Van Halen

Sammy Hagar makes most of his money from booze, books and bars ... which he says is the precise reason he enjoys rocking out with his band. We will explain.

The Red Rocker joined us on "TMZ Live" and we asked if he made more money outside of music ... he does, and he tells us how his success in the business world benefits his art.

Sammy says the only reason he's still playing shows with his band, The Circle, is because he doesn't have to play music to pay the bills ... a big bonus for a 74-year-old rock star.

The former Van Halen frontman says whenever he plays a show nowadays, it's for fun and not about the paycheck. His wealth allows him to pay his band more, making everyone happy and giving him the feeling they're just like a good ol' garage band.

In addition to being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sammy's a savvy businessman ... with legendary restaurants like the Cabo Wabo Cantina, where he sells his own lines of spirits. He also writes books, including his latest, "Sammy Hagar's Cocktail Hits: 85 Personal Favorites from the Red Rocker."

David Lee Roth says he's getting ready to hang it all up, but first, he's going out with a bang on the Las Vegas Strip ... where he'll pay homage to his Van Halen days.

David, the former VH frontman, announced his retirement plans Friday ... saying his 5 upcoming shows in Las Vegas will be his last onstage hurrah.

DLR dropped the bombshell news in a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, saying ... "I am throwing in the shoes. I'm retiring."

Diamond Dave says the Van Halen era comes to a close in January at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay with a handful of shows from New Year's Eve to Jan. 8 -- and you can bet he'll be jumping and dancing the night away every night.

David says he already gave old pal Alex Van Halen a heads up on his retirement ... and it sounds like Eddie Van Halen's death, and David's upcoming 67th birthday, are a factor in his decision to walk away.

David says he thought he'd be the first member of the iconic rock band to die, not Eddie, and says his doctors and handlers tell him every time he goes onstage he endangers his future.

Eddie Van Halen -- the legendary guitarist and co-founder of Van Halen -- has died after a long battle with cancer ... TMZ has learned.

Sources directly connected to the rock star tell us ... he died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica Tuesday. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his son, Wolfgang, his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, and Alex, Eddie's brother and drummer.

We're told in the last 72 hours, Eddie's ongoing health battle went massively downhill -- doctors discovered his lung cancer had moved to his brain as well as other organs.

As you know, Eddie has been battling cancer for well over a decade. Our sources say he's been in and out of the hospital over the past year -- including last November for intestinal issues -- and recently underwent a round of chemo.

Last year we reported ... Eddie was flying between the US and Germany for 5 years to get radiation treatment. Though he was a heavy smoker for years, he believes he developed throat cancer from a metal guitar pick he used to frequently hold in his mouth more than 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, he continued to attend concerts and rehearse music with his son, who -- if ya don't know -- became Van Halen's bassist in 2006.

Wolfgang mourned his father online, writing ... "He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss." He added, "I love you so much, Pop."

Of course, Eddie himself was considered one of the best and most influential guitarists of all time ... who first made a name for himself with his solo on Van Halen's "Eruption."

Eddie formed the classic rock group in Pasadena in 1972 with his brother, Alex, on drums, Michael Anthony on bass and David Lee Roth singing. Eddie served as the main songwriter on their self-titled debut album in 1978 ... which launched the group into rock superstardom in the '80s.

They went on to pump out hit after hit, including "Runnin' with the Devil," "Unchained," "Hot for Teacher," "Panama" and "Jump" ... and continued their success with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals after the departure of Roth in 1985.

While the band had already achieved hard rock superstardom, Eddie became a pop culture icon with the 1983 release of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" ... which featured Eddie's iconic guitar solo.

Though some members of Van Halen have changed, Eddie and Alex were the constants in the band ... with Eddie's acclaimed guitar work being the focal point of their legacy.

Van Halen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and Eddie is widely considered one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

He is survived by his wife, Janie, and his son.

Eddie was 65.

RIP

Sammy Hagar can't drive 55, and now he can't relax at his chill island villa in Hawaii anymore, either ... because he sold it.

The Red Rocker unloaded his 3 bed, 2.5 bath Maui retreat set upon the cliffs of Waipio Bay after 22 years of ownership. The spot features a tiki bar, pool and spa, gourmet kitchen, outdoor brick pizza oven, viewing deck and a guest house ... on almost 10 acres of land.

The former Van Halen singer reportedly wrote some of his hits -- including "Mas Tequila" and "Halfway to Memphis" -- while hanging at the oceanfront pad.

Hagar listed the home in November for $3.3 million ... and that's what it sold for last week.

Mas tequila shots on Sammy!

Eddie Van Halen ain't talkin' 'bout love, but he is talkin' 'bout a videographer who's allegedly trying to make a quick buck by selling old band footage ... according to a new suit.

The Van Halen guitarist claims he invited videographer, Andrew Bennett, to film music rehearsals with his son, Wolfgang, and his bro, Alex Van Halen, back around 2006 with the purpose of using the footage for a DVD or video project.

Eddie claims he didn't like the footage and scrapped it ... but Bennett threatened to release it years later and claimed he never got paid. According to the docs ... Eddie says they settled the matter in 2015, and Eddie got the rights to the footage after the settlement.

However, Eddie claims Andrew's back at it and is now trying to sell the old footage ... and even released a trailer for it on his website, 5150vault.com.

According to the docs ... Van Halen got the site suspended for copyright infringement, but Bennett launched another one with a similar name and is currently linking to a preview video of the music rehearsals.

David Lee Roth's dog allegedly took a bloody bite out of a landscaper, but the former Van Halen frontman claims it was, at worst, a small nip.

The landscaper, Timothy Salinas, says he was doing maintenance work in Roth's Pasadena yard when the rocker's Australian Cattle dog suddenly attacked and took a chunk out of his lower left calf. Salinas says his boss told him he'd lose his job if he reported it.

Roth begs to differ. He tells us he never hired Salinas, he hired the landscaping company. He also points out Salinas waited 47 days before going to the hospital -- and he only found out about it after Salinas made an insurance claim.

Roth's lawyer Ed McPherson says the whole thing is nothing more than a celebrity shakedown, although pics of the alleged attack look pretty gnarly.

David Lee Roth has no one to blame but himself for that bloody gash he had on his nose during "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" ... because he whacked himself during his signature mic stand trick.

Roth and the rest of Van Halen reunited for an epic performance on "Kimmel" Monday night, but the sanitized version that aired didn't tell the whole story.

During the initial performance of "Panama" ... Roth hit himself in the face with his mic stand while twirling it, leaving a cut across the bridge of his nose.

He kept going, eventually walking offstage to grab a towel. He then patched it up with a band-aid and did the song again. That's the version that aired.

The show must go on.

Michael Jackson's people have just thrown Britney Spears, George Michael, Van Halen, Aerosmith and other big names under a big tour bus, because MJ's people have just labeled them hard-core drug abusers just to make a point in a lawsuit.

Here's the deal. Lloyds of London has refused to pay benefits under an insurance policy that AEG took out in case MJ was not able perform for the "This Is It" tour. Lloyds rejected the claim on grounds Michael and AEG defrauded the company by failing to fess up that MJ was a drug abuser.

Now the bus. The Michael Jackson Company (MJC) sued Lloyds, demanding payment. MJC claims in public documents -- obtained by TMZ -- that a number of artists, including Britney, George, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Kings of Leon, AC/DC, Johnny Hallyday and Whitney Houston all were known drug addicts and all of them applied for similar insurance to Lloyds.

MJC wants to see how the other rock stars were treated to determine if Michael is being singled out unfairly.

Hope Eddie Van Halen swims as good as he plays guitar -- 'cause his L.A. home got drenched after a contractor screwed up his remodel, and ended up costing him more than a million bucks ... according to a new lawsuit.

The lawsuit -- which was filed today by Eddie's family trust -- says Troy Builders Group was hired back in 2008 to do a remodel and construction, but the project was rife with major problems ... most relating to waterproofing.

In the docs, Eddie says the shoddy work included poor drainage, leaky roof and chimney, poorly installed gutters and flashing -- all of which caused water to flow into the home.

But here's how you know the house belongs to a guitar god -- EVH claims he also suffered mold damage, not just on wood surfaces, but in his ELEVATOR SHAFT.

Moldy shaft ... never good.

According to the docs, Eddie's already out more than a million bucks to repair the damage. He's suing the builder for the cash plus interest.

Dave Grohl got back on stage with some of his Foo Fighters bandmates this weekend and played the David Bowie + Queen hit "Under Pressure" ... AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Grohl was performing at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds with Chevy Metal -- a band featuring Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins and Foo guitarist Chris Shiflett.

The band also performed a bunch of other covers ... including Van Halen’s “Panama" and "My Sharona" by The Knack ... but their performance of "Under Pressure" was the highlight.

Eddie Van Halen swears ... it was really him shredding guitar in that famous scene from "Back to the Future" -- when Marty McFly pops a cassette tape into his walkman ... and blows out his father's eardrums.

Don't pretend like you forgot -- Marty puts on that radiation suit and wakes his dad up with a Van Halen cassette tape, saying, "Silence earthling." IT'S CLASSIC!!! Okay fine, here's the clip.

In the movie, the tape says "Edward Van Halen" on it -- but there's been a lot of speculation over the years about what song it was ... and whether it was even Eddie playing the music ... but yesterday in L.A., the rock legend put the rumors to rest.

Eddie insists it WAS really him on the tape -- but as for whether the guitar lick was part of a real song ... Eddie said it was him "just playing a bunch of noise."

Legendary rocker and AFI frontman Davey Havok FULLY supports a cover band taking over the upcoming Van Halen tour -- after the original band pulled out -- but he tells TMZ, there's a catch.

As we reported, Van Halen canceled its upcoming tour claiming the band's too tuckered out for a demanding string of live performances -- so a popular cover band called the Van Halen Army stepped forward, offering to fill in.

Davey says letting the cover band take the reigns is a great idea -- but only if fans aren't duped into thinking they're getting the real thing.

A Van Halen cover band says that if the real Van Halen is too "burnt out" and too old to finish their postponed tour dates ... they are more than happy to take over.

Van Halen (the real one) cancelled the remainder of their 2012 tour on Friday, saying they needed to "re-charge their engines." They will be offering refunds for all the disappointed fans.

Joe -- who plays guitar in the Van Halen Army, a popular VH tribute band -- tells TMZ, "They have an obligation to fulfill ... somebody signs up to do the job they should complete it. Concerts these days cost a lot of money, they can't let the fans down ... they need to fulfill their end of the deal."

Joe also says, "We could easily do it -- our singer sounds exactly like David Lee Roth!"

Even rockstars can get tired ... and TMZ has learned that's exactly why Van Halen decided to postpone 31 upcoming concert dates.

Sources close to the band tell us ... the guys felt like the current schedule was "too much, too fast" ... and they were "losing their focus."

One source tells us, "They're simply burned out" ... adding, "They want to make sure their concerts are not a routine ... they want every performance to be special."

We're told the guys want to take some time to "re-charge their engines" ... so they can rock all 31 cities the way Van Halen fans expect to be rocked.

Hagar tells MTV, “It was real. They were plugged into me. It was a download situation … or, they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment ... They were tapped into my brain and the knowledge was transferred back and forth."

Hagar insists the whole thing went down in Fontana, CA -- home to a NASCAR track.

According to the ex-rock star, it wasn’t his first extra-terrestrial experience either -- claiming he saw his first UFO when he was just four years old, hovering over a field near his home.