David Lee Roth

(Red Ball Jets was also the name of a brand of sneakers popular from 1951 to 1971.) Another Los Angeles band, Mammoth (featuring Alex Van Halen on drums and Eddie Van Halen singing and playing lead guitar), occasionally rented the Red Ball Jets' PA system for $10/night.

After a couple of failed auditions, Roth joined Mammoth as lead singer.

David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer.

Known for his wild and energetic stage persona, he was the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen for three stints: from 1974 to 1985, during 1996, and from 2006 to when they disbanded in 2020.

He has also had a successful solo career, releasing numerous RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum albums.

In 1974, Mammoth officially changed its name to Van Halen.

According to Roth, this was his brainchild.

He felt it was a moniker that offered long-term identity, aesthetic, and marketing advantages, like Santana.

Performing original and cover songs, Van Halen eventually gained success in the Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Los Angeles areas, becoming a regular feature on Sunset Strip clubs, such as Gazzarri's, Myron's, Whisky a Go Go, and the Starwood Club.

In 1976, Gene Simmons took note of the band (in particular Eddie Van Halen, whom Simmons hoped to recruit for his own band, KISS) and assisted them in producing a 29-track demo tape, featuring many of the songs that would be included on their first three LPs.

The tape, however, did not attract much interest from major record labels.

In early 1977, however, during their four-month stint at The Starwood, Warner Bros executive Mo Ostin and producer Ted Templeman signed them to an inauspicious two-album contract, one that heavily favored Warner Bros., offering but a .70 per unit royalty.

Released in 1978, the debut album Van Halen was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders and immediately earned the band significant national attention and radio airplay.

They toured for three months at the bottom of the bill supporting rising superstars Journey and Montrose, then another nine months opening for heavy metal icons Black Sabbath.

Manager Noel Monk, then an equal partner in band revenue, renegotiated this rate for double in 1979.

Roth's sexy, macho but poetic, often jovial lyrics worked in perfect harmony with the hard rock guitar sounds composed by Eddie Van Halen; a sound-style that helped the band rise to the top of the Billboard pop chart in 1984, with their album 1984, their first and only #1 LP.

Looking back at Roth's tenure, Fricke dubbed Van Halen as "the monster rock action squad that ruled the charts and the airwaves for seven years."

"I remember hearing about this new band, Van Halen with David Lee Roth," recalled Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler.

"'Who does this fucking guy think he is? He's standing in my limelight.' I'd fucked myself up royally."

After more than two decades apart, Roth re-joined Van Halen in 2006 for a North American tour that became the highest-grossing in the band's history, and one of the highest-grossing of that year.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.

Roth was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to an ophthalmologist, Nathan Lee Roth, and a teacher, Sibyl Roth.

He has two sisters, one of whom is Lisa Roth, creator of the Rockabye Baby! lullaby music series.

The family is of Jewish heritage.

From an early age, Roth had an interest in art, especially film and radio; he said his first music idol was Al Jolson.

Roth spent much of his youth in New Castle, Indiana.

The album reached number 19 on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold more than 12 million copies by 2014, certified Diamond by the RIAA.

Van Halen recorded four more platinum-selling albums over the next five years, often within 12 to 14 days and immediately returning to the road to tour.

Roth is often credited with promoting Van Halen's image, described by David Fricke in Rolling Stone as "a nonstop booze-and-babes party train."

Yet despite this 'wildman' image, Roth was key to the band's success not just as a high kicking, tight pantsed, Capezio-wearing singer and lyricist, but as the de facto chairman of the board in band decisions of business, marketing and publicity, according to Monk.

In a 2019 interview with Q95's "Stuck and Gunner" he explained: "My grandparents moved to New Castle in 1913. It's in the sense of humor, the 'get it done' and how we do get it done approach work ethic of Van Halen, frankly. It's a Midwest approach, not some flakey Hollywood horse manure."

The Roths also briefly lived in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

In his teens, the family relocated to Pasadena, California.

David attended The Webb Schools in Claremont, California, and John Muir High School in Pasadena.

Roth's parents arranged for him to receive treatment with a psychiatrist for three years because he was prone to daily bouts of hyperactivity, dubbed "monkey time."

Roth also attended a horse ranch for troubled teens to build a sense of responsibility.

While attending Pasadena City College, he met the Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex.

During this period, Roth worked as a hospital orderly.

In his late teens, Roth was singing solo, as well as with an R&B-influenced rock band named the Red Ball Jets.

Roth says the name was in reference to the red dye used in food at that time, including red candy balls, which would exacerbate his hyperactivity and lead to "monkey hour" at the family home.