Diamond Dave calls it a day
Jewish rock star David Lee Roth will retire after a farewell series of shows in Las Vegas in January.
JEWISH rock star David Lee Roth, best known for fronting Van Halen during the legendary band’s heyday in the 1970s and early ’80s, has announced he is retiring from music.
“I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier this month.
“This is the first, and only, official announcement.”
Roth, 66, grew up with Jewish parents and reportedly first learned to sing while preparing for his bar mitzvah. He joined Van Halen in 1974.
As a part of the world famous group alongside the late virtuosic guitar player Eddie Van Halen, Roth became one of rock music’s most famous showmen. He first left the band in 1985 – he left and rejoined several times – and embarked on a solo career, releasing seven albums.
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In his autobiography Crazy From the Heat, and in an interview with The Washington Post in 2003, Roth expounded on his Jewish identity.
According to the Post, he said “much of his style and energy came from fury over antisemitism and an urge to crush Jewish stereotypes”.
“There’s not a lot of Jewish action figures,” Roth told the Post. “Heroes for little Jewish kids are very few and far between …”
Roth will play a farewell series of shows in Las Vegas in January.
WITH JTA
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