Bon Jovi

• 1. Introduction

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  Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. Over the decades since, the group has played 3000 concerts in 50 countries, in front of a combined audience of 34 million people. Its records have sold more than 130 million copies worldwide, which places it among the best-selling American rock bands. Yet the beginning was modest. One young singer's song, recorded with hired studio players, and a group that did not yet have a name. How does a local radio compilation turn into stadiums on several continents? What happens to five friends when their biggest records leave them too tired to speak to each other? And how does a hard rock act from New Jersey end up on a country chart? The answers begin in the clubs of New Jersey, long before the band had a name.

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• 2. Making a Band

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  Jon Bon Jovi was 13 when he started playing live in New Jersey in 1975, on piano and guitar, with a first band called Raze. At 16 he met David Bryan, and the two formed Atlantic City Expressway. Still a teenager, he fronted John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones at clubs such as the Fast Lane. By 1980 he led another group, the Rest, which opened for New Jersey acts including Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

  That same year he recorded his first single, "Runaway," in his cousin's studio with hired studio musicians. By mid-1982 he was out of school and working part-time at a women's shoe store. Then he took a job at Power Station Studios, a Manhattan recording facility co-owned by his cousin Tony Bongiovi. He made several demos, one of them produced by Billy Squier, and sent them to record companies. None made an impact. His first professional recording was a lead vocal on "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas," from the album Christmas in the Stars, which his cousin co-produced.

  In 1983 Jon visited WAPP 103.5FM, a station in Lake Success, New York, known as The Apple. He had come to write and sing the station's jingles. DJ Chip Hobart and promotion director John Lassman suggested adding "Runaway" to a compilation album of local homegrown talent. Jon was reluctant but eventually handed it over. He had re-recorded the song in 1982, after a rough version in 1981, with local players he called The All Star Review. They were guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, drummer Frankie LaRocka and bassist Hugh McDonald.

  In March 1983, Jon called David Bryan. Bryan had quit their old band to study medicine, but college convinced him he wanted music full-time, and he won a place at the Juilliard School in New York. When Jon said a band was forming and a record deal looked likely, Bryan gave up his studies and followed. Bryan then called bassist Alec John Such and an experienced drummer named Tico Torres, both formerly of Phantom's Opera.

  Torres had recorded and played live with Phantom's Opera, The Marvelettes and Chuck Berry. He appeared on 26 records, and had lately recorded with Franke and the Knockouts, a Jersey band with hit singles in the early 1980s.

  Lead guitar was less settled. For a short tour supporting "Runaway," Jon's friend and neighbor Dave Sabo, nicknamed The Snake, took the role but never officially joined. The two promised each other that whoever made it first would help the other. Sabo later formed Skid Row. Jon then noticed hometown guitarist Richie Sambora, recommended by Such and Torres. Sambora had toured with Joe Cocker, played with a group called Mercy, and been called up to audition for Kiss. He had also played on Lessons, an album by the band Message, where Such was bassist. Message was originally signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records, though the album was not officially released at the time.

  Record executive Derek Shulman signed the group to Mercury Records, part of the PolyGram company, after seeing it play showcases and open for local talent. Jon wanted a group name. Pamela Maher, a friend of Richard Fischer and an employee of manager Doc McGhee, proposed Bon Jovi, following famous two-word bands such as Van Halen. It won out over the original idea, Johnny Electric. The suggestion drew little enthusiasm, but two years later the band charted under that name. With McGhee now managing them, the group went into the studio to make its first album.

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• 3. From Opening Act to Headliner

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  The debut album, Bon Jovi, was released on the 21st of January 1984. Its single "Runaway" reached the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100, and the album peaked at number forty-three on the Billboard 200. The group soon found itself opening for Scorpions in the United States and for Kiss in Europe.

  A second album followed in 1985, with the singles "Only Lonely," "In and Out of Love" and the ballad "Silent Night." It peaked at number thirty-seven and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Sales fell short of the band's hopes, but the record put it back on the road. In May 1985 it headlined in Japan and Europe, then spent six months in the United States supporting Ratt. Along the way came the Texas Jam, England's Castle Donington Monsters of Rock, and the first Farm Aid.

  Two moderate albums changed the group's approach. It hired professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator and chose Bruce Fairbairn to produce. In early 1986 the band moved to Vancouver, Canada, for six months of recording. They named the result Slippery When Wet after visiting a strip club in the city.

  The album was released on the 16th of August 1986 and spent eight weeks atop the Billboard 200. Its first two singles, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer," both reached number one on the Hot 100. Billboard named it the top-selling album of 1987. "Livin' on a Prayer" won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance. The band also took Favorite Pop/Rock Band at the American Music Awards and Favorite Rock Group at the People's Choice Awards.

  At the album's release, the band was the support act for 38 Special. By the end of 1986 it was six months into headline dates in arenas across America. In August 1987 it headlined England's Monsters of Rock, where Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson and Paul Stanley joined the set to perform "We're an American Band." The year closed with 130 shows on the Tour Without End, grossing $28,400,000.

  Determined to show that Slippery When Wet was no fluke, the band released New Jersey in September 1988. It reached number one in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Five of its singles climbed into the Top 10 of the Hot 100, a record for a hard rock album. "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You" hit number one. "Born to Be My Baby," "Lay Your Hands on Me" and "Living in Sin" also reached the top ten. MTV banned the video for "Living in Sin" over sexual content, then put the re-edited version into heavy rotation.

  Touring ran through 1989 and 1990, covering more than 22 countries and more than 232 shows. On the 11th of June 1989 the band played a homecoming concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. That August it went to the Soviet Union for the Moscow Music Peace Festival. The Soviet government officially sanctioned the appearance, and New Jersey was legally released in the USSR.

  At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, Jon and Richie Sambora played acoustic versions of "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." MTV Unplugged was already in development. Its showrunners credit the pair's performance with changing its aim from a show meant only for "young, up-and-coming artists" into a simplified showcase for "big, stadium, electric-arena-type acts."

  The cost arrived quietly. Recording two albums back to back and touring at a punishing pace left the band exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. By the end of the New Jersey tour it had 16 months of concerts behind it. After the final date in Mexico, with no clear plans, the members simply went home. The band says there were few if any goodbyes. Each member retreated into his own projects and showed no desire to make another album. Repairing that silence would take a firing and a trip to an island.

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• 4. Repair and Maturity

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  In 1991 Jon fired manager Doc McGhee and took over the job himself, founding Bon Jovi Management. That October the band went to the Caribbean island of St. Thomas to discuss its future. Each member was allowed to speak about his feelings without interruption, and the differences were resolved. In January 1992 they returned to Vancouver, this time to the Little Mountain studios with producer Bob Rock, to begin a fifth album.

  Keep the Faith arrived in November 1992 and marked a change of sound and image. It dropped the heavy drums and wild guitar solos for a more mature sound and more serious lyrics. Media attention fixed on Jon's hair, and when he cut it, he made headlines on CNN. To promote the record, the band returned to the small New Jersey clubs where its career had begun. It also recorded an MTV Unplugged show that differed from the rest of the series. The performance was an intimate, in-the-round mix of acoustic and electric renditions of classic hits, other artists' songs and new material. It was released commercially in 1993 as Keep the Faith: An Evening with Bon Jovi.

  The album reached Double Platinum with the RIAA. It produced the Top 10 hit "Bed of Roses," while the title track hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The world tour visited 37 countries and played 177 shows for 2.5 million fans. It reached stadiums in South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, in places the band had never seen.

  In October 1994 came a greatest hits album, Cross Road, with two new tracks: "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night." "Always" became the band's highest-selling single and stayed in the top ten of the Hot 100 for six months. In the United Kingdom, Cross Road was the best-selling album of 1994. That year the band also won Best Selling Rock Band at the World Music Awards.

  That same year Alec John Such left, the first lineup change since the band began. Hugh McDonald, the bassist from the original "Runaway" recording, unofficially took his place. Jon said, "Of course it hurts. But I learned to accept and respect it." He added that Such had wanted to quit for a while, "so it didn't come as a complete surprise."

  These Days appeared in June 1995, while the band was touring Europe. It debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and held the top spot for four consecutive weeks. It also reached number one in Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan. The first single, "This Ain't a Love Song," was a ballad with rhythm and blues influence and a video filmed in Thailand. It reached the top twenty of the Hot 100 and was the only significant American hit from the album. In the United Kingdom, however, the record produced four top ten hits.

  That year the band won a BRIT Award for best international band and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Rock. In June 1995 it sold out three nights at London's Wembley Stadium, filmed for Bon Jovi: Live From London. The These Days Tour visited 43 countries and played 126 shows. Afterward the members again went their separate ways, but this time the break was a conscious group decision. They agreed on a self-imposed sabbatical of two years.

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• 5. Second Wind

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  In 1999 Bon Jovi reunited to record "Real Life" for the movie EdTV, while David Bryan was recovering from an accident in which he nearly severed his finger. After a hiatus of nearly four years, during which several members worked on independent projects, the band regrouped for a new album. Crush, its seventh studio album, came out in June 2000 and worked as something of a comeback.

  The lead single, "It's My Life," was noted as one of the group's most successful releases in a decade. It became a symbol of the band's longevity through many shifts in mainstream rock, and it helped introduce Bon Jovi to a younger fan base. The band earned two Grammy nominations, for Best Rock Album and for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The video for "It's My Life" won the My VH1 Music Award for My Favorite Video.

  On the 19th and the 20th of August 2000 the band played two sold-out concerts at Wembley Stadium, the last held there before its demolition. That year it played to 1.1 million fans in 40 arena and stadium venues across North America, Europe and Japan. While on tour it released One Wild Night Live 1985-2001, its first live album, drawn from recordings it had been collecting since its earliest days on the road. On the 27th and the 28th of July 2001 it sold out two homecoming shows at Giants Stadium. The broadcast broke ratings records for the VH1 network, and the band won Hottest Live Show at the 2001 My VH1 Music Awards.

  The members had expected a brief vacation before work on an eighth album, but the attacks of the 11th of September 2001 changed that. Within days, Jon and Richie Sambora had filmed public service announcements for the Red Cross, recorded "America The Beautiful" for the NFL and performed on the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon. A month later the band played two Monmouth County Alliance of Neighbors concerts in Red Bank, New Jersey, to raise funds for families near its hometowns. On the 21st of October 2001 it performed at the Concert for New York at Madison Square Garden.

  The band entered the studio in spring 2002, and Bounce, shaped by the attacks, was released on the 8th of October 2002. It debuted at number two in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was also the first album since 1985 to sell fewer than 6 million units. During the Bounce Tour the band became the last to play at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia before it was torn down.

  After the tour ended in August 2003, the group began a side project. It meant to produce an album of live acoustic performances. Instead it rewrote, re-recorded and reinvented 12 of its biggest hits, released in November 2003 as This Left Feels Right. The following year came a box set titled 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, a homage to Elvis Presley's 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. It held four CDs with 38 unreleased and 12 rare tracks, plus a DVD, marking 100 million albums sold and the 20th anniversary of the first record. In November 2004 the band received the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards.

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• 6. Nashville and the Touring Peak

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  On the 11th of February 2007, Bon Jovi and singer Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland won the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The song was "Who Says You Can't Go Home." It came from Have a Nice Day, the ninth studio album, released in September 2005. That album debuted at number two in both the United States and the United Kingdom and reached number one in fifteen countries. The title track reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and Canada.

  "Who Says You Can't Go Home" was released in early 2006 and reached the top forty of the Hot 100. The duet version with Nettles peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, making Bon Jovi the first rock band with a number one on the country chart. The song also won Favorite Rock Song at the People's Choice Awards.

  The Have a Nice Day Tour of 2005-06 played to 2,002,000 fans. It ranked as the third-highest-grossing tour of 2006, behind The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang World Tour and Madonna's Confessions Tour. On the 14th of November 2006 the band was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, alongside James Brown and Led Zeppelin.

  Lost Highway came out in June 2007 and blended the band's rock sound with country. Jon called it "a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville." To promote it, the band appeared at the CMT Awards in Nashville, on American Idol and on MTV Unplugged, and played the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium. On the 24th of June 2007 it became the first group to perform at London's new O2 Arena, formerly the Millennium Dome. The 23,000 seats sold out within 30 minutes of tickets going on sale.

  The album topped the charts in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Its third single, "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore," featured LeAnn Rimes and won the 2008 CMT Music Award for Collaborative Video of the Year. The Lost Highway Tour opened with 10 shows at the brand-new Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It then crossed Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe, finishing in the summer of 2008. Billboard ranked it the highest-grossing tour of 2008, with ticket sales of $210.6 million and 2,157,675 tickets sold in 2008.

  In April 2009, Phil Griffin's documentary on the band, When We Were Beautiful, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. It followed the band's ups and downs across 25 years. That June, Jon and Richie Sambora were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The same month they recorded a cover of "Stand By Me" with Iranian singer Andy Madadian, partly in Persian, to show solidarity with those affected by political unrest in Iran.

  The Circle was released on the 10th of November 2009 as a return to rock after the Nashville-flavored record. It debuted at number one in the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan. The stadium leg of the Circle Tour began with the first show ever at the new New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Three sold-out nights followed on the 26th, 27th and the 29th of May 2010. A 12-night run at London's O2 Arena grossed $18,178,036 and drew 187,696 fans. Billboard named the tour the highest-grossing of 2010. Billboard and Pollstar ranked Bon Jovi the Top Touring Act of the Year for the second time in three years, and Forbes placed the band's earnings of roughly $125 million second among the world's highest-paid musicians.

  In October 2010 came a Greatest Hits collection with four new songs. It debuted at number one in Canada, Ireland, Europe and Australia and reached the top five in twenty countries. The band received the Global Icon Award at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards. By January 2012 Jon was saying a twelfth studio album was under way.

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• 7. Departures and Returns

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  On the 2nd of April 2013, Richie Sambora left the band's ongoing Because We Can tour for unspecified "personal reasons." The tour supported What About Now, released on the 12th of March 2013, which reached number one in the United States, Canada, Austria, Sweden and Australia. Session guitarist Phil X, who had already covered for Sambora on several dates in 2011, stayed for the rest of the tour. Rumors said Sambora had been fired, but both he and Jon denied it. Tico Torres was briefly sidelined that autumn by emergency gallbladder surgery. Rich Scannella, from Jon's solo band the Kings of Suburbia, filled in from late September to early October.

  In June 2014 Sambora told a reporter, "There is no bad blood with me now." He said he still foresaw the possibility of a return. By November, Jon told a reporter, "He's quit. He's gone. No hard feelings." Phil X unofficially took over the guitar role.

  The first album without Sambora, This House Is Not for Sale, was released on the 4th of November 2016. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 129,000 album-equivalent units, of which 128,000 were pure album sales. The title track's music video showed Hugh McDonald and Phil X becoming full-time band members. Before it, in August 2015, came the compilation Burning Bridges, which Jon described as a "fan record" tied to a tour.

  On the 13th of December 2017 the band announced it would enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, after winning the 2017 fan ballot with over 1.1 million votes. Jon invited Sambora and Alec John Such to appear, and both performed with the band at the ceremony. On the 29th of April 2018 the band played the last ticketed event at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee before the venue's demolition began that summer.

  On the 9th of March 2019, Jon announced on social media that a fifteenth album was in production. In August 2019 he said it would be called 2020. The pandemic postponed the album, due on the 15th of May 2020, and on the 20th of April 2020 the band canceled its accompanying tour. The album, reworked to include songs inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests, arrived in October. When a 2022 tour began, critics and social media users debated the quality of Jon's vocals, with many believing they were poor.

  During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a viral video showed residents of Odesa preparing for an attack while a drummer played along to "It's My Life." The band shared it with the comment, "This is for the ones who stood their ground... Odessa, Ukraine. #SlavaUkraini." On the 5th of June 2022, the band announced the death of founding member Alec John Such, later revealed to be a heart attack.

  In February 2023 Sambora said he was in talks about possibly rejoining, but in May 2024 the band confirmed that no such plans existed. In October 2023 Phil X revealed the band was heading to Nashville for a month to record. A holiday single, "Christmas Isn't Christmas," followed on the 17th of November 2023. "Legendary," the lead single from the sixteenth album, Forever, came out on the 14th of March 2024, with "Living Proof" on the 17th of May. Forever was released on the 7th of June 2024. In April 2024 a four-part documentary, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, directed by Gotham Chopra, premiered on Hulu and Disney+. In October 2025 the band announced its first tour since Jon's 2022 vocal surgery, beginning in July 2026 at Madison Square Garden before London, Dublin and Edinburgh.

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• 8. Sound and Standing

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  Critics have described Bon Jovi's style as hard rock, arena rock and pop rock. The first four albums have been called both hard rock and glam metal. The first two leaned heavier, while Slippery When Wet and New Jersey blended the same ingredients into something more commercial. By Keep the Faith the glam metal sound was gone, and These Days settled into a more mature hard rock. One reviewer said Crush was "far enough into pop/rock to actually stand a chance of getting airplay," while Bounce was called "heavy, serious rock." Have a Nice Day was heavier than Crush.

  With Lost Highway, Jon insisted the sound was not country but a Nashville-influenced Bon Jovi record. The Circle then returned to a more typical rock sound. Allmusic described it as "conjured by echoed, delayed guitars, shimmering keyboards, and spacious rhythms."

  The band has been credited with bridging "the gap between heavy metal and pop with style and ease." It has released 16 studio albums, five compilations and three live albums. In 2006 it entered the UK Music Hall of Fame, and in 2018 the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2020 Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker placed it second on his list of "the 20 greatest hair metal bands of all time." In 2025 Ultimate Classic Rock named it among the "Big Four" of glam metal, alongside Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Poison.

  The current lineup has grown beyond the five who started. Hugh McDonald has played bass since 2016, after serving as a session and touring musician from 1994. Phil X has been lead guitarist since 2016. In 2024 two longtime collaborators joined officially: percussionist Everett Bradley and rhythm guitarist John Shanks, who had worked with the band as a session musician since 2004.

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