Van Halen And David Lee Roth Announce 2012 Tour And New Album

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[/caption]Wow! I can't believe that coming up next year Van Halen will be celebrating their 40th anniversary.

With that anniversary comes the news from the group that they will be releasing a new album and hitting the road for a major tour with original lead singer, David Lee Roth.

Van Halen took to their website, van-halen.com to make these announcements and provided short video clips.

The band was formed in Pasadena, California and scored their first top-40 hit in 1978 with a cover version of the Kinks, 'You really Got Me.' The original members consisted of; David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony.

Due to some 'creative differences,' Roth went on to a solo career in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Then, Hagar left after a successful 11-year run, which turned these 'garage rockers' into an arena crowd pleaser. He was replaced, for just one album, by former Extreme front man, Gary Cherone.  Michael Anthony then left in 2006 and was replaced on the Bass by Eddie's son, Wolfgang. In 2009 Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar formed the group Chickenfoot and have already released 2 albums.

In November, Van Halen signed a new record deal and have been busy in the studio working on their first full-length studio album with Roth since 1984. This will also be the first Van Halen release since 'Van Halen III" in 1998.

Tickets for the 2012 Van Halen tour go on sale January 10th.