Samuel Roy Hagar, born October 13, 1947 in Monterey, California, better known as Sammy Hagar (The Red Rocker), is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter and former member of the Van Halen band. Sammy Hagar began his career in the Montrose group, before joining Van Halen in 1985 until 1996. In 2004, he returned to Van Halen for an event tour in the United States. In 2009, he joined the Chickenfoot project, composed of Joe Satriani, Chad Smith and Michael Anthony. Sammy Hagar was the 1984 singer of the supergroup H.S.A.S. with Neal Schon, Kenny Aaronson and Michael Shrieve, the band's name with the initials of the four musicians' last names.