Bon Jovi

This commercial hard rock band was formed in New Jersey and fronted by Jon Bon Jovi (b. John Francis Bongiovi Jnr, 2 March 1962, Perth Sayreville, New Jersey, USA; vocals). His four co-conspirators were: Ritchie Sambora (b. 11 July 1959; guitar), David Bryan (b. David Rashbaum, 7 February 1962, Edison, New Jersey, USA; keyboards), Tico Torres (b. 7 October 1953; drums) and Alec John Such (b. 14 November 1956; bass). Bongiovi, of Italian descent, met Rashbaum at Sayreville High School, sharing 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. Bluffing his way into the Power Station recording studios, 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 like the novelty track, R2D2 I Wish You A Merry Christmas). Reunited with Rashbaum, he acquired the services of Sambora, an established session musician, Alec John Such (ex-Phantom Opera) and Torres (ex-Knockouts). By July 1983, they had a recording contract with Polygram 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 supports with the Scorpions, Whitesnake and Kiss. 7800 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT was greeted with cynicism by the media, which was already reticent at the prospect of the band's manicured image and formularized heavy rock. A mediocre album only fuelled their scorn. The band responded with style. SLIPPERY WHEN WET was the biggest selling rock album of 1987, although it originally appeared at the end of 1986. Two of its tracks; You Give Love A Bad Name and Livin' On A Prayer, were US 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 closed after 18 months in Australia, while the album sold millions of copies. When NEW JERSEY followed, it contained Living In Sin, a Jon Bon Jovi composition which 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 exhaustive 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. However, the commercial incentive to return to Bon Jovi would be hard to resist. KEEP THE FAITH, though it saw locks shorn and the sound stripped down, was an impressive album, satisfying critics and anxious fans alike who had patiently waited almost four years for new material. If any had considered the group a spent commercial force then the success of the slick ballad, Always, a chart fixture in 1994, revealed no such decline. On the back of its success Bon Jovi would occupy the UK number 1 spot with the compilation set, CROSSROADS, amid rumours that bass player Alec John Such was about to be replaced by Huey McDonald. Bryan, meanwhile, released his first solo album, through Phonogram in Japan.