Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an
American rock and roll band from
New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake
Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s as a
hair metal band. However, Bon Jovi has proved far more durable than most groups so labeled, blending elements of
hard rock,
heartland rock, and the "
MTV Unplugged" style together to sustain a creative and commercially successful career well into the 2000s.
Bon Jovi has sold more than 33 million
albums in the United States, and over 110 million albums worldwide, and has played live
concerts in major cities in
Asia,
Europe,
Australia,
Canada, and
South America, in addition to a large number of cities in the U.S.
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Jon Bon Jovi - Lead
Vocals,
guitar,
harmonica,
piano*
Richie Sambora -
Lead guitars, vocals,
talk box*
David Bryan -
Keyboards, vocals
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Tico Torres -
Drums,
percussion*
Hugh McDonald -
Bass Guitar, vocals
Formation
Lead singer
Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi) began to play piano and guitar at thirteen, learning
Elton John songs. At that same age, Bon Jovi founded his first band, called Raze. Jon enrolled in
St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, NJ originally, but was asked to leave before entering his sophomore year for an unknown violation. He went on to attend Sayreville War Memorial High School. At sixteen Bon Jovi met
David Bryan (David Bryan Rashbaum) in high school (Sayreville War Memorial High School ) and founded an R&B cover band with him named
Atlantic City Expressway. They played at New Jersey clubs, even though they were minors. Still in his teens, Bon Jovi played in the band
John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones, playing New Jersey clubs like the Fast Lane and opening for known acts in the area.By the summer of
1982, out of school and working part-time, one of his jobs being in a shoestore, Jon finally got a job at the
Power Station Studios, a
Manhattan recording facility where his cousin,
Tony Bongiovi, was the co-owner. Bon Jovi made several
demos (including one produced by
Billy Squier) and sent them out to many record companies, but failed to make an impact.
At nineteen, Bon Jovi had his first recording experience, singing the song "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas" by
Meco Monardo and Daniel Oriolo on a
Star Wars Christmas album,
Christmas in the Stars, produced by
Tony Bongiovi at the Power Station, and released on the RSO label.
In
1983, local radio station
WAPP 103.5FM "The Apple" had a contest, held in conjunction with St. John's University, to search for the best unsigned band. Bon Jovi used studio musicians to play on the track "Runaway" (which was written in
1980). The guitarist on the track is Dave "Snake" Sabo who went on to found the popular band
Skid Row. (Bon Jovi took Skid Row on tour with them as their opening act). After winning the contest, it became an instant hit in the summer of 1983. The studio musicians who helped Jon Bon Jovi record "Runaway" were known as "
The All Star Review."They were:
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Tim Pierce (guitar)
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Roy Bittan (keyboards)
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Frankie LaRocka (drums)
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Hugh McDonald (bass).
Bon Jovi now desperately needed a band. The soon-to-be-members of the band had crossed paths in their earlier days, but the current lineup didn't come together until March of 1983. Bon Jovi gave Dave Bryan a call, who in turn called
Alec John Such and
Tico Torres.
A succession of guitarists followed, until
Richie Sambora signed on. Such talked Bon Jovi into letting Sambora show what he could do, and Bon Jovi loved it. Before joining Bon Jovi, Sambora had toured with
Joe Cocker, played with a group called
Mercy and had just been called up to audition for
KISS. He also played on the album
Lessons with the band
Message, which was re-released on
CD through
Long Island Records in
1995. Message was originally signed to
Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label, although the album was never released.
Tico Torres was also an experienced musician, having recorded with
Miles Davis and playing live with
The Marvelettes and
Chuck Berry. He had played on 26 records and had recently recorded with
Frankie and the Knockouts (a Jersey band with hit singles in the early
1980s).
David Bryan was a natural recruit. He had quit the band he and Bon Jovi founded while in college, then quit college to attend
Juilliard School, the prestigious New York music school.
1980s
Bon Jovi was now a band, and when they opened for the band
Scandal, they caught the attention of record executive
Derek Shulman, who signed them to
PolyGram.
With the help of their new manager
Doc McGhee, the band's debut album,
Bon Jovi, was released on
January 21,
1984. The album went
gold in the US (sales of over 500,000) and was also released in the UK. The group found themselves opening for
ZZ Top at the Madison Square Garden (before their first album had been released), and for
Scorpions and
Kiss in Europe. They also made an appearance on
American Bandstand.
In
1985, Bon Jovi's second album
7800° Fahrenheit was released, but the response was poor. The leading British metal magazine
Kerrang!, who had been very positive about the debut record, called the album "a pale imitation of the Bon Jovi we have got to know and learned to love." Jon Bon Jovi himself later said it could have and should have been better.
Their third album,
Slippery When Wet, shot the band to superstardom around the world with hits such as "
You Give Love a Bad Name", "
Livin' On A Prayer", and "
Wanted Dead or Alive". Bon Jovi has said the album was named after the ubiquitous highway warning signs, but Bryan has said the following about the album's title: "During the recording of the record we frequently wound up in a striptease club where incredibly good looking girls were putting water and soap on each other. They became so slippery because of that, that you couldn't hold on to them even if you wanted to really bad. 'Slippery when wet!' one of us yelled out and the rest of us immediately knew: that had to be the title of the new album! Originally we were going to put a picture of some huge breasts, the really big ones, on the cover; but when the
PMRC (a moral board under command of
Tipper Gore, wife of former
Vice President of the United States Al Gore) found out we were in big trouble. So we made it into a very decent cover."
The album has sold in excess of 12 million copies since its release in late
1986. On the tour that followed, singer Bon Jovi began having vocal difficulties. The extremely high notes and unrelenting schedule threatened to damage his voice permanently. With the help of a
vocal coach, he made it through the tour. Bon Jovi has tended to sing slightly lower pitches since then.
The next album from Bon Jovi was
New Jersey released in
1988. The album was recorded very shortly after the tour for
Slippery, because the band wanted to prove that they were not just a one hit wonder. The resulting album is a fan favorite, with hit songs such as "Bad Medicine" and "Lay Your Hands On Me", which are still nightly stalwarts in their live repertoire. However,
New Jersey almost led to the end of the band as they went straight back out on the road so soon after the heavy touring for their previous album. This constant living on the road almost destroyed the strong bond between Jon Bon Jovi and Sambora. However, the band made it through and took a healthy break before their next studio effort.
1990s
Between
1990 and
1992, the band members went their separate ways for a while to refocus before writing and recording their next album. This time off also helped them determine where Bon Jovi would fit within the rapidly changing music scene upon their return. Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, a soundtrack to the movie "
Young Guns II" (in which he also appeared for less than a second), more commonly known as "
Blaze of Glory". The album featured high profile guests such as:
Elton John,
Aldo Nova,
Little Richard, and
Jeff Beck, among others. The album faired well commercialy and received very positive reviews. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", earned Jon an
Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but he did not win the award. That same year, however, "Blaze of Glory" was awarded a
Golden Globe.
Meanwhile, Sambora also released a solo album entitled
Stranger in This Town, in
1991. The album had a predominant blues influence to it, and although it was received well by many critics and guitar affectionados, it did not fare too well commercially.
Eric Clapton was a guest guitarist on the song "Mr. Bluesman". David Bryan recorded a soundtrack for the horror movie
The Netherworld, which was the brighter part of that year after he was hospitalized with an illness due to a South American parasite. Torres avoided music and the music business altogether and stayed home. Such took a fall off of his motorcycle which injured his bass-playing hand, forcing him to develop a whole new way to hold and play his instrument.
The band returned with the album
Keep the Faith in
1992. The album featured a more mature sound and lyrical content than any of their previous efforts. Critics and fans alike were pleasantly surprised and the album became a moderate hit amidst the rise of
grunge. It's most recognisable tunes were the hit singles "Bed of Roses", "Keep the Faith" and "In These Arms", but some other songs on the album were released as singles in other parts of the world, mainly the fan favorite epic, "Dry County" and the hooky "I Believe", both considered to be some of band's best work.
In
1994, Bon Jovi released a "greatest hits" album entitled
Cross Road, which also contained two new tracks: the hit singles "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", as well as a new, updated rendition of "Livin' on a Prayer" entitled "Prayer '94" and available only on the US version. The song "Always" was originally written for a soundtrack to the film
Romeo Is Bleeding, but after seing (and disliking) the movie, the band decided not to lend the song to the producers, and instead released it on "Cross Road". The video for "Always" featured
Keri Russell, popular American actress known for her role in the TV show
Felicity and actor
Jack Noseworthy, best known for his role in the
2000 film
U-571. The song peaked at #4 on the US charts and at #1 in countries across
Europe,
Asia and in
Australia.
Shortly after "Cross Road", Alec John Such decided to leave the band. Although, to this day, there is still speculation on if he was fired or left on his own accord. Jon has made it public that there has been contact between him and other band members recently. Alec even joined the band on stage for one song (Wanted Dead or Alive) during their "homecoming" show at
Giants Stadium in
2001. While he has not been officially replaced, Hugh McDonald has handled studio and live bass duties since then. Bon Jovi said, regarding the departure of Such: "Of course it hurts. But I learned to accept and respect it. The fact that I'm a workaholic, studio in, studio out, stage on, stage off, want to be dealing with music day and night, doesn't mean everyone else has to adjust to that pace. Alec wanted to quit for a while now so it didn't come as a complete surprise."
With the
1995 album
These Days, Bon Jovi took the mature rock sound they had developed on
Keep the Faith further. The record as a whole was darker and more downbeat than the usual Bon Jovi fare, and as a result, despite critical kudos, it spun off only one hit single in the US, "This Ain't A Love Song" and it sold "only" a little over a million records. Nevertheless, the other tracks proved sufficiently popular to garner various successful European singles. In
1996, Bon Jovi claimed in an interview with the German Bravo magazine that, due to the overwhelming success of the These Days Tour, the album had sold in excess of 20 million copies worldwide. It was on the These Days Tour, that Bon Jovi played at
Wembley Stadium in 1995 on a sell-out three night's running concert. It is widely considered to be their best rock concert, featuring such hits as "Livin' On A Prayer", "Keep the Faith", an excellent, heart-felt rendition of "Always", and showcasing new songs from
These Days. It is particularly memorable because it is the same weekend that the album got to #1 in the UK charts. This tour date can be viewed on video, and has been re-issued on DVD, both titled
Live From London.
By 1996, Bon Jovi had established themselves as a "force" in the music industry, proving much more durable (and successful) than most of their 80s glam peers. At the end of the These Days tour, the band once again decided to take a break and pursue other interests. Tico used the opportunity further pursue his passion for painting while David started writing and composing various musicals. Richie used his time off to write and record his second solo album, entitled
Undiscovered Soul, released in
1998.
Jon briefly stayed away from music and set his sights for Hollywood. He landed lead roles in movies
Little City and
The Leading Man, and supporting roles in
Moonlight and Valentino,
Homegrown and
U-571, and others. While he was free between filming different movies, Jon wrote what would become his second solo album, 1997's
Destination Anywhere. The album received very positive reviews and was a success across Europe. It was rumored that the record company was pursuing Jon to name the record "These Days, Part 2", since the album was somewhat of a moody progression from "These Days". However, most fans will agree that "Destination Anywhere" was a departure from the signature Bon Jovi brand of rock music. A short movie of the same name was recorded right around the record's release, based entirely on the songs from the record and starring Jon Bon Jovi,
Demi Moore,
Kevin Bacon and
Whoopi Goldberg.
Dave Stewart of
Eurythmics played guitar on the record.
Bon Jovi reunited in
1999 to record the song "Real Life" for the movie
EdTV. David Bryan didn't make it to the filming of the video for the song due to a recent hand injury sustained in a home improvement mishap, so the band used a cardboard cutout of him for the shoot.
2000s
After a nearly three-year hiatus, during which several band members worked on independent projects, Bon Jovi regrouped in 1999 to begin work on their next studio album. Their 2000 release,
Crush, enjoyed overwhelming success both in the US and overseas, thanks in part to the smash-hit single "
It's My Life", co-written by famous Swedish producer
Max Martin.
Crush, which also produced such hits as "Say It Isn't So" and "Thank You for Loving Me", soon became the band's most successful studio album since
Keep the Faith, and helped introduce Bon Jovi to a new, younger fan base. The Crush Tour, which began that summer, originally encompassed only 60 or so shows and was extended due to Bon Jovi's newfound popularity, with the band remaining on tour through mid-
2001. While on tour, Bon Jovi released a collection of live performances from throughout their career in an album entitled,
One Wild Night: Live 1985-2001.
Shortly after the
terrorist attacks of
11 September 2001, the band performed as part of the historic star-studded
The Concert for New York City benefit concert for victims and their families. They performed an acoustic medley of "
Livin' on a Prayer" and "
Wanted Dead or Alive" with a stirring finale of "
It's My Life".
In late
2002,
Bounce, the band's follow-up to
Crush, hit stores. Though
Bounce did not enjoy quite the level of success of its predecessor, the album did produce the hit singles, "Everyday" and "Misunderstood". The band went on a U.S. tour for this album, during which they made history as the last band to play
Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia before it was torn down. The band also released a promotional album through
Target. The album featured eight demo and live tracks.
Following the Bounce Tour, which wrapped up in August
2003, Bon Jovi embarked on what would become a unique and ambitious project. Originally intending to produce an album consisting of live acoustic performances of various songs, the band ended up rewriting, re-recording and reinventing 12 of their biggest hits in a new and much different light.
This Left Feels Right was released in November 2003, with the title referring to the "left turn" of sorts that the band took in redoing the songs heard on this record.
The following year the band released a box set entitled
100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, the title an homage to Elvis Presley's
50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. The set consisted of four CDs packed with 38 unreleased and 12 rare tracks, as well as a
DVD. The box set marked the sales of 100 million Bon Jovi albums and also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the release of the band's first record in
1984. In November
2004, Bon Jovi was honored with the award for Merit at the
American Music Awards.
Bon Jovi participated in
Live 8 on July 2,
2005. A new song, "Have a Nice Day", was debuted at the event, alongside the classics, "Livin' on a Prayer" and "It's My Life".
On August 20th,
2005, Bon Jovi headlined Miller Brewing Co.'s Big Brew-Ha, celebrating its 150th anniversary. The free stadium concert at
Miller Park in
Milwaukee included one preview song from the band's forthcoming album.
In September
2005, Bon Jovi was honored with the Diamond Award at the
World Music Awards for selling 100 million albums. Today, They have sold, 115 million albums (Without singles) worldwide!
Bon Jovi's long-awaited new album,
Have a Nice Day, was released on September 20th, 2005 (U.S.), followed by an international tour which kicked off in early November. The album topped the charts around the world, landing on the number two spot on Billboards the first week of sales. Bon Jovi had a career-best first week, selling over 202,000 albums. "Have a Nice Day" was the first single off the new album, and debuted at radio worldwide on July 18, 2005. The second single, "
Who Says You Can't Go Home", has since debuted as well, including a duet version with country singer
Jennifer Nettles of the band
Sugarland. In May of
2006, Bon Jovi made history by becoming the first Rock & Roll Band to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Chart. The third single of the album is entitled "Welcome to Wherever You Are".
Soon after the release of
Have A Nice Day, the band started gearing up for a new 2005/2006-world tour. This tour, being shorter than previous ones with only seventy-five shows - brings the band to numerous stages and arenas throughout the world. Originally it was planned for them to be the first act to perform at the new
Wembley Stadium, however, the construction company
Multiplex who are behind the stadium's rebuilding project have said that the stadium will not be ready until
2007. The concert was therefore moved to the
Milton Keynes National Bowl with the same performance dates.
1 2 Following dates in
Japan and Europe, Bon Jovi returned to the US in the summer of 2006 for a few stadium shows, including 3 shows in the band's native New Jersey at
Giants Stadium as well as in
Philadelphia,
Boston,
Pittsburgh, and
Chicago.
On
January 21, 2006, in
Hamilton, Ontario, Bon Jovi's plane overshot and skidded off the runway after a show in Buffalo. Fortunately, none of the band members were harmed.
On
February 7, 2006, a promotional album,
Live from the Have a Nice Day Tour, was released through
Wal-Mart. It contains six live tracks recorded in December 2005 in
Boston.
On
February 19, 2006, Bon Jovi performed as the headlining act prior to
Nascar's Daytona 500. The band performed "It's My Life" and their two new singles "Have a Nice Day" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home", the latter with Jennifer Nettles. The country version of this song would hit #1 on the Country Billboard Charts on
May 6,
2006.
On
May 13, 2006, Bon Jovi kicked off their European leg of the "Have A Nice Day" tour in Dusseldorf, Germany. During the encore, they played the 10 minute epic "Dry County", from 1992's Keep The Faith, for the first time in ten years, to the delight of their fans.
On
July 29, 2006, the band played their final show of their Have A Nice Day Tour to a sold out crowd of 55,000 at
Giants Stadium.
Jon Bon Jovi thanked the crowd for their support because it was the 8th time the group had sold out
Giants Stadium, and it would not be their last.
Jon Bon Jovi
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1990:
Golden Globe: Best Song, "Blaze of Glory" (from Young Guns II soundtrack)
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1991:
American Music Award: Favorite Pop/Rock Single, "Blaze of Glory"
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1997:
MTV Europe Music Awards: Best Male
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1998:
Brit Awards: Best International Male
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2001: Humanitarian of the Year by The Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties for his charitable work on behalf of the people of New Jersey
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2001: Honorary Doctorate in Humanities degree from Monmouth University in New Jersey, for his success as an entertainer and his humanitarian work
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2006: HELP USA honors Jon for his philanthropic work with Habitat for Humanity
Bon Jovi - the band
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1987:
MTV Video Music Awards: Best Stage Performance.
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1988:
American Music Award: Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group
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1991: MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award
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1995:
World Music Awards: Best Selling Rock Band Of The Year.
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1995:
MTV Europe Music Awards: Best Rock
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1996:
Brit Awards: Best International Band
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2001:
My VH1 Music Awards: Video Of The Year "Its My Life"
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2002:
My VH1 Music Awards: Hottest Live Show
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2004:
American Music Award Of Merit
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2005: Diamond Award at the
World Music Awards for selling 100 million albums.
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Best selling music artists*
Official site*
Official fanclub site*
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Bon Jovi Lyrics Archive - RockLyricsDB.com*
All Bon Jovi - a large fansite*
Dry County - The largest and oldest Bon Jovi fan site, online since 1995
