything else. I'm still in love, and she's still the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen, and I'm still physically attracted to her. I still chase her around the room day and night. When you're completely satisfied you do not need anymore than that.

You've made more money from your tequila company than the music business.
Absolutely. I sold 80 percent for 80 million dollars. I really hate bragging like this, but I'm really proud of it. It's a success story of all times, that's one of the reasons I wanted to write this book and put that in context with my childhood. If you just go around saying, "Yeah, I built this company," it's like, "Oh yeah, he's a good businessman, big deal." But no, no, no, you've got to understand I didn't have an education, I came from zero, and I worked my way to that.

You write of being abducted by aliens?
Not abducted. I had a dream that was so realistic and fishy because I started waking up. These guys were going, "Uh oh, he's waking up," and they pulled the plug on me. Back in those days there was no such thing as wireless and downloading, and now in today's technology, I can see that's exactly what happened. It was a wireless situation; they were downloading what I knew. It put me on a quest to find out what the hell was going on, what is out there. I became a UFO nut, an astrology nut. I bought a telescope and combed the heavens looking for a sign of something. I feel like there was some kind of a download, maybe some information leaked into my brain by accident.

Do you think Valerie was a saint for sticking with Eddie for so long?
Not just for that, she's a saint, period. She's such a sweet lady. For a child star who grew up in Hollywood and all that fame her whole life, she's the most down to earth person. She's a real sweetheart, and she really kept that marriage together, she kept Eddie on the good foot. I have all the respect in the world for her, especially now when she got so heavy and got herself looking so good. She's a great woman. I think that's part of the reason what happened to Ed. Once Val left him, he had no leash on, and I think his new wife has probably got him a little more under control. We all need that. We're self-indulgent rock stars.

What's the deal with you and St. Louis?
Since 1979 it's been the biggest city in the world for me. I had a hit song called 'Red' in 1977, and it became a huge hit there. They took to me in St. Louis. It's a great town, I love it. I have a restaurant there called Sammy's Beach Bar and Grill, and I give every penny that it makes to a charity called Blessings and a Backpack. It gives lunches to kids whose parents can't afford food.

You seem like a nice guy.
I am a nice guy. I just want to make people happy and treat people the way I want to be treated.

'Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock' Is Out Now.

More of Nicki Gostin's Q&As: Ralph Macchio, Debbie Reynolds, Matthew McConaughey

Tags: Sammy Hagar, Van Halen

Comments

(22)

Tuesday 29 March

By DEROB

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I never liked Van Halen, but when this clown entered the mire, it was worse than when it was just plain bad...."Jump" was a good single, though...

By Amy

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You DO know that "Jump" was with David Lee Roth and not "this clown," right? VH is a legend, both with DLR and Sammy Hagar. Like it or not - that's the way it is.

By David

You show bad taste.VH did INCREDIBLE stuff with Sammy.

By TORI

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Nothing against Sammy but David Lee is funny,charming and to say he's not fun is sounding bitter on his part. I like the fact he kisses Valeries butt though seeing she's regained alot of her fame he probably hopes she puts a good word into Ed for him and helps sell his book. Why can't we all just get along?!

Wednesday 30 March

By Ann

Saw Sammy and David Lee Roth in concert several years ago in Tampa. Roth was anything but a nice guy. He threw a CD at people in the audience who paid to see him. Not a nice guy. (They nearly booed him off the stage). Sammy was great. Roth was a jerk--although he did "Jump"--the only thing that saved his set.

By sirbigfun

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Sammy is a much better screamer the Roth.

By derob

To Amy...of course I know that "Jump" was with Roth...my point is that Van Halen was bad when they were good....with this clown, with Roth, with whatever....you like 'em...I don't...live with it....I would rather listen to a faucet drip.

Sunday 03 April

By Rocker

Sounds like you are a faucet drip.

By Lissy

Does anyone have the # to the Mother ship, 'cause this fool needs to go home to his planet.

By Sekinu2

True Van Halen fans know that David Lee Roth is the only real Van Halen singer after that it was just Sammy hagar and those guys in the band.

By Kat2988

Not so, they sold more records with Hagar and he's a better singer!

By tom

Sammy has a much better voice then Roth.

By Linda

I still get chills when I watch this version of "Poundcake." EVH is the GOD -- this band IS a legend, totally agree -- Sammy's a good frontman -- don't like DLR, too showy.

Saturday 02 April

By Tracy

I'm with you, Linda. DLR is way to showy, While Sammy is more down to earth. David Lee Roth seems to just be in it for the fame and entertainment, while Sammy seems to just do it for the love of the music.

By simpsonsimpmike

VH was iconic with Roth, hagar knocked them down several notches.

By Hollywood

I stoppped listening to Van Halen when David Lee Roth left the group.Say whatever you want about Roth, Van Halen was never the same after he was gone. I couldn't care less if they reunite with Sammy or not, please don't.

By Bonbon

To each his own, i like them with both, but i prefer the music they did with Sammy the best, you don't have to be a jerk about it!

By Jim

Saw this guy stumble his way through a hillbilly concert a few years back.

His mouth might have been saying 55, but his brain was in park.

By chris

i worked with Sammy as a tour manager on one tour and he is a wonderful person, a great hang and very down to earth enjoys every day and treats everyone with total respect

By erik

Sammy you truly rock,i love your music, i love your attitude, i would love to see you and Eddie reconcile and tour again sometime, my 12 year old knows all the words to all Van Halen music, yours and Dlr's, and loves you both, keep rocking, peace, e.

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