Most artists inevitably get inspired by their favorite music works when creating their sound. During the recent episode of his podcast, the Roth Show, David Lee Roth scattered those music pieces into his narration and talked about how they inspired him during his tenure with Van Halen. As it turns out, he even tried to imitate Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury’s sounds at some point.
Before his 1985 departure from Van Halen, David Lee Roth was the face of the band and a figure that greatly shaped their sound with his unique vocals, singing style, and ‘wildman’ image. According to the recent episode of Roth’s podcast, there were some artists he tried to imitate while singing in Van Halen, such as Lydia Pense, Loleatta Holloway, Mother’s Finest’s Baby Jean Kennedy, and Táta Vega.
Diamond Dave gave some songs from these artists as examples and admitted he aspired to have a singing voice like theirs. Most of these names were jazz and soul musicians, so he knew that the rock audience might be unfamiliar with them. Still, Roth asked his listeners to think about the band’s sound and tone and see the correlation. According to DLR, he tried to imitate Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury for a while, but these jazz and soul artists were who raised his bar.
Speaking about his influences, David Lee Roth said the following:
“[‘Lo And Behold’] You’re listening to Lydia Pense in the background. For most of my vocal mentors, my imitators, I thought the bar would be a lot higher if I were imitating a voice like that and using that as my launch point. That’s Lydia Pense in the background here. And if Lydia wasn’t strong enough, then we dealt with Loleatta Holloway [‘I May Not Be There When You Want Me (But I’m Right On Time)’]. Baby Jean Kennedy singing for Mother’s Finest [‘Baby Love’].
I wanted to have a voice like that; I wanted to sound like Táta Vega, baby! [‘I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby’] These are unfamiliar names to some of the rock crowd, but you might remember some of the sound or some of the tone, and that’s what Van Halen is about. Beginner spirit was what defined Van Halen.
I spent some time imitating the fellas who sang for the Rolling Stones and Queen, but the bar, the high bar, is what you just heard there. Even today, if I had a class of vocal students, and you want to get a killer rock sound, this is where you go. Now, let’s listen to Van Halen [‘Dance the Night Away’].”
So, David Lee Roth believes that rock vocalists should take soul and jazz musicians as inspiration sources if they try to push their limits and achieve their best. Apparently, Roth first got inspired by great frontmen like Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury, but he eventually felt that he needed to use jazz and soul as his launching point.
