Van Halen, Warner Bros. Records Part Ways After 25 Years

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - After 11 studio albums, three lead singers, and loads of highs and lows, Van Halen and its record label of some 25 years, Warner Bros., have parted ways.

According to Brad Starks, the Webmaster of Van Halen's official Web site (www.van-halen.com), the split occurred approximately one month ago, but the band chose not to share the news on their site.

Van Halen signed with Warner Bros. in 1977 and hit the ground running with its 1978 self-titled debut, which featured instant arena-rock classics "You Really Got Me" and "Running With the Devil." Van Halen didn't look back until 1985, when singer David Lee Roth left the band after its most commercially successful album, 1984.

The band returned in 1986 with a new singer, Sammy Hagar, and a new, more synth-heavy sound on 5150 -- and for three multi-platinum albums, the hits kept coming. In 1996, a fallout between Hagar and the band left Van Halen sans a singer again, and 1998's Van Halen III, with third singer Gary Cherone (from the Boston band Extreme), was a commercial and critical bomb.

What's next for the rock band is still unclear at press time. Little has come of ongoing rumors that original vocalist David Lee Roth will return to the fold, which were rampant in early 2000, and vaguely addressed by Roth himself over a year later).

For the most part, insiders say negotiations between Roth and Van Halen have been bogged down by Eddie Van Halen's battle with cancer, typical business red tape, and the fact that Eddie and Roth still can only take each other in small doses.

Rumors that the band will hire a fourth singer, or bring Hagar back into the fold, have turned up fruitless thus far as well.

Calls to Warner Bros. and representatives for Van Halen for comment were not returned by press time.