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Bon Jovi are a rock band from New
Jersey that has sold more than 100 million albums in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s,
and played live concerts in major cities in Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and
South America, in addition to a large number of cities in the USA. Bon Jovi have
sometimes been classified as hair metal - sometimes even regarded as the form's
prime shapers - but have proved much more durable than most groups so labeled.
They went on to become the biggest rock band in the world. It has been a band
which inspired lots of today's bands, and also created the "Unplugged" style of
performing on a MTV award show.
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Members
Current
Jon Bon Jovi - vocals/guitar
Richie Sambora - lead guitar
Tico Torres - drums
David Bryan - keyboards
Hugh McDonald - bass guitar
(although not classed as an 'official' member, Hugh has played bass on Bon
Jovi's albums since 1995 and joins them on tour)
Past
Alec John Such - bass guitar
History
The 80's
Lead singer Jon Bon Jovi (John
Bongiovi) began to play piano and guitar at thirteen, using Elton John songs. At
that same age, Bongiovi founded his first band, called Raze. 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 Jon Bon Jovi 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 - including in a shoe store - 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 WAPT
had a contest to search for the best unsigned band. Bon Jovi used studio
musicians to play on the track "Runaway" (which was written in 1980). After it
won the contest, it quickly became a popular song in the New York City area in
the summer of 1983. The studio musicians who helped Jon Bon Jovi to record
"Runaway" were known as "The All Star Review" and they were Tim Pierce (guitar),
Roy Bittan (keyboards), Frankie LaRocka (drums) and Hugh McDonald (bass).
Bon Jovi 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 after "Runaway" hit
Number 39 on the singles chart. 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.
Tico Torres was also an experienced
musician by then. He had jammed with Miles Davis and played live with The
Marvelettes and Chuck Berry. He had played on twenty-six records and had just
recorded his third album 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 to go to college, then quit college
to go to Juilliard School, the famous classical music school.
At one show, where Bon Jovi opened
for the band Scandal, the band caught the attention of record exec Derek
Shulman, who signed them to PolyGram.
The debut album came out on January
21, 1984. The album went gold in the US (sales of over 500,000) and was also
released in the UK. The guys 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.
In 1985, during the height of the
synth pop era, 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 learnt to love". Jon Bon Jovi himself later
said it could have and should have been a better disc.
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
PRMC (a moral board under command of Tipper Gore, the wife of the former
vice-president of the United States) found out we were in big trouble. So we
made it into a very decent cover."
The album has sold in excess of
twelve 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 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 favourite, with hit songs such as "Bad
Medicine" and "Lay Your Hands On Me" which are still nightly stalwarts in their
live repetoire. New Jersey also almost led to the end of the band, however, 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 Bon Jovi and Sambora. The band however made it through and
took a healthy break before their next studio effort.
The 00's
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 most successful album of the band's career,
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.
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."
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 50 rare and unreleased 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.
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."
Bon Jovi's next album, also
entitled Have a Nice Day, is due out September 20, 2005 (U.S.), with an
international tour slated to begin in November 2005. "Have a Nice Day" is the
first single off the new album, and debuted at radio worldwide on July 18, 2005.
On August 20th, 2005 Bon Jovi
headlined Miller Brewing Co.'s Big Brew-Ha, celebrating its 150th anniversary.
The free stadium concert included one preview song from the bands forthcoming
"Have a Nice Day"
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Date Article Copied:
September 16, 2005
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