THE OTHER SIDE

Did Sammy Hagar jump or was he pushed? The way he told the story of his recent departure from Van Halen, the singer was fired from the hugely popular rock band after a series of disagreements with guitarist Eddie Van Halen.

Hagar says that he was informed by Van Halen last month that he was being replaced by original singer David Lee Roth, whom Hagar had replaced in 1985.

Van Halen’s manager, Ray Danniels, begs to differ.

“He resigned more than he was fired,” says the Toronto-based Danniels. “Edward called Sammy and said, ‘I can’t work with you like this,’ and Sammy interpreted it as he was fired and then went right to the press. This would have never happened if he was a team player.”

Danniels insists that he spoke with Hagar about taking “a cooling-off period” after which they would start working again.

“But he’s not the first lead singer who’s not very good at listening,” Danniels says.

Now, though, it’s too late and the split is permanent.

But that doesn’t mean that Roth, who is working with the other band members on several new songs for the anthology, due in October, is back for good.

“Right now they are totally focused on the new tracks and then they’ll evaluate the situation,” Danniels says of reports that they are planning a reunion tour for early next year. “If the only concerns were financial, they’d put the old lineup back together and have a big payday. But they’re not sold on that idea yet, David included.”