Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar opened up about his career and his departure from the band during an appearance on the KLOS virtual series New & Approved, and apparently, Hagar was deeply hurt when he was fired from the band when he needed his bandmates to be there for him.
As many of you know, Sammy Hagar’s time with Van Halen as the band’s lead vocalist started in 1985, after the band parted its ways with vocalist David Lee Roth. ‘Van Hagar’ released four multi-platinum, number one Billboard charting albums such as ‘5150,’ ‘OU812,’ and ‘Balance’ in addition to countless chart hits.
However, the exceptional band with the Red Rocker in front come to an end when the band members couldn’t agree with his opinions about the tracks in the greatest hits album. That’s when Hagar was ‘fired’ from Van Halen in June 1996, according to him, and he left the band himself, according to the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
During a recent interview, former Van Halen frontman opened up about the time when he was thrown out of Van Halen while his intention was only to express his opinions which were different than other members. Apparently, Hagar was going through tough times in his personal life and was fired from the band when needed his friend’s support the most which the most hurtful aspect of his departure.
Here is what Hagar said:
“I’ve just been thrown out of a band I didn’t want to be thrown out of, I just wanted them guys to change a little bit because it was getting pretty reckless I gotta tell you. I mean, it was getting wild, you read the book. It was just really getting out there and I was really looking to take a break and I was going through a divorce and they would give me no slack. I mean, I was like, ‘Woah man, I thought you guys were my friend.’ But without getting into all of that, I was hurt.”
You can watch the full interview below.
