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| Red: Sammy Hagar |
Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock is a book published in March 2011, which hit number 3 on the New York Times bestsellers list. I picked up this book to read on a recent business trip. This book is written by Sammy Hagar who has a very successful career as a vocalist in the rock industry. Primarily known as the lead singer of Van Halen after David Lee Roth left, he has also had accolades as a solo artist and is now leading a great new band called Chickenfoot.
Sammy gives a candid description of his life which include his early childhood days, the days of hard work as a teenager to make it into the rock world, joining his first real big band (Montrose), his solo career (as well as the background story of his first massive hit “I Can’t Drive 55” ). The most interesting part of course is when he becomes the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world at the time – Van Halen. His behind the scenes look of the dynamics of the band make for excellent reading. The conflicts with Eddy Van Halen are shocking – to the point where I have to wonder if it really was as bad as Sammy describes. The end result is a very candid look at the life of a rock superstar, which had me flipping the pages. Sammy also details his business ventures which include a very successful tequila company (Cabo Wabo) as well as his real estate holdings. Clearly Sammy is a hard working guy that did not let the rock and roll lifestyle destroy him like it has to so many others.
Summary: Excellent book that is very easy to read and very entertaining. Load up some Van Halen/Chickenfoot on your Ipod and crank it up as you read this book – you are in for a great ride!
Here is a link to the book from Amazon.com
