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Rock icon David Lee Roth was born in Bloomington, Indiana USA on October
10, 1954; when he was a young boy, Roth moved with his family to California
where he began his musical career singing in a band called Mammoth in
which the brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen played guitar and drums respectively;
the Hard-Rock outfit was later renamed simply Van
Halen and eventually becoming one of America's most popular bands.
Roth performed with Van Halen in their glory years, from 1978 to 1985,
with a total of nearly 40 million albums sold.
In January 1985 he released "Crazy From The Heat", a mini-album
which debuted at #15 on The Billboard Top 200 chart; before the year's
end the rest of the band began accusing Roth of having a big ego and he
was fired from Van Halen; the first single off of his solo 4-track EP,
"California Girls", peaked at #3 spots on both the Billboard's
Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock charts; the second single, "Just A Gigolo/I
Ain't Got Nobody", hit #12 on The Billboard Hot 100 and "Easy
Street" reached the #14 on The Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
That fall Roth assembled a backing band comprised of guitarist Steve Vai,
bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Greg Bissonette; in mid-1986, Roth issued
his first full-length solo album, "Eat 'Em And Smile", it soared
to #4 on The Billboard Top 200 list and reached the double-platinum mark,
thanks to a string of hit singles: "Goin' Crazy!" reached the
#12 on Mainstream Rock chart, both "Yankee Rose" and "Tobacco
Road" climbed into the top 10 of the Billboard's Active Rock chart
and the aforementioned "Yankee Rose" also charted at #16 on
The Billboard Hot 100.
"Skyscraper" was released in early 1988 and was another commercial
success peaking at #6 in U.S. Top 200 Albums chart; it was eventually
certified double-platinum spawning three Mainstream Rock top 5 hit singles
including the #2 "Damn Good", "Stand Up" and the #1
smash "Just Like Paradise" which also peaked at #6 on The Billboard
Hot 100. Shortly after the album's release Sheehan left to form Mr. Big
and and Steve Vai embarked on a solo career.
Roth recruited new musicians for the follow-up to "Skyscraper"
and his third solo album, "A Little Ain't Enough", was finally
released in January 1991 debuting at #18 on The Billboard Top 200 list;
it spun off two Active Rock radio hit singles, "Sensible Shoes"
peaked at #6 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and "A Lil' Ain't
Enough" hit #3 in the same chart.
He resurfaced three and a half years later with a more Pop-oriented effort
titled "Your Filthy Little Mouth", but the album failed to become
a hit on par with its predecessors, stalling at #78 on The Billboard 200
chart and produced only one Mainstream Rock hit, "She's My Machine",
which rose to the #12 spot on the chart.
In late 1996, David Lee Roth, rejoined Van
Halen recording two new tracks for the collection "Best Of Volume
1", this was followed by rumors of a permanent reunion, but once
again Roth and Eddie Van Halen began attacking each other and the reunion
never materialized.
Following the release of a greatest-hits set simply titled "The Best"
and a critically acclaimed autobiography, in June 1998 Roth put out his
fifth solo album of original material, "DLR Band"; it stuttered
at #172 on The Billboard 200 list and featured the Active Rock radio single
"Slam Dunk!".
After full five years, in July 2003, the veteran rocker unleashed an album
of covers, with only a few original tunes, "Diamond Dave", issued
through Magna Carta label, reached the #18 on the U.S. Top Independent
Albums chart.
David Lee Roth biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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