Before Van Halen’s chart peak, Sammy Hagar had already lived a far stranger rock story

Sammy Hagar turned 79 on October 13, a milestone that puts fresh attention on one of rock’s more unusual career arcs. Long before he became the voice of Van Halen’s blockbuster late 1980s and early 1990s run, Hagar had already gone from a difficult California childhood to Montrose, solo success, and a decision that reshaped one of the era’s biggest bands.

A future arena rocker who started far from rock luxury

Hagar was born on October 13, 1947, in Salinas, California. His early life looked nothing like the image many fans associate with the singer who would later front one of the most successful rock bands of the 1980s.

When he was young, his family lived in a Salinas labor camp and worked in the fields alongside other migrant workers. The family later moved after his father got a job in Fontana, but the move did not make childhood easy. Hagar’s father was an abusive alcoholic who often spent the rent money on alcohol, and the family moved frequently. Hagar’s mother eventually left and took Sammy and his siblings with her.

Music became the route Hagar wanted to follow out of Fontana. He discovered it in high school and taught himself guitar. He wanted a way forward, and he saw music as that chance. He moved to Riverside, where he ran the music department at the ABC Store and began playing with local bands. He later moved to San Francisco and kept pursuing a career in music.

A psychic, a dream and the Montrose break

One of the more unexpected details in Hagar’s story came from his own 2011 memoir. He wrote about a dream he had while asleep at a place on Anastasia Street in Fontana. In the dream, he saw a ship and two beings inside it, though he said he could not see their faces. He described them as being connected to him through some kind of wireless mental link.

Hagar said he took that dream to a psychic, who told him to go to San Francisco and that he would see his name in lights there. He acted on the advice and relocated. That move proved to be pivotal. Guitarist Ronnie Montrose saw Hagar singing in a cover band and chose him to front his new group, Montrose.

Hagar sang on the band’s first two albums. His run with Montrose ended after tensions between him and Ronnie Montrose came to a head during the group’s 1974 European tour, and Hagar was fired. Some of the band’s former members followed him into his next chapter when he launched his solo career in the late 1970s.

The solo run that made 'I Can’t Drive 55' a signature song

After Montrose, Hagar signed with Capitol Records and released his first solo album, Nine on a Ten Scale, in 1976. He built a string of mainstream rock hits that included “Two Sides of Love,” “Remember the Heroes,” “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy,” and “I’ll Fall in Love Again.” Still, the solo song most closely linked to him remains “I Can’t Drive 55.”

His path to that success was not entirely smooth. At one point, members of one of Hagar’s bands were arrested on drug charges. He, his new wife and their baby moved to New York, where he drove a dump truck for his father-in-law. They returned to the West Coast, where he was able to pursue music full time.

By the mid-1980s, Hagar was already an established solo artist. That matters because he did not join Van Halen as an unknown singer looking for a first break. He entered the band with his own name recognition, his own catalog, and a style that had already connected with mainstream rock audiences.

Why Van Halen called, and what happened when he said yes

Van Halen split with David Lee Roth in 1985 and went searching for a new lead singer. Eddie Van Halen was already a fan of Montrose, which helped put Hagar on the band’s radar. Hagar auditioned, got the job quickly, and soon began working on new material with the group.

The first result was 5150, released in 1986. It became Van Halen’s first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It also started a run of four straight chart-topping albums, a streak that ended with Balance, the final Van Halen studio album to feature Hagar as frontman.

The singles were major mainstream rock performers too. Among them were “Black and Blue,” “When It’s Love,” “Poundcake,” “Top of the World,” and “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do).” Their 1992 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge also brought the band its only Grammy, winning Best Hard Rock Performance.

Hagar did not fully abandon his solo identity when he joined Van Halen. He continued putting out solo music after entering the band, and in 1987 he scored a No. 1 single with “Give to Live.” He later put his solo work on hold until 1994. Hagar and Van Halen parted ways a couple of years after that.

His place in rock history was formally recognized in 2007, when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen. Decades after Montrose, decades after “I Can’t Drive 55,” and decades after stepping into one of rock’s hardest jobs, Hagar is still touring and still releasing new material. That long view may be the real surprise in his story. The Van Halen years were huge, but they were only one part of a career that had already taken several unlikely turns before arena-sized fame arrived.