David Roth Lee is a famous music artist known around the world for his lively and fun performances on stage. He became a big deal in the 80s for fans of hard rock music, winning over many with his rock songs over the years.
Fans are curious about how much money David Lee Roth has made, especially now that he’s not making music anymore. Even though he’s not active in the music scene, his impact is huge and will always be remembered.
Early Life
David Lee Roth was born on October 10, 1954, in Bloomington, Indiana. His dad was an eye doctor, and his mom was a teacher. He has a sister named Lisa Roth, who created a music series of lullabies called Rockabye Baby.
Roth spent his childhood in Bloomington and Swampscott, Massachusetts. Later, when he was a teenager, his family moved to Pasadena, California.
Roth loved music since he was young. He went to The Webb Schools in Claremont, California, and then to John Muir High School in Pasadena. After that, he attended Pasadena City College. That’s where he met Eddie and Alex Van Halen.
During his college years, Roth also worked at a hospital, helping take care of patients.
The Career
In his late teens, he started singing alone and with a band called the Red Ball Jets. A band from Los Angeles named Mammoth, which included Eddie and Alex Van Halen, sometimes borrowed Roth’s band’s sound system. The Van Halen brothers invited Roth to be their lead singer.
In 1974, they renamed their band to Van Halen after finding out another band was already called Mammoth. At first, Van Halen played their own songs and covers of other songs. They quickly became popular locally and got to play for four months straight at the Starwood Club in West Hollywood, California.
In 1976, Gene Simmons from the band Kiss saw them perform, liked them a lot, and helped them make their first demo tape. In early 1977, a record executive from Warner Brothers saw their show at the Starwood and offered them a record deal.
The band Van Halen dropped their first album in 1978. For the next seven years, the first five members put out five more hit albums. Roth was super important for the band’s success. He was the main singer and wrote most of the songs.
Roth’s words matched Eddie Van Halen’s tunes perfectly, making the special Van Halen sound everyone knows from the 1980s.
In early 1985, Roth came out with a short album called Crazy from the Heat. He had hits with songs like “California Girls” and “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody,” which people loved mostly because of Roth’s fun personality in the music videos.
That same year, he left the band Van Halen to do his own music.
He made an album called Eat’ Em and Smile and then another one named Skyscraper, which had a big hit song “Just Like Paradise.” After that, Roth made two more solo albums, A Little Ain’t Enough in 1991, and Your Filthy Little Mouth in 1994.
Then, he took a break from music.
During Roth’s hiatus from music in the late 1990s, he worked as an EMT.
Roth reunited with Van Halen to record the Best Of Volume 1, but after an infamous appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, Roth left again to write a memoir titled Crazy From Heat, published in 1997.
In February of 2007, David Lee Roth reunited with Van Halen once again, and the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of that year. In September, the band began their reunion tour, which grossed more than $93 million, the highest of any North American tour in the band’s history.
In December 2011, Van Halen announced a 2012 tour with Roth. The new Roth-fronted Van Halen album A Different Kind of Truth was released on February 7, 2012, and a tour commenced that month.
On October 14, 2012, Roth began to broadcast a video webcast on his YouTube channel and soon also on iTunes, called The Roth Show. In the show, Roth speaks about various topics, including making music videos with Van Halen, tattoos, and sarcasm.
In March 2015, a new live album was released, Tokyo Dome Live in Concert, recorded in June 2013 during the A Different Kind of Truth Tour. That same month, the band made its first foray into American television by appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where they announced a new tour.
In 2018, Roth, together with business partner and tattoo artist Ami James, created INK the Original, a full line of skincare products that protect tattooed skin. Roth spent more than 300 hours getting tattooed in Japan between 2013 and 2014 and saw the body art market expand.
In 2019 Roth announced a nine-date solo residency at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino House of Blues in 2020, with shows scheduled in January and March. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Roth’s March 18, 20, 21, 25, 27, and 28th shows have been postponed until further notice.
He also signed on for an American tour with the band Kiss, playing 43 cities as an opening act. Most of this tour was also postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Personal Life
- David Lee Roth moved out with his father when he was 17 when his parents officially split.
- He has two sisters named Lisa and Allison.
- David had a relationship with fashion designer Fleur Thiemeyer in 1986.
- He also dated model, actress and lyricist Caron Bernstein in the early 1990s.
- Lee describes himself as a wanderer and not willing to settle down with anyone.
- Roth currently has a Japanese girlfriend and has been a resident of Tokyo since May 2012.
- The Van Halen frontman, though, maintains homes in New York City and Pasadena, California.
- David Lee Roth has no children.
- He’s often called Diamond Dave.
- Roth has a vocal range of five octaves and three notes.
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