David Lee Roth Biography

Fast Facts

• Nephew of Manny Roth, who owned and operated the legendary Greenwich Village club Café Wha?, where he first became interested in pursuing a showbiz career
• Became friendly with Eddie and Alex Van Halen during the early 1970s after their band, Mammoth, rented his PA system
• Was originally rejected when he auditioned for Mammoth in 1971, but joined the group two years later, and suggested a name change to Van Halen
• Undertook expeditions to such exotic destinations as the Amazon and Nepal during the '80s with a group of fellow adventurers that called itself the Jungle Studs
• Left Van Halen under murky circumstances in 1985, with reports varying as to whether he quit or was fired
• Returned to Van Halen in 1996 to record two tracks for the Best of Van Halen Volume 1 collection, but a backstage argument at that year's MTV Video Music Awards ended that reunion
• Published a best-selling memoir in 1997 that was named after his 1985 solo EP, Crazy From the Heat
• Worked as an Emergency Medical Technician in New York in the early 2000s
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Van Halen, in 2007
• Reunited with Van Halen for a 2007-08 tour that raked in more than $93 million