FACTBOX: Key facts about Van Halen

(Reuters) - Van Halen announced on Monday it would launch a reunion tour with original lead singer David Lee Roth, who quit the band in the mid-1980s for a solo career.

Here are some key facts on Van Halen.

-- formed in Los Angeles 1974 by Dutch-born brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen, on guitar and drums, respectively, along with bass player Michael Anthony and Roth.

-- first album, 1978's "Van Halen," powered by the single "Runnin' with the Devil," has been certified for U.S. shipments in excess of 10 million units, as has their 1983 album "1984

(MCMLXXXIV)."

-- Eddie Van Halen's screeching, elaborate guitar solos transformed him into one of the most influential guitarists of his generation.

-- The flamboyant Roth quit in 1985, bolstered by the success of his solo singles "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody." But his solo career never really took off.

-- Van Halen recruited a new vocalist, Sammy Hagar, enjoyed hits with the songs "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Right Now," and won their sole Grammy in 1991 for their album "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

-- In 1996 Hagar acrimoniously left the band, which then appeared with Roth at the MTV Video Music Awards. Gary Cherone, formerly with soft-rock band Extreme, came aboard as new vocalist. His sole release with the band, 1998's "Van Halen III," bombed, and was the first Van Halen album that failed to go Platinum (U.S. shipments in excess of one million units.)

-- Van Halen and Hagar briefly buried the hatchet in 2004 for a North American reunion tour. Roth wrote his memoirs, and did stints as a paramedic and morning radio show host.

Sources: Reuters, Recording Industry Assn. of America, Rolling Stone Album Guide, Grammys.com, vhnd.com