Sammy Hagar is a Mexican-American rock star with a net worth of $150 million. He is credited as the richest member of the Van Halen rock band.
Sammy was not born with the silver spoon; the musician and businessman started from an impoverished background delivering newspapers, mowing lawns, and picking fruits to earn a living. However, his story changed after he joined the music industry.
What is Sammy Hagar’s Net Worth?
Recent estimations of Sammy Hagar’s net worth from trusted sources like Celebrity Net Worth pegged it at $150 million, making him one of the richest rock stars of our time.
While he still held majority shares in his Cabo Wabo Tequilla Company, tax filing revealed that Sammy was raking in $30 million per year on average. Sammy’s $150 million fortune is divided between his music career and business concerns.
Is Sammy Hager The Richest Van Halen Member?
Though he left the Van Halen rock band several years ago, Sammy Hager is still credited as the richest among its members with his $150 million fortune.
The second richest member of the rock band was the band’s guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. Though he is now late, his net worth was estimated at $120 million in 2023.
Next to Eddie is drummer Alex Van Halen with a fortune pegged at $110 million in 2023. Van Halen’s bassist, Michael Anthony, follows with a bottom line of $80 million. Lead vocalist David Lee Roth is the least rich among them, as he only has $60 million.
A Breakdown of How Sammy Hagar Made His Fortune
The major reason why Sammy Hagar became extremely rich is his diversified sources of income. The frontman of Van Halen was earning through music, real estate, writing, and other forms of business.
His Early Days of Doing Odd Jobs
Sammy Hagar may be stupendously rich today, but the celebrated musician had some fruit-picking and lawn-moving days just to put food on the table. According to Sammy, he would pick fruits at some farms, mow lawns for people, and even deliver newspapers just to earn a few bucks.
However, whatever he was doing to survive did not douse his interest in music. It was during his days in high school that he began developing a passion for music which led him to learn how to strum the strings of a guitar on a Sears catalog-bought instrument that cost $40.
Though he only lived from hand to mouth during this period and didn’t have enough to spare for instruments, the $40 investment formed the basis for what would become a hugely successful life in both the music industry and the wheeling-dealing world of business.
He Founded his First Music Band at Age 14
Sammy Hagar was barely 14 when he started playing music at a professional level by forming the band Fabulous Castilles, which marked his first music group.
1967 was when he became part of the Johnny Fortune Band, where he functioned as a vocalist cum guitarist. At a point, he collaborated with the likes of The Nightclub – a popular San Bernardino, California-based nightclub.
Joining the band HSAS (Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve), Hagar stayed from 1983 to 1984, performing with music greats such as drummer Michael Shrieve, lead guitarist Neal Schon, and bassist Kenny Aaronson.
Alongside guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Sammy formed Chickenfoot. He also went into collaboration with Waboritas guitarist Vic Johnson, drummer Jason Bonham, and Michael Anthony to launch The Circle. Together, Chickenfoot and The Circle amassed a total of 25 Platinum albums, and the sales they recorded surpassed over 50 million worldwide. Needless to say, Hagar earned millions of dollars from all these commercially successful albums and records.
These were the days of humble beginnings for the music superstar, and they opened inroads into a brighter future.
Sammy Hagar Landed his Breakout as a Member of the Montrose Music Band
Sammy Hagar’s first big break occurred in 1973 when he joined the band Montrose and helped in launching both their first and second studio album. It was at this point that he penned his first song entitled “Bad Motor Scooter,” which was released through Montrose
Sammy Hagar’s Solo Career
After he left Montrose, Hagar went on to try his hands at a solo career. This led the then-blossoming music star to score a hit with the song “I Can’t Drive 55”. As the song became a huge success, it made Sammy a household name in the mid-1980s, and it was during this period that he earned the moniker Red Rocker because of his red hair.
During his reign as a solo artist, Hagar recorded massive sales in the United States, selling above 3.5 million albums which earned him millions of dollars, though the exact amount he earned as a solo artist is not known.
Van Halen Was Sammy Hagar’s Most Succesful Music Venture
Following the departure of David Lee Roth from the Van Halen music band, Eddie Van Halen called on Sammy Hagar to fill his shoes. With Sammy as the band’s frontman, Van Halen went on to drop four multi-platinum, chart-topping albums, including “5150,” “OU812, “Balance”, and “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”. It was also during Hagar’s years with the famous music band that it released nine #1 rock hits on different charts
Sammy’s reign in Van Halen was so felt by fans and music lovers that people started calling the band Van Hagar instead of Van Halen. This was when the band recorded above 27 million in album sales worldwide, with per album sales average pegged at 6.75 million.
Before long, the band started experiencing some in-house discord that led Hagar to leave in 1996. However, he had already tidied up enough money to launch his career to the next level. It was during this period that he joined effort with Van Halen’s drummer David Lauser and bassist Michael Anthony to launch another rock band named Los Tres Gusanos, meaning The Three Worms. The band traveled through different locations in San Francisco, playing Sammy’s tracks, cover songs, and some of Van Halen’s songs. They majorly played at Sammy’s nightclub Cabo Wabo located in Cabo San Lucas.
Sammy Hagar made his come-back to Van Halen during the latter part of 2003, and the next year, the rock band dropped its greatest hits collection entitled, The Best of Both Worlds, and went ahead to embark on a global tour with Sammy. The band eventually sold over 80 million records on a global scale. They ended up releasing 12 studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, and three video albums, including 56 singles.
Sammy’s association with Van Halen is credited as the rock star’s most famous period in the music industry, as the band is known for its effort in restoring the rock genre to the forefront of the music industry. On the 12th of March 2007, the world witnessed Sammy Hagar’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Van Helen band member.
Unfortunately, the same issue that saw the band’s frontman leave in the past reared its head again, leading to his final exit from Van Halen.
Sammy Hagar Earnings From Tours, TV Shows, and Commercials.
Apart from the money that was rolling in from albums and record sales, Sammy Hagar was also tidying up some cool cash from his live concerts, tours, and performances, including music royalties.
The peak of his music tours was witnessed in 2003 when he rejoined Van Halen to tour the globe. However, he was already going on music tours before that time and still continued touring after calling it quits with the band.
With all that said, we must also acknowledge his collaborations with National Automotive Parts Association when he appeared in several of their commercials.
The highly successful rock artist recorded a lot of television show appearances which he was handsomely rewarded for. Sammy Hagar was seen on the sets of Celebrity Ghost Stories, The Simpsons, The Voice, Nash Bridges, and more.
What Companies Does Sammy Hagar Own?
One of Sammy Hagar’s companies is Santo Tequila, a tequila company that he co-owns with Guy Fieri. Single-handedly, he launched the Cabo Wabo Tequila Company, though he later sold it off in two successful transactions worth $95 million in 2007 and 2009. Sammy is also credited as the owner of a rum firm known as Beach Bar Rum.
During the 1990s, Sammy Hagar acquired a mountain bike store and went on to build a Sausalito Cyclery, which became the #1 independent bike store in the whole of California.
He is the owner of a restaurant called Wabo Catina. The eatery, which also functions as a nightclub, is located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and in 2009, it had a branch in Miracle Mile shopping mall located in Las Vegas. Another of Sammy’s nightclubs can be found in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
The business he opened in St. Louis is Sammy’s Beach Bar & Grill, and there is a second one in Las Vegas, precisely at McCarran Airport.
His Ballys Casino-based bar in Atlantic City beach had to be closed down after it suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy. There is also his Beach bar in Hawaii and El Paseo restaurant in Mill Valley.
How Much is Sammy Hagar’s Tequila Company Worth?
Sammy Hagar’s tequila company is worth millions of dollars. In fact, it was after he widened his horizons to include tequila that the real big bucks started rolling in.
While it is well understood that his first fortune came from the music industry, the bulk of his current net worth is all thanks to the money he made from the sale of his Cabo Wabo tequila company. The history of Cabo Wabo started during the latter part of the 1980s when Sammy purchased a bar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Towards the later part of the 1990s, the rock star started packaging and selling his own brand of the spirit called Cabo Wabo. In the long run, both the bar and the tequila turned out to be huge successes, garnering distributors on a global scale.
Its first year in operation saw Cabo Wabo make sales of over 40,000 cases, and by 2006, the tequila company was recording over 150,000 cases on a yearly basis, generating a revenue of $60 million.
When Cabo Wabo became an international business, its worth also skyrocketed, and in 2007, Sammy Hagar made a shrewd business decision to sell off 80 percent of the company’s shares to Gruppo Campari at the price of $80 million. A couple of years later, in 2009, the Mexican musician raked in an additional $15 million through the sale of the remaining 20% of Cabo Wabo Tequilla Company. At the end of the day, he racked in a whopping $95 million from both sales, and that was exactly the worth of his tequila company.
Even after Sammy sold it off, Cabo Wabo has continued to surpass expectations. As of 2014, it ranked as US’s second best-selling premium tequila, second to only Jose Cuervo.
Sammy Hagar Invests in Real Estate
Sammy Hagar pours millions of dollars into real estate investments. The rock star has acquired properties in different parts of America and beyond.
His Mill Valley, California home was bought in 1978 for $160,000. Sammy’s home in the North of Lake Tahoe was purchased for $450,000 in 2007.
Perhaps the biggest of the musician’s landed properties is his Lake Arrowhead, California mansion, acquired in 2009 for $2.3 million. The Los Angeles Times reported that it is a 6,557 square foot three stories house sporting 8 bedrooms, a separate guesthouse, 6 and a half bathrooms, and more.
The singer later put it up for sale for the price of $5.25 million, but no buyer was forthcoming. Even when the price was reduced to $3.9 million, it still remained unsold. Sammy Hagar now rents out the house per month or for weekends and makes $30,000 each month. Sammy also had a property in Hawaii but sold it off for $3.1 million in 2018.
Sammy Hagar Makes Money from Book Sales
Sammy Hagar is also an acclaimed author and has some books under his writing portfolio, and one of his publications actually went on to become a bestseller.
His autobiography entitled Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, co-written with rock critic Joel Selvin hit the book stand in March 2011. On the 2nd of April 2011, it made it to #1 position on the New York Times Best Seller List.
On September 2015, he published the cookbook, Are We Having Any Fun Yet?– The Cooking & Partying Handbook. The book is populated with food and drink recipes alongside tales of the rock star’s cooking memories.
Sammy Hagar is Known for His Car Collection
Sammy is listed among the top car enthusiasts of our time. The Mexican-American rock star custom-ordered his white LaFerrari worth $2.2 million in 2015. The car is quite an exclusive number. According to reports, only 499 LaFerraris exist, and Sammy got the only one with white color.
In his music video for the song, I Can’t Drive 55, the rockstar brandished his black 1982 Ferrari 512BB, which made the track gain more popularity, and he still owns the car to date. When the automobile hit the market for the first time in 1982, it came with an MSRP of $32,000. Presently, it is selling for $350,000+.
From what is obvious, Sammy Hagar appears to have a thing for Ferraris, and he also has a 2008 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano F1. Other exotic cars in his fleet include a 1967 Gateway GCM-R Fastback Mustang, a 2005 Aston Martin Vanquish Lagonda, a Ford GT, a Jaguar XKE, a Ford Shelby GT, and a whole lot more.
Sammy is obviously a car collector, and his test runs to the exotic and vintage brands, however, the one that really stands out among them is the white LaFerrari. Put together, the worth of all Hagar’s cars runs into millions of dollars.
