By Sabrina Mason
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a successful solo career, scoring a hit in 1984 with “I Can’t Drive 55“. He enjoyed further commercial success as the lead vocalist of Van Halen in 1985 through 1996, and from 2003 to 2005.
In 2007, Hagar was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen. His musical style primarily consists of hard rock and heavy metal.
A lifelong entrepreneur, Hagar founded four spirits brands and 13 restaurants. In 2008, with his wife, Kari Hagar, he founded a private non-profit focused on children’s causes and hunger relief, the Hagar Family Foundation.
Hagar married his first wife, Betsy Berardi, on November 3, 1968. They have two sons, Aaron (born 1970) and Andrew (born 1984). In 1994, the couple divorced after 26 years of marriage. He married his current wife, Kari Hagar, on November 29, 1995, and together they have two daughters, Kama (born 1996) and Samantha (born 2001). In 2008, they founded the Hagar Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on children’s causes and hunger relief for families in need.
He is the cousin of Christian metal singer Ken Tamplin, who has performed with Joshua, Shout and Magdallan and on his own.
He is a long-time Ferrari enthusiast and owns a 2008 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano F1. He still owns the 1982 Ferrari 512BB made famous in his “I Can’t Drive 55” music video.
In January 2024, Hagar appeared on an episode of PBS‘ Finding Your Roots in which he was informed that his Y-DNA did not match any men with the surname Hagar. His Y-DNA matched 27 men with the last name Belcher. Further analysis determined that his great-great-grandfather, born in Virginia in 1845, was fathered by a Belcher and not the Hagar named in the paper records.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Mary McCauley (Molly Pitcher) –
- Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (politician) –
- Art Tatum (jazz pianist) –
- Herbert Lawrence Block (editorial cartoonist) –
- Cornel Wilde (actor) –
- Lenny Bruce (comedian) –
- Margaret Thatcher (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) –
- Paul Simon (musician) –
- Sammy Hagar (musician) –
- Lacy J. Dalton (singer) –
- Marie Osmond (singer) –
- Nancy Kerrigan (figure skater) –
- Ashanti (singer) –
Died
- Milton Hershey (American manufacturer and philanthropist) –
- Ed Sullivan (television personality) –
- Stephen Ambrose (historian) –
Events
- Cornerstone of the White House was laid–
- The Jewish organization B’nai B’rith was founded–
- Several countries adopted the Greenwich longitude as the prime meridian–
- Boston Americans (now Red Sox) won first World Series–
- The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series–
- William Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies, was published in New York–
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened on Broadway–
- Expo 86 ended in Vancouver, British Columbia–
- The United States Navy Memorial was dedicated, Washington, D.C.–
- Stock market dropped 190.58 points in what was called the Friday the 13th mini-crash–
- A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Oklahoma–
- Thirty-three miners trapped underground for more than 2 months were rescued, Copiapo, Chile–
- Actor William Shatner became the oldest person, at age 90, to travel to space–
Weather
- A snowstorm hit New York City–
- Project Cirrus: 80 lbs. dry ice released onto hurricane–
- Up to 2 feet of snow blanketed Buffalo, New York, and surrounding areas–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
