This commercial hard rock band was formed in New Jersey,
USA, and fronted by Jon Bon Jovi
(b. John Francis Bongiovi
Jnr., 2 March 1962, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, USA; vocals).
His four co-members were Richie Sambora
(b. 11 July 1959;
guitar, ex-Message), David Bryan
(b. David Rashbaum, 7
February 1962, Edison, New Jersey, USA; keyboards), Tico
Torres
(b. 7 October 1953; drums, ex-Franke And The Knockouts)
and Alec John Such
(b. 14 November 1956; bass, ex-Message).
Bongiovi, of Italian descent, met Rashbaum
(ex-Phantom's Opera)
at Sayreville High School, where they shared a mutual interest in
rock music. They soon joined eight other musicians in the R&B
cover band Atlantic City Expressway. When Rashbaum moved to
New York to study at the Juilliard School of Music, Bongiovi
followed. Charming his way into the Power Station recording studios,
which was owned by his cousin Tony, he performed menial tasks
for two years before Billy Squier agreed to produce his demo tape.
One track, 'Runaway', was played on local radio and appeared on
a local artist compilation album
(his work would also grace oddities
such as the novelty track, 'R2D2 I Wish You A Merry Christmas').
Reunited with Rashbaum, he acquired the services of Sambora, an
established session musician, Such
(ex-Phantom's Opera) and Torres
(ex-Knockouts). By July 1983, they had a recording contract with
PolyGram Records and support slots with Eddie Money and ZZ Top,
the latter at Madison Square Garden. Jon Bon Jovi's looks attracted
immediate attention for the band, and he turned down the lucrative
lead role in the dance film Footloose in order to concentrate on his
music. Their debut album preceded a headline tour and support slots
with the Scorpions, Whitesnake and Kiss. Their second album, 7800
Degrees Fahrenheit, was greeted with cynicism by the music press,
which was already hostile towards the band's manicured image and
formularized heavy rock - this mediocre album only fuelled their scorn.
The band responded in style: Slippery When Wet was the biggest-selling
rock album of 1987, although it originally appeared in August 1986.
Collaborating with songwriter Desmond Child, three of its tracks -
'Wanted Dead Or Alive', 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and 'Livin' On
A Prayer' - were US and European hits. Headlining the Monsters Of Rock
shows in Europe, they were joined on stage by Gene Simmons and Paul
Stanley
( Kiss ), Dee Snider
( Twisted Sister ) and Bruce Dickinson
( Iron
Maiden ) for an encore of 'We're An American Band'. It merely served to
emphasize the velocity with which Bon Jovi had reached the top of the rock
league. The tour finally finished in Australia after 18 months, while the
album sold millions of copies. When New Jersey followed, it included 'Living
In Sin', a Jon Bon Jovi composition that pointed to his solo future, although
the song owed a great debt to his hero Bruce Springsteen. The rest of 1989
was spent on more extensive touring, before the band temporarily retired.
As Jon Bon Jovi commented, it was time to 'Ride my bike into the hills, learn
how to garden, anything except do another Bon Jovi record.' He subsequently
concentrated on his solo career, married karate champion Dorothea Hurley
and appeared in his first movie, Young Guns II, and released a quasi-soundtrack
of songs inspired by the film as his debut solo album in 1990. However, the
commercial incentive to return to Bon Jovi was inevitably hard to resist. Keep
The Faith, with a more stripped-down sound, was an impressive album, satisfying
critics and anxious fans alike who had patiently waited almost four years for new
material. To those who had considered the group a spent commercial force,
the success of the slick ballad, 'Always', a chart fixture in 1994, announced no
such decline. On the back of its success, Bon Jovi occupied the UK number 1
spot with the compilation set Crossroad, amid rumours that bass player Alec John
Such was about to be replaced by Huey McDonald. Meanwhile, Bryan released
his first solo album, through Phonogram in Japan, and Sambora married Hollywood
actress Heather Locklear
(ex- Dynasty ). These Days was a typically slick
collection of ballads and party rock, and included the hit single 'This Ain't A Love
Song'. With their position already secure as one of the world's most popular rock
bands, the album lacked ambition, and the band seemed content to provide fans
with more of the same old formula. Their profile had never been greater than in 1995,
when, in the annual readers poll of the leading UK metal magazine Kerrang!, the
band won seven categories, including best band and best album
(for These Days )
and, astonishingly, worst band and worst album
(for These Days )! These Days Tour
Edition was a live mini-album released only in Australia. Jon Bon Jovi began to
nurture an acting career in the 90s with starring roles in Moonlight And Valentino
and The Leading Man, and enjoyed further solo success with 1997's Destination Anywhere.
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