Renoff spoke with the Boston Herald about his new book "Van Halen Rising," which chronicles the early days of the band and was asked about Templeman considering the singer switch.

He replied, "Ted told me that after he heard Roth sing in the studio in early 1977 on some demos commissioned by Warner Bros, he started having serious concerns about Roth's vocal ability, hence the flirtation with calling Hagar.

"But Ted made clear that this was nothing more than a thought that he toyed with for a few days in his own head. Roth, as I document in the book, redoubled his efforts to improve his voice by taking vocal lessons in 1977.