NEWS – Gary Cherone Talks About Moving From Extreme to Van Halen

While fans are rejoicing with the long-awaited reunion between Van Halen and David Lee Roth, during the mid-1990s the band struggled following the departure of Roth’s replacement, Sammy Hagar, eventually turning to singer Gary Cherone to take his place. Having broken into the mainstream several years earlier as the frontman of funk metal outfit Extreme, best known for their hits Get the Funk Out and More Than Words, Cherone would perform vocals on the 1998 album Van Halen III, before the group slipped into obscurity for the next few years.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Cherone discusses his brief time with Van Halen; “It was in the summer of ’96. I remember Pat, the bass player in Extreme, calling me and saying “Turn on MTV. Dave’s coming back!” There was some story about them, and they were playing the theme to Welcome Back Kotter. That summer, my manager Ray Danniels – who also managed Van Halen at the time – calls me up. Extreme was breaking up and he goes, “What do you think about auditioning for Van Halen?”"

“At the time I thought that Extreme was going to get back together. I thought that Nuno (Bettencourt) was going to do a solo project and then the band was going to reunite. I said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll go out for the weekend, sing Jump, come back and have a good story to tell.” And that was truly, truly how much I thought about it.”

He continues; “It was surreal. Even when I was in the band, Nuno and Pat (Badger) would call and go, “I can’t believe you’re in my favorite band.” It was surreal. You’re growing up with Aerosmith and Van Halen posters on your wall. Obviously I’m younger than Hagar, and when Sammy joined the band, he was a contemporary of Van Halen. So it was different for me.”