“He was a father to us”: Sammy Hagar picked the fifth member of Van Halen
Getting any starving band off the ground usually takes a small army. Even if they are one of the most important musical collectives since The Beatles, it takes a great producer, a devoted fanbase, and a trace of good luck on a band’s side to get them into the upper levels of rock stardom.
Although Van Halen came into the world fully formed the minute they dropped their first album, Sammy Hagar maintained that only one non-musician could have been considered one of them.
Granted, Hagar was never exactly in the trenches with the group when he started. When Van Halen were still cutting their teeth, he was still leading the charge in his band Montrose, as David Lee Roth channelled his rock star moves whenever Eddie wasn’t tearing up his signature tapping guitar licks.
When ‘The Red Rocker’ did manage to get the call to join the band, he fit like a glove. The whole Roth schtick had become too cartoony for anyone to take seriously anymore, and having a frontman looking to have a good time and relate to the audience on a human level was far more interesting than watching someone wave a sword around every time the music played.
Since the band was already a rock and roll circus with Roth, the addition of Hagar also meant manager Ed Leffler coming into the picture. Despite their previous managers being along for the ride like Noel Monk, Leffler kept everything in check throughout most of the Hagar years, whether that was promoting them when they refused to make videos for 5150 or steering them through some of the rougher patches when they didn’t have a proper producer on OU812.
After all, everyone was still focused on having a good time and having someone like Leffler look after the money was the main reason why none of them had any financial problems with each other. So when that puzzle piece was taken out in 1993, there was no hope for them to continue for much longer.
That kind of presence isn’t something most bands even realise they have until it’s gone. When everything is ticking along, it’s easy to assume the machine runs itself, that the shows will keep selling out and the records will keep moving without anyone needing to steady the wheel behind the scenes.
Leffler wasn’t just handling logistics or balancing books; he was the buffer between the band and the chaos that tends to follow success at that level. While Eddie was obsessing over tone and Hagar was keeping the party going, Leffler made sure the outside world didn’t creep too far into their orbit, keeping egos, expectations, and opportunists at arm’s length.
Once that layer disappeared, the cracks were bound to show. Without someone to absorb the pressure and keep things moving in the same direction, the internal dynamics were left exposed, and for a band as combustible as Van Halen, that was always going to lead somewhere messy.
Following Leffler’s passing from thyroid cancer, Hagar remembered that the band was floundering up until he left the band, saying, “He was like a father to us, a fifth member. When he died, the thing that went through my mind was how vulnerable we were because we trusted him so much. He made it so we didn’t have to think bout certain things. He kept the vultures, the wolves, and the thieves away so we were free to just have fun. The only responsibility we had was to make good records.”
Despite hooking up with Rush producer Ray Danniels, Hagar knew that no one could replace Leffler, eventually clashing with the rest of the band and being either fired or quitting of his own accord depending on who side you chose to take. But the passing of Leffler may as well be a lesson for anyone wanting to get into the business completely blind.
It’s a hard road for anyone playing music before they even sign that contract, but if there isn’t a manager with a good head on their shoulders, there’s a good chance that a group is bound to last only a few months in the limelight. Everything might sound fun at first, but Leffler was the one who kept the ‘business’ side of the music business outside of Van Halen for the longest time.
