Vince Neil Remembers How David Lee Roth Mentored Him

Vince Neil shared the story of how David Lee Roth mentored him when Motley Crue was starting.

In a recent appearance on SiriusXM with host Eddie Trunk, Neil recalled his interactions with the former Van Halen singer. He said:

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

During the early days of Motley Crue on the Sunset Strip, Roth offered to mentor Neil about having a successful career. He explained:

“He’s the first guy, he kind of took me under his wing.
“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.”

Later in 1983, the two classic rock bands became iconic and shared the stage at the US Festival and also toured together for 1984’s Monsters of Rock.

Vince Neil Used To Sell Fake Van Halen Merch

The Motley Crus singer has always been a Van Halen fan even before he met Roth. During his conversation with Trunk, Neil recalled his teenage years and how he was making money by selling bootleg shirts of Van Halen. He revealed:

“I remember the Long Beach Area, Van Halen was playing there.
“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.”

He also shared that he printed the shirts himself and his mother drove him to the venues.