|
|
|
|
Bon Jovi
|
| |
|
| |
Bon Jovi is an American hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide.
Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 (which pared the lineup down to a quartet), the lineup has remained the same for the past 25 years.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Bon Jovi' Start a new discussion about 'Bon Jovi' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Bon Jovi is an American hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide.
Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 (which pared the lineup down to a quartet), the lineup has remained the same for the past 25 years. After two moderately successful albums in 1984 and 1985, the band scored big with Slippery When Wet (1986) and New Jersey (1988), which sold a combined 19 million copies in the U.S. alone, charted eight Top Ten hits (including four number one hits), and launched the band into global super stardom. After non-stop touring, the band went on hiatus after the New Jersey Tour in 1990, during which time Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora both released successful solo albums. In 1992, the band returned with the double platinum Keep the Faith and has since created a string of platinum albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
In 2006, the band won a Grammy for best Country Collaboration for "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland and also became the first rock band to reach #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart with the same song. The band has also received multiple Grammy nominations for music from the albums Crush, Bounce, and Lost Highway.
Throughout their career, the band has released ten studio albums, of which nine have gone platinum in US. In addition, the band has charted 19 singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, five of which reached #1 - "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' on a Prayer", "Bad Medicine", "I'll Be There for You" and Jon Bon Jovi's solo hit "Blaze of Glory". The band also holds the record for the most weeks for a hard rock album at #1 on the Billboard 200 with Slippery When Wet, as well as the most Top 10 singles from a hard rock album, with New Jersey, which charted five such singles.
History
Formation
Founding member Jon Bon Jovi began to play piano and guitar at thirteen with his first band, called Raze. He was enrolled in an all-boys Catholic school, St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, but left to attend public school at Sayreville War Memorial High School. At sixteen, Bon Jovi met David Bryan (born David Bryan Rashbaum) and formed a 12-piece cover band named Atlantic City Expressway after the New Jersey highway. 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 local clubs like "The Fast Lane" and opening for known acts in the area.
By mid-1982, out of school and working part-time in a women's shoe store, Bon Jovi took a job at the Power Station Studios, a Manhattan recording facility where his cousin, Tony Bongiovi, was a 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.
In 1983, Bon Jovi visited the local radio station WAPP 103.5FM "The Apple" in Lake Success, New York. He spoke directly to the D.J., Chip Hobart, who suggested Bon Jovi let WAPP include the song "Runaway" on a compilation album of local homegrown talent. Bon Jovi was reluctant but eventually gave them the song on which Bon Jovi had used studio musicians to play on the track "Runaway" (originally written in 1980). The studio musicians who helped record "Runaway" were known as The All Star Review. They were: guitarists Dave Sabo and Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan, drummer Frankie LaRocka and bassist Hugh McDonald.
The song began to get airplay in the New York area, then other sister stations in major markets picked up the song. In March 1983 Bon Jovi called David Bryan, who in turn called bassist Alec John Such and an experienced drummer named Tico Torres.
Tapped to play lead guitar was Bon Jovi's neighbor, Dave Sabo (a.k.a. The Snake), who later formed the group Skid Row. Sabo was eventually replaced by Richie Sambora. Before joining the group, Sambora had toured with Joe Cocker, played with a group called Mercy and had 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 Records label, although the album was never released.
Tico Torres was also an experienced musician, having recorded and played live with Phantom's Opera, The Marvelettes, and Chuck Berry. He appeared on 26 records and had recently recorded with Franke and the Knockouts, a Jersey band with hit singles during the early 1980s.
David Bryan had quit the band he and Bon Jovi founded in order to study medicine. While in college, he realized he wanted to pursue music full-time and was accepted to Juilliard School, the New York music school. When Bon Jovi called his friend and said he was putting together a band and a record deal looked likely, Bryan followed Bon Jovi's lead and gave up his studies.
The Bon Jovi lineup, which remained stable for a decade, was:
- Jon Bon Jovi (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
- Richie Sambora (lead guitar, backing vocals)
- David Bryan (keyboard, backing vocals)
- Tico Torres (drums, percussion)
- Alec John Such (bass guitar, backing vocals)
1980s
Once the band began playing showcases and opening for local talent, they caught the attention of record executive Derek Shulman, who signed them to Mercury Records, part of the PolyGram company. Because Jon Bon Jovi wanted a group name, Jerry Jaffe, head of A&R at PolyGram, came up with Bon Jovi.
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 U.S and was also released in the UK. The single "Runaway" was the band's first Top 40 hit, reaching #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. The group found themselves opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden (before their first album had been released), and for Scorpions and Kiss in Europe. They also made an appearance on the popular television program American Bandstand.
In 1985, Bon Jovi's second album 7800° Fahrenheit was released. While embarking on a tour opening up for Ratt, the album received a poor response by critics. The leading British metal magazine Kerrang!, which 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.
In April of 1986, Bon Jovi packed up and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to record their third album. Six months of decadent living and non-stop studio work resulted in Slippery When Wet. The album, produced by Bruce Fairbairn and recorded and mixed by Bob Rock, was released in August of 1986 and was destined to represent what would become the trademark Bon Jovi sound. The first single, "You Give Love a Bad Name", became the band's first Number One single on the Billboard charts. The follow-up single, "Livin' On A Prayer" hit Number One as well, spending four weeks at the top position. The album's third single, "Wanted Dead or Alive" peaked at #7 on the Billboard charts but emerged, and still remains to this day, the Bon Jovi "National Anthem" - the band's most recognizable hit.
When Slippery When Wet was released in August of 1986, Bon Jovi was the support act for "38 Special". By the end of 1986, Bon Jovi were well into six months of headline dates in arenas across America.With the overwhelming success of Slippery When Wet Bon Jovi were bona fide superstars.The album spent 94 weeks on the Billboard charts(eight of those weeks at #1) and sold twelve million copies in U.S. to date.
In 1987, the band headlined England's "Monsters of Rock" festival with Dio, Metallica, W.A.S.P., Anthrax, and Cinderella. The tour took its toll on singer Jon Bon Jovi when he 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 was 1988's New Jersey. The album was recorded shortly after the tour for Slippery When Wet. The resulting album was a commercial hit,sold seven million copies in U.S. and became the first hard rock album to spawn five Top Ten singles on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart . "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You" both hit number one, and "Born to Be My Baby" (#3), "Lay Your Hands on Me" (#7), and "Living in Sin" (#9) rounded out the list.
Bon Jovi mounted another huge worldwide tour that continued throughout 1989 and 1990. They visited more than 22 countries and performed more than 232 shows before it was all over. The personal highpoint for the band was their June 11, 1989 sell-out homecoming at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. In August of 1989, the band headed to Russia for the Moscow Music Peace Festival, a 2-day rock concert staged at the Lenin Olympic Stadium to promote two goals: 1) raise awareness about and provide treatment for drug and alcohol abuse among Russian teens and 2) introduce Russia to rock 'n' roll American style. Bon Jovi were the first band officially sanctioned by the Russian government to perform in Russia and New Jersey was released on the state-owned record label, Melodiya, a privilege no Western artist had ever been granted before.
Perhaps, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora's most influential performance was on the 1989 Mtv Video Music Awards. Armed only with acoustic guitars, They performed "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and "Livin On A Prayer." To Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, it wasn't much of a big deal; the songs were written on two acoustic guitars and, therefore, stripping them down to their basic form was a natural thing to do. However, the response from those who witnessed the performance, both live at the awards and at home on television, was instantaneous and enthusiastic. This performance has generally been acknowledged as the inspirational spark that led to the MTV UnPlugged series and the catalyst for the subsequent popularity of the unplugged movement in popular music.
New Jersey was supported by video releases such as New Jersey: The Videos and Access All Areas, as well as a massive 18-month tour, originally billed as The Jersey Syndicate Tour.
1990s
Between 1990 and 1992, the band members went their separate ways. The exhaustion of recording both Slippery When Wet and New Jersey back to back with highly paced world tours after each album took its toll on the band. The band have since stated that there were few if any goodbyes between them at the end of the New Jersey tour. During the time they took off from the scene, the band retreated to their own interests and showed no desire for making another album.
Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, a soundtrack to the movie Young Guns II (in which he had an extremely brief cameo), more commonly known as Blaze of Glory. Released in 1990, the album featured high profile guests such as Elton John, Little Richard, and Jeff Beck. The album fared well commercially, received positive reviews and quickly achieved double platinum status in US. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Jon an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. "Blaze of Glory" was awarded a Golden Globe.
Sambora, with the help of Tico Torres and David Bryan, released a solo album entitled Stranger In This Town, in 1991. The album featured Eric Clapton 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 caused by a South American parasite.
In 1992, the band met together and managed to resolve their differences by allowing each member to speak about his feelings without interruption from another. Upon resolving their issues, the band returned with the album Keep the Faith. The album was released in November of 1992 to the most critical acclaim that the band had ever received. Produced by Bob Rock, the album signified an ending to their early Glam Metal roots in previous albums and introduced a more "rock n roll"-driven groove to the album. Much more complex, lyrically and musically, the album proved that Bon Jovi could still be a viable band in 1992, despite the decline of the late 80s pop metal genre into which the band had been lumped and despite the industry's and audience's growing affinity for Grunge. As Bon Jovi's sound morphed itself to work in the 90s music scene, their image changed, as well. Gone were the excessive rock 'n' roll trappings of spandex, hairspray and hair. Singles "Bed of Roses," which was a major Top 10 hit, "Keep the Faith" and "In These Arms" all hit the Top 40 in the U.S.
In 1994, Bon Jovi released a greatest hits album titled Cross Road, with two new tracks: the hit singles "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". "Always" spent thirty-two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Bon Jovi's biggest hit. The song peaked at #4 on the US charts and at #1 in countries across Europe, Asia and in Australia. The single sold very well, going platinum in the U.S.Album sales soared all over the world and Bon Jovi's popularity grew exponentially on an international level.
That same year, bassist Alec John Such left the band, the first lineup change since Bon Jovi began. Hugh McDonald, who was the bassist on "Runaway," unofficially replaced Such as bassist, with rumors that he had also recorded bass on previous albums. Jon 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."
Faced with the first change in their line-up since the band's inception and Cross Road lingering on the charts as a massive hit, Bon Jovi had to decide what to do about their next album, which was finished and just about ready to be released.
With Hugh McDonald called in to handle bass duties, Bon Jovi opted to tour heavily in support of Cross Road and, while out on tour, These Days was released in June of 1995."This Ain't a Love Song" was the first single off the album and with an exotic video filmed in Thailand, the ballad emerged as another worldwide hit for the band. Critics responded to These Days much as they had to Keep The Faith, noting that the band had continued to mature lyrically and explore different styles of music, while keeping the music undeniably Bon Jovi.
The band's popularity continued to grow by leaps and bounds internationally and the summer of 1995 saw Bon Jovi merging their Cross Road tour into the These Days tour. The tour that kicked off in India took the band though Asia, Europe and the Americas before the band's first-ever shows in South Africa. A career highpoint came in June 1995 when Bon Jovi sold out three-nights at London's historical Wembley Stadium in London, England. With film crews in tow, the concerts were documented for Bon Jovi: Live Form London, a Grammy-nominated video of their record-breaking appearance.
Following the overwhelming global success of the These Days album and tour, the members of Bon Jovi went their separate ways. But unlike the period following the New Jersey tour, tainted with uncertainty, this hiatus was a conscious group decision. The members of Bon Jovi agreed to a self-imposed two-year sabbatical from the band.
Tico Torres used the opportunity further pursue his painting while David Bryan started writing and composing various musicals. In 1998, Richie Sambora released his second solo outing called Undiscovered Soul.
Jon Bon Jovi had also been bitten by the acting bug. He landed lead roles in movies Little City and The Leading Man, and supporting roles in Moonlight and Valentino, Homegrown, and U-571, among 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 positive reviews and was a success across Europe. A short movie of the same name was recorded 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, and produced some of the tracks.
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 because of a 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 success both in the U.S. and overseas, thanks in part to the smash-hit single "It's My Life". Crush, which also produced such hits as "Say It Isn't So" and "Thank You For Loving Me", eventually went double platinum in the U.S ,sold eight million copies worldwide, and helped introduce them to a new, younger fan base.
The Crush Tour, which began that summer, originally encompassed only 60 or so shows and was extended because of demand, with the band remaining on tour through mid-2001 with the Pittsburgh show being the highlight with Pittsburgh's pre openers "Regulation Planet". 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. The Crush tour was notable in that the European 2000 leg included the band headlining two nights at Wembley Stadium. These were the final shows at the venue before it was demolished. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the band performed as part of the star-studded The Concert for New York City benefit 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 hit stores. It produced hit single "Everyday". The band went on the U.S. Bounce 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, featuring eight demo and live tracks.
Following the end of the Bounce Tour in August 2003 in Pittsburgh with pre openers "Regulation Planet", Bon Jovi embarked on a project; originally intending to produce an album consisting of live acoustic performances, 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.
The following year, the band released a box set entitled 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, the title being 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, where they performed a sneak preview of an unfinished song, "Have a Nice Day". Bon Jovi also participated in Live 8 on July 2, 2005, where they debuted the full, final version of "Have a Nice Day", alongside "Livin' on a Prayer" and "It's My Life". On August 20, 2005, the band 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.
Bon Jovi's ninth studio album, Have a Nice Day, was released in September 2005. The album topped the charts around the world, giving Bon Jovi its career-best first week sales of 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", was released in the U.S. in early 2006, although internationally it was the third single release after "Welcome to Wherever You Are". In the U.S., a duet version of "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with country singer Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland was released, and in May 2006, Bon Jovi became the first Rock & Roll Band to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Chart. On February 11, 2007, Bon Jovi also won the Grammy Award, for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" for "Who Says You Can't Go Home".
Soon after the release of Have A Nice Day, the band started gearing up for the new 2005-2006 worldwide Have A Nice Day Tour. This tour, being shorter than previous ones with only seventy-five shows originally planned, took the band to numerous stages and arenas throughout the world. During the tour, Bon Jovi performed as the headlining act at Nascar's Daytona 500 on February 19, 2006. Originally it was planned for them to be the first act to perform at the new Wembley Stadium in London, but the stadium's rebuilding project was delayed until 2007. The concerts were therefore moved to the Milton Keynes National Bowl and Hull, KC Stadium with the same performance dates. Following dates in Japan and Europe, Bon Jovi extended the tour and returned to the U.S. in 2006 for a few stadium shows, including 3 sold-out shows in the band's native New Jersey at Giants Stadium. On February 7, 2006, a promotional album, Live from the Have a Nice Day Tour, was released through Wal-Mart, which contained six live tracks recorded in December 2005 in Boston. Three of these tracks were released in the U.K. in June 2006 as B-sides on the single "Who Says You Can't Go Home".
On November 14, 2006, Bon Jovi were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame alongside James Brown and Led Zeppelin, joining music legends such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna and Elvis Presley. They will not be eligible for the U.S. equivalent until 2009.
With the end of the Have A Nice Day Tour, Bon Jovi began to throw around ideas for their next project. Among the potential offerings were going to Nashville to record with country stars (following the success of "Who Says You Can't Go Home"), a second greatest hits CD, a new studio album, and even new movies.
In June 2007, Bon Jovi released their tenth studio album, Lost Highway. The album debuted at number #1 on the Billboard charts, the first time that Bon Jovi have had a number one album on the U.S. charts since the release of New Jersey in 1988. The album sold 292,000 copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., and became Bon Jovi's third US number one album. The first single from the new album was "(You Want to) Make a Memory", which debuted (and peaked) at #27 in the Billboard Hot 100, Bon Jovi's highest ever debut in the U.S. charts. The album reached Number #1 in Japan, Canada, Australia and Europe, and reached number #2 in the UK.
To promote the new album, Bon Jovi made several television appearances, including the 6th annual CMT Awards in Nashville, American Idol, and MTV Unplugged, as well as playing at the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium. They also performed ten promotional gigs in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Japan. As part of the 'tour', Bon Jovi were the first group to perform at London's new O2 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome) when it opened to the public on June 24, 2007. The 23,000-seater stadium sold out within 30 minutes of tickets being released.
On June 6, 2007, Richie Sambora checked himself into a rehabilitation facility, following a bad time in his personal life, with the end of his marriage to actress Heather Locklear, the death of his father Adam, and reports of alcohol problems. This meant that he missed a concert in Puerto Rico as well as several television appearances, with backup guitarist Bobby Bandiera taking his place. He checked out on June 13, and was present for Bon Jovi's remaining summer concerts. On the DVD for the Lost Highway concert, the band dedicated the song, "Seat Next To You," to the memory of Adam Sambora.
When questioned on American Idol, Jon Bon Jovi stated that the band would embark on a tour beginning in January, after playing ten dates in New Jersey in the fall. The band were criticised due to the perceived excessive ticket prices charged for the shows, tickets for which were priced as high as $337 according to one report and $1000 according to another.According to Richie Sambora this tour would be a greatest hits tour, so it would not be in direct support of Lost Highway. However, in October 2007 the band announced the Lost Highway Tour. Starting with the New Jersey gigs, the band are touring Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and then Europe, finishing in the summer. In early December 2007 the band took time off from their Canadian tour to become the first ever American band to headline the Royal Variety Performance in Liverpool, England, performing in front of the Queen herself. The U.S. leg of the tour began February 18, 2008 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Next Bon Jovi Album
With $252 million in ticket sales alone from the hugely successful Lost Highway Tour, the band is looking to move on from the Country Rock theme of Lost Highway. When asked by Billboard.com whether they will release another country album, Lead Guitarist, Richie Sambora said, "No, we have to change. We have to do something different. I don't know what that's going to be. As we get into the writing process and continue on, we'll see what that's going to look like. I think it comes to, stylistically, what songs you're writing. What kind of music is coming out of you, and what's the mood of those songs. You have to color those little drawings with the right production value and the right music."
Sambora also recently stated in the same interview with Billboard.com, "We've been filming a documentary and are in the process of mixing a live DVD of last year's Lost Highway concert tour. Also, I think we're looking at doing a greatest hits album next year. Jon and I are writing some new songs for it and to just load up for the next Bon Jovi record."
Band members
Current members
Additional musician
Former members
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Live albums
Box Sets
- 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004)
Tours
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
