A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Tuesday honoring hard rock and heavy metal singer, songwriter and guitarist Sammy Hagar for a career in which he sold more than 50 million albums.
Singer John Mayer and Tom Consolo, Hager’s longtime manager, were among those joining Hagar at the ceremony adjacent to Amoeba Music on Hollywood Boulevard. The ceremony was emceed by chef and television host Guy Fieri.
Hagar’s star is across the street from Fieri’s. The two founded the premium Tequila brand Santo Spirit in 2019.
“The idea of where I came from in life, and where my beginnings were, and to have this [star] here, the amount of people I would have to thank, it would be impossible to do in one day,” Hagar said as he accepted the honor.
He said his mother loved the Walk of Fame and would bring him and his siblings to see it when they were growing up in Fontana.
“She would want to come down here and want to see the movie stars,” Hagar said. “She was really in love with the movie industry, and Clark Gable and those guys. I remember seeing this thing and to think — I mean it was just way beyond even a dream. You have dreams and then you have the dream that you didn’t dream. This is one of those dreams that come true that I didn’t dream.”
The star is the 2,779th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
Born Oct. 13, 1947 in Monterey, Hagar and his family moved to Fontana when his father got a job at the Kaiser Steel Mill.
Known as the “Red Rocker,” Hagar fronted his first band, the Fabulous Castilles, when he was 14 years old.
After graduating from Fontana High School, Hagar moved to nearby Riverside, played in several local bands and ran a store’s music department.
While playing in a San Francisco cover band, Hagar was discovered and recruited in 1973 to join the hard rock band Montrose formed by session guitarist Ronnie Montrose. He appeared on the band’s first two albums, then was fired in 1975 following disputes with Montrose during a European tour.
Hagar embarked on a solo career, recording eight studio albums between 1976 and 1984. The eighth studio album, “VOA,” included one of Hagar’s best-known songs, “I Can’t Drive 55,” which he quickly wrote after getting a ticket for driving 62 mph when the national speed limit was 55 mph.
Hagar was lead vocalist and lead guitarist for Van Halen from 1985-96 when it produced four multi-platinum, No. 1 Billboard charting albums: “5150,” “OU812,” “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,” and “Balance,” along with nine No. 1 mainstream rock hits.
After leaving Van Halen, Hagar released the solo album “Marching to Mars” in 1997, which reached 18th on the Billboard chart, then formed the long-term band, Sammy Hagar & the Waboritas, which released four albums between 1999 and 2006.
Hagar rejoined Van Halen from 2003-05. He formed the supergroup Chickenfoot in 2008. It released a self-titled debut album in 2009 which reached fourth on the Billboard chart, had a brief tour and released a second album, “Chickenfoot III” in 2011, which reached ninth on the Billboard chart.
Hagar formed another supergroup, Sammy Hagar and the Circle in 2014. Its first album, “Space Between,” released in 2019, reached fourth on the Billboard chart. Its second album, “Crazy Times,” released in 2022, reached 95th.
Sammy Hagar and the Circle will begin the 28-stop “The Best of All Worlds” tour July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. It will include a stop at the Forum Aug. 19.
Hagar’s honors include induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of Van Halen, a best hard rock performance with vocal Grammy in 1991 for “Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” with Van Halen along with nominations in 1984 for best album of original score written for a motion picture or a television special for “Footloose” and in 1995 for best hard rock performance for the track for “The Seventh Seal” from the Van Halen album “Balance.”