It's David Lee Roth's Birthday!
To say that Diamond Dave is a god of rock is an understatement, especially when you consider that he is a cornerstone of one of the major pivots in music history. Roth and Van Halen burst on the scene in L.A. in the late 70's and began a musical revolution that completely changed the landscape pf rock music into the 80's. For better or worse they ushered the rise of Hair Metal leading the way to its dominance of the decade. They can be sited as one of the few creators of a sub genre that forever cursed the followers of it for not being them. Every hair band draws from Van Halen without being as good as Van Halen. Every frontman is a wannabe David Lee Roth who is not as cool as David Lee Roth.
Wanting to branch out into making a movie would some say be the beginnings of the end of his being in Van Halen, but the reality is the eventual split started after the Fair Warning tour. Roth would begin to create a solo EP that was supposed to be the music for the movie he was planning (which never happened) and recruited Billy Sheehan to help, which would lead to the eventual creation of the DLR band that would record his first solo album "Crazy From The Heat". His solo career would never match what he did in Van Halen, nor did it rival Van Halen's post Roth run for very long, but his solo career was successful for as long as Hair Metal dominated in the 80's and only began to slow down when alternative music took over radio in the 90's.
Dave would still pop back up on the scene through the years that followed and eventually both he and Van Halen would come back together again for an official reunion that lasted till the band was officially done after the death of Edward Van Halen. David Lee Roth wasn't technically the best singer but he was a good one, and what he lacked in vocal ability he without question made up for as a showman the likes that few ever topped. When you look up the word frontman to make your own band, David Lee Roth is not only on the list, he may very well top it.
Happy Birthday Diamond Dave, all your flavors have definitely satisfied!