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Sammy Hagar Reflects on Red Rocker Roots and How Fontana Hometown Shaped His Art


Sammy Hagar, the Red Rocker, reflects on his Fontana hometown and the music and bands that inspired him.

It was more “Deer Hunter” than “Surf’s Up,” with a richly diverse blue collar, working-class hamlet of transplanted Rust Belt Slovenians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians as well as Dust Bowl refugees, Black people and Latinos. Most important of all, Hagar — whose career not only includes stints in great bands like Montrose and Van Halen and a successful restaurant chain and tequila brand — has roots planted in the soil that once featured bounteous citrus groves, almond and peach orchards and sprawling grape vineyards. One report has Hagar personally pocketing $125 million for selling his share of the Cabo Wabo brand — long before, we should add, the record will show, a man named Clooney scored big with a rival libation.

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