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David Lee Roth
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
David Lee Roth was born in 1954 in Bloomington, Indiana, and grew up in Pasadena, California. He sang in local bands before becoming the singer of Van Halen in the 1970s. With that hard rock band he played the clubs of Los Angeles, until the group got a record contract after a demo that Gene Simmons of Kiss helped to record. The debut album Van Halen appeared in 1978 and made the band nationally known at once.
Music and breakthrough
Roth was the face of the group. He wore tight trousers, leapt high into the air and wrote the lyrics about parties, dancing and women. In doing so he stood opposed to Eddie Van Halen, who wanted to make darker and deeper music, including with synthesizers. After the album 1984 the band broke up. In 1985 Roth released, as his first work of his own, the EP Crazy from the Heat, with striking pop hits from an older tradition. The solo albums Eat 'Em and Smile in 1986 and Skyscraper in 1988 followed, with the hit Just Like Paradise. For these he worked with top musicians such as Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan. Later albums such as A Little Ain't Enough and Your Filthy Little Mouth were less successful. He returned to Van Halen a few more times, including in 2007.
Influence
His nickname is Diamond Dave. Roth showed that a hard rock singer can also be a showman and an entertainer. That role influenced many later frontmen in rock.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1986Eat ’Em and Smile
- 1986Sonrisa salvaje
- 1988Skyscraper
- 1991A Little Ain’t Enough
- 1994Your Filthy Little Mouth
- 2003Diamond Dave
- 2020David Lee Roth – KLSX FM Broadcast House Of Blues West Hollywood CA 26th June 1994 Part Three.
- 2020David Lee Roth – KLSX FM Broadcast House Of Blues West Hollywood CA 29th June 1994 Part One.