Vince Neil Recalls How David Lee Roth Took Him Under His Wing

Vince Neil has revealed how David Lee Roth provided mentorship early in the Motley Crue frontman’s career.

During a recent conversation with SiriusXM host Eddie Trunk, Neil looked back on his early interactions with the Van Halen singer.

“Dave would come to a lot of our shows when Motley was playing the Troubadour and the Whisky,” Neil explained. “Dave was right there. Because we had all the girls.”

Attractive women may have been part of the allure, but Roth certainly took a shine to Motley Crue as the band was making its name on the Sunset Strip. The Van Halen singer even went so far as to offer guidance to Neil prior to the Crue’s big break.

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“He’s the first guy, he kind of took me under his wing,” Neil recalled. “I was just some club playing rock and roll guy. He took me out to Canter’s Deli on Fairfax (in Los Angeles). And he just sat me down and talked about what we got to look for in a record company, publishing and just filled my head with the inner workings of being in a rock and roll band. And that was really nice of him. I was nobody.”

The legendary bands later shared the stage at the US Festival in 1983. They also hit the road together for 1984’s Monsters of Rock tour.

Vince Neil Used to Sell Bootleg Van Halen Shirt

Before Neil was friendly with Roth, he was a fan — and an entrepreneurial one at that. In his conversation with Trunk, the Motley Crue singer remembered making some extra cash as a teen by hocking fake Van Halen merch.

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“I remember the Long Beach Area, Van Halen was playing there,” Neil explained. “I didn’t get in, but what I did was I was bootlegging t-shirts. I was the kid out there selling shirts out of my mom’s trunk.”

Neil admitted he printed the shirts himself, and that he even had his mother’s endorsement on the venture. “I was in my mom’s car,” the rocker noted. “She drove me there.”