For anyone who ever heard rumors about Daryl Hall being asked to replace Van Halen’s David Lee Roth, the singer-songwriter best known as one half of Hall & Oates has confirmed it’s actually true.
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"Yeah... actually yes," the Hall admitted when asked about the rumor during a radio interview, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. “I knew those guys really well and we actually shared some people - crew and things like that.”
Following David’s departure from the band, Eddie Van Halen attended one of Daryl’s shows and that’s where it all went down, over three and a half decades ago.
“Eddie came to a show with (his then-wife) Valerie (Bertinelli), and David had just left the band. Eddie said, 'do you wanna join Van Halen, man?' He was half-joking, but I think he was serious, I really do believe he was serious. And I took it seriously, I said, 'ehh I think not, I think I got my own s*** going on.’”
At the time, Hall & Oates had just released their 12th successful full length album, Big Bam Boom, and were working on evolving their sound with the use of synthesizers. Which actually heavily influenced the iconic synth intro of Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Jump.” After finally selecting Sammy Hagar as Roth’s replacement, the band continued to dabble in more modern recording techniques which in time began to define the group’s sound.
Quick Story — After Hall passed and before connecting Hagar, Eddie reportedly approached Journey vocalist Steve Perry, and as he told Rolling Stone in a 2020 interview, while he was "honored" when Eddie asked, he felt he wasn't "really suited" to representing Van Halen's "legacy up to that point.”
And that wasn’t it, next Eddie asked Scandal’s Patty Smyth, who told Stereogum in 2020 that she ultimately declined because for one, "they were heavy drinkers,” plus relocating to Los Angeles wasn’t of interest to her. "I was, like, 'I'm from New York. We don't move to L.A.,'" she recalled in the interview.
Obviously Hagar was eventually offered the job, and between the years of 1986 and 1995, he acted as Van Halen's second lead singer. During which they releasing four chart-topping albums, before he left the band in 1996. In 2004, Hagar reconnected with Van Halen for a tour, however the reunion was short-lived. A few years later in 2007, another reunion, between the band and its original singer Roth occurred, beginning with a world tour.
As for Hall’s current on-goings, he’s been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with Oates, as the best-selling duo of all time. Additionally, he's currently preparing to release BeforeAfter, a two-disc collection of his solo work. and is additionally about to embark on a tour, both of which debut on April 1. Originally supposed to only be two-weeks, the tour has recently added additional dates.
You can pre-order BeforeAfter here, and starting Friday, March 18 at 10AM you'll be able to purchase tickets for the newly added second leg of the tour at livenation.com.
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