David Lee Roth
Overview
David Lee Roth is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 vocalist, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, actor, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, and former radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...

. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...

on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 Singers of All Time.

Roth is best known as the original and current lead singer of the southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

-based hard rock outfit Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

. After departing Van Halen in 1985 Roth first enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist, which originated while still a member of that band and yielded several RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum records.
Quotations

Maybe I'm like acts of Congress or your favorite chinese restaurant -- you don't really want to know what's going on behind the door. I'm a real study in contrast, I expect, looking from without. But it adds up to what you get on stage.

Nicole Keiper (June 7, 2006) "David Lee Roth covers himself on bluegrass tribute ", The Tennessean|The Tennessean, p. 1D.

Nine times out of 10 when people do a tribute album or tribute songs for somebody, it's what I call 'white boys playing reggae'. They know they can't, we know they can't, so they sing like they can't and play like they can't. They gently make fun of the idiom or sing in a false accent.

John Gerome (June 5, 2006) "Roth still 'Runnin' with the Devil' on bluegrass tribute", Associated Press|Associated Press.

For the last 30 years, I've been leading a life of crime and international intrigue that's involved 40 stamps in my passport, love affairs, and broken hearts to go with each one of them. You would have to live three lifetimes to catch up with just the allegations that follow me!

Jay Lustig (January 1, 2006) "Diamond Dave hits the airwaves", The Star-Ledger|The Star-Ledger, p. 1.

What I do is dangerous for sponsors, dangerous for editors. But I'm really a radio kid. I grew up on radio, not TV. Ultimately, I'll probably do radio.

Chuck Darrow (May 30, 2003) "'Diamond Dave' rehashes old tunes to new beats", Courier-Post|Courier-Post, p. 22S.

"It's not about money right now. My ambition is to further create a signature sound, a signature spirit, that makes some kind of contribution to music in general.

David Barton (July 3, 1994) "Jumping at the Chance - With His Newest Album, David Lee Roth Rocks, Rolls and Moves On", Sacramento Bee|Sacramento Bee, p. EN3.

I change as the times change. I'm a reflection of what's around me without trying at all.

Michael Saunders (March 18, 1994) "The reemergence of David Lee Roth", The Boston Globe|The Boston Globe, Section: Arts & Film, p. 75.

 
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