Sammy Hagar fills in 'Red' with his colorful life story

Talk about the best of both worlds: Sammy Hagar has managed to enjoy the outrageous spoils afforded members of rock's pantheon without paying dues such as ravaged hearing and repeated trips to rehab.

So let the Red Rocker crow.

"I feel like I've always been misunderstood in rock, especially during my Van Halen years where people liked to take sides against me," says Hagar, 63. "But no one's had a better time, so I guess I just wanted to set the record straight and blow my own horn a bit."

That's the unabashed mission of the new Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock (It Books, $26.99). In breezy first-person fashion, Hagar mixes tales from his journey in rock with digressions about life-long fascinations with numerology and UFOs.

But what stands out most are stories of the singer's rough beginnings in the fertile fields outside Fontana, Calif., a pit stop between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. His father, Bobby, was a boxer and a drinker. His nurturing mother, Gladys, fought to keep four children fed and clothed. Hagar got tough fast.

"All you need to know about Sam is that his father holds the record for the most times a fighter has been knocked down in one fight — 20," says Joel Selvin, a San Francisco rock critic who helped Hagar shape the book. "Sam's always had diligence and persistence."

A commitment to never again experience poverty fueled Hagar as he rose through a series of forgettable bands and landed as the David Bowie-meets-Robert Plant frontman of Montrose in 1973. Hagar never looked back, scoring solo success before joining Van Halen in 1985.

Into the VH minefield

His departure from that mega-band — Hagar says he was fired, and the band has maintained he left — remains a sore subject.

"After the breakup (in 1996), some of the things the (Van Halen) brothers said were just flat-out wrong, like me not wanting to work hard," says Hagar, who in Red describes the metamorphosis of a once-sweet Eddie Van Halen into a belligerent autocrat who pushed Hagar out the door by reconnecting with original singer David Lee Roth.

"I just hope Eddie's doing better," says Hagar, referencing Van Halen's bouts with booze and cancer. "I see he got married. Maybe his wife has him on a tighter leash. We all need that, otherwise we'd all be crazy, including me."

(Van Halen isn't commenting, says Eddie's wife/band publicist Janie Van Halen.)

Hagar had his moments, particularly during his drawn-out estrangement from his first wife, Betsy. In Red, he describes finally cutting loose on 1991's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledgetour, which involved each member of Van Halen having a tent beneath the stage. They were not for naps.

But on that same tour, Hagar met his wife, Kari Karte. When she rebuffed his advances because she had to take her grandmother to a wedding, Hagar was smitten. The couple has two daughters and lives north of San Francisco.

Giving back

It was Kari who planted a seed when she pointed out how Jimmy Buffett had created an empire out of his island life. "She took me to a show of his, and I was blown away," Hagar says. "Jimmy is now the godfather to me. I kiss his ring whenever I see him."

Hagar's own beachy persona infuses his Cabo Wabo Cantina chain as well as his Cabo Wabo tequila, 80% of which the singer famously sold to Gruppo Campari in 2007 for $80 million. The poverty of Fontana clearly is in this Ferrari-collecting maniac's rearview mirror.

"I feel like I'm at a turning point," Hagar says. "I play music still because I love it (with both the supergroup Chickenfoot — busy recording its second album — and his longtime band the Wabos). But I'm now focusing on giving back through my Hagar Family Foundation. I've also got a restaurant I'm doing (in Mill Valley, Calif.) with (Food Network chef) Tyler Florence. So, I'm busy."

Despite Hagar's adult success — the homes in Hawaii and Mexico, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction with Van Halen, the big bank account and personal bliss — he does flash back to some hot childhood days and smile.

"I've had an awesome life, but I've never had so much fun as when I'd go out picking fruit with my mom in order to make enough money for new jeans for school," says Hagar, who dedicated the book to his mother. "I guess hardships are nothing if you're happy."

Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to For more information about reprints & permissions , visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com