History & Biography Bon Jovi was the evolution of various high school acts founded mostly by Jon and David Brian. After years on the amateur circuit success came Jon's way when a New York station WAPP-FM (now WKTU) placed Runaway on rotation. The band was formed around the track Runaway, which was recorded by Jon and members of Bruce Springsteen's and Rick Springfield's bands in the winter of 1982. In other words, there was a song before there was a band. The solo was performed by West Coast USA guitarist Tim Pierce who was recording at a studio for John Waite and would later audition for Rick Springfield and get the job. Also part of the recording line-up was bassist Hugh McDonald who would join Bon Jovi in 1994 and Bruce Springsteen keyboardist Roy Bittan. This crew would be dubbed The All Star Revue. Tim Pierce would be a guest soloist on the song Please Come Home For Christmas years later. Jon Bon Jovi was a the studio hand and assistant at his cousin Tony Bongiovi's Power Station recording studio. The song, in the meantime, had failed to garner a positive reaction from record companies and it was the radio play that had elicited a response for Jon.
First person recruited into the band proper was keyboardist Rashbaum with whom Jon history. Next in was bassist Alex Jon Such on bass. The bassist introduced Tico Torres who was also from Phantom's Opera and more recently Frankie & The Knockouts. Sambora was last in. The guitarist was in the audience watching the band one night and offered his services. This process took a matter of weeks. The new ensemble band played a showcase alongside the band Scandal for the Rock USA radio network. Jon himself had briefly been a Scandal member previously.
Success was immediate when the New Jersey band released its debut (featuring Aldo Nova) and Runaway hit the radio widely. Catchy and accessible, the single launched the band and the future seemed bright. Tours with Scorpions (USA), Eddie Money and Kiss (Europe) followed. Slippery When Wet was a smash hit aided by a committed label, crafty management courtesy of Doc McGhee, massive hooks, the exact number of ballads, good videos and a hair-appeal that attracted female fans in droves. The original cover showing a voluptuous women's cleavage was censored in favour of a wet garbage bag. Americans are uptight so Japan retained the original cover artwork. The band toured with Queensryche in tow. 780O Fahrenheit followed and was named after the temperature at which a sample rock melts. The band headlined Budokan in Japan and opened for Ratt back at home. Album number three is originally called Wanted Dead Or Alive in the press. The LP's artwork was censored in various territories for showing too much cleavage. Regardless, the album marks the band's breakthrough. Around the same time Jon discovered Cinderella (no not the heroine) at a club in Pennsylvania. He repeated the feat two years later with Skid Row (Gene Simmons eat your heart out!). Skid Row, and its singer Bach in particular, had an immediate falling out with Bon Jovi after they had to sign away their publishing royalties in exchange for going on tour with Bon Jovi. This was revised soon however after Bach and co. complained. Ratt's guitarist Bobby Crosby would guest on Bon Jovi’s Blaze Of Glory album of 1990.
August 1989 saw the band participate in Russia's Moscow Music Peace Festival (with several Russian band, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and others) organized by their convicted manager Doc McGhee as part of his 'community work.' He had been convicted of drug trafficking and used this ploy to get off without jail time. Approximately, 100,000 fans attended at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Alec John Such was fired from the band in 1994 and unofficially replaced by session man McDonald who, in reality, had always played in the studio for the band. Bon Jovi weathered the lean '90s in much better shape than its hard rock colleagues owing to the band’s changed style and looks. It was quite a feat seeing how the band was often strictly part-time. Bounce was released in October of 2002 and was produced by the band and Luke Ebbin. The album was promoted using the dubious method of collecting buyers' personal information via a PIN provided with the CD. Island and the band called it The American XS Serialization Program. Rumours that band members have had to lose weight or get/have gotten fired have always signified a band hell-bent on commercial success. Jon Bon Jovi with his later-era looks had concentrated on an acting career in the nineties. The band had also been Jon's solo band on and off. Although Jon's 'other' solo act was called The Big Dogs.
Bon Jovi's This Left Feels Right was a reworking of the band's hits on acoustic guitar. The CD was released in November of 2003.
The band finished recording its ninth studio album in late 2004 and announced that the first single was called Have A Nice Day. Jon chalked one up for social conscience when he performed at Wal-mart’s annual shareholders conference in 2005. In the meanwhile, the band's rarities box set 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong was doing brisk business in the USA. Have A Nice Day topped at number two in the charts, while 2007’s country-tinged Lost Highway hit number one in Canada, The Netherlands, USA and Germany. Richie Sambora celebrated the success in rehabilitation thereby missing a couple of television and live appearances. Bon Jovi performed at New York's Madison Square Garden on July 14 and 15 of 2008 and at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game concert on July 12th in New York's Central Park. Bassist Eric Brittingham of Cinderella filled in for Poison’s Bobby Dall on the last few shows of the latter band’s tour with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick after Dall had to exit for personal reasons. Hugh McDonald filled in for Dall at the August 25th concert at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah. In April 2009, a documentary of the band, entitled When We Were Beautiful, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. It chronicled Bon Jovi's story over the last 25 years while also showing the band on the Lost Highway tour. In 2008 Bon Jovi recorded its Madison Square Garden show in high definition. The result was made available in late 2009 as the Live At Madison Square Garden DVD.
The Circle was the title for the band's eleventh studio album. It was produced by John Shanks and released on November 10, 2009. It landed at the number one position on the Billboard charts but fell out of the Top Ten by the week after. Reminiscing about the experience of listening and enjoying music in 2011 John Bon Jovi told Sunday Times Magazine that, “What happened? Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business." The singer was blaming Apple CEO Steve Jobs and that company’s iTunes. Sambora quit in 2013 in the midst of a tour when the band was supposed to perform in Calgary, Canada. Jon would later report that Sambora did not tell him about his departure. The guitarist had a band called RSO with his girlfriend Orianthi and also performed Bon Jovi songs. Bon Jovi replaced Sambora with Phil X again. 2016’s This House Is Not For Sale was the band’s first without Sambora. Bon Jovi garnered more votes than Dire Straits, The Cars, Moody Blues and Judas Priest to win the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Fan Vote in 2017. That gave the band an extra vote to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Almost two years after original release This House Is Not For Sale landed again at position number one of the US charts due to a bundling of the disc with concert tickets. Former guitarist Richie Sambora and fired bassist Alec John Such were rehearsing with the rest of the band for their appearance at the induction ceremony into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018. Bon Jovi's next album was to be entitled Bon Jovi: 2020. Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams announced they would tour the USA that spring. Keyboardist David Bryan said that he has tested positive for COVID-19, but was feeling better soon. Bon Jovi announced a U.S. tour for April 2022. The trek was to begin April 1 in Omaha, Nebraska and end on April 30th in Nashville, Tennessee. Original bassist Alec John Such died at age 70. It was rumoured that his weight gain had led to his dismissal at the time of his departure in 1994. Unannounced at the time, Jon was forced to undergo vocal cord surgery and receive an implant as one of the cords had atrophied. He would subsequently undergo rehabilitation as he was unable to sing properly. Ten years after his departure, guitarist Richie Sambora reported in 2023 that he was talking to Jon Bon Jovi about a return to the band. In addition to the band itself, Goo Goo Dolls, Bruce Springsteen, Jelly Roll and others were performing at the MusiCares Person Of The Year gala honouring Jon Bon Jovi in Los Angeles, USA on February 2nd 2024. This was the first time in over a year and half when Jon would sing as well. He would characterize his regaining his singing ability as a work in progress and wonder why God did this to him. Elsewhere, a documentary on the band was available and called Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. The band issued a single and video called Legendary in March 2024 and teased further new material. Coinciding with its 40th anniversary. Bon Jovi had an album called Forever arriving on June 7 2024.
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