North Dakotan Once Offered Gig as Lead Singer for Van Halen
Even if you don't know much about Van Halen, there's a pretty good chance you know that they've gone through a lot of lead singers. David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, Gary Cherone...they all handled vocal duties for VH. Did you know, though, that another vocalist was offered the Van Halen gig before Gary Cherone and he was born right here in North Dakota?
Mitch Malloy was a singer-songwriter in Nashville when he got the call to try out for Van Halen, but he is originally from Dickinson.
In the summer of 1996, Mitch Malloy, on the recommendation of Desmond Child, auditioned for Van Halen by recording a few tracks at 5150 Studios with the band. On day three of his audition, Malloy recounted that Eddie said, "well, you are an amazing singer, you look great and you are one of the nicest guys I have ever met, we just talked it over and congratulations, you are in the band." However Van Halen manager Ray Danniels was unable to sign Malloy to a management contract (Malloy already had a manager), and Danniels encouraged the band to pass over Malloy in favor of a singer he already had under contract, Gary Cherone.
Malloy and Van Halen kept this tryout under wraps, mainly because Malloy thought that trying out for a rock band would hurt his aspirations of being a country star in Nashville.
You can hear Van Halen performing "Panama", with Malloy on vocals, below:
To learn more about Mitch Malloy, visit his official website HERE
[SOURCE: YouTube]
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