Their
story begins with the man who gave the band their name - Jon
Bongiovi. Bored with school, the young Bongiovi spent his days
practising
with local bands in his hometown of Sayreville, New Jersey.
He had a
willing accomplice in his keyboard-playing friend David Rashbaum.
Coincidentally, Jon's cousin Tony ran the legendary Power Station
recording studio in New York. Finishing school, Jon was hired
as a cleaner
at the studio and soon began recording his own demos. He was
helped out by
a number of famous local faces including members of Bruce Springsteen's
E
Street Band.
One of those demos, 'Runaway', was picked
up by local radio stations and
began getting airplay. Polygram/Mercury were soon knocking on
the door
with a record deal. Meanwhile, Jon had formed a band called
The Wild Ones
with his friend Rashbaum - who became known as David Bryan (he
adopted his
middle name as his surname) - on keyboards, Alec John Such on
bass, Dave
Sabo (later of Skid Row) on guitar and Tico Torres on drums.
After the record deal, Sabo was replaced on guitar by Richie
Sambora while
Bongiovi was persuaded that as the 'Runaway' demo had been released
under
his name, The Wild Ones name would cause confusion and lose
them ground. A
compromise was reached and the band became known as Bon Jovi
(an
anglicised version of Jon's surname). And so Jon Bongiovi became
Jon Bon
Jovi.
Once that decision was reached, the band
worked on their debut album
The album 'Bon Jovi' was
released in the spring of 1984 and the band
version of
'Runaway' became a Top 40 hit in America. They toured with The
Scorpions
across the
States, KISS in Europe and went gold in Japan.
However, their growing success caused a rift between Jon and
his cousin
Tony with Tony claiming he had set the band on the road to stardom.
He sued the band but they settled out of court.
Bon
Jovi recorded their second album '7800
Farenheit' (the title
apparently refers to the boiling point of rock) in Philadelphia
and it was
released in May 1985. The album gave them their first minor
UK hit with
'Hardest Part Is The Night'. But they weren't in the million
sellers
league yet. They decided to bring in Desmond Child (the 70s
disco artist
who'd written 'I Was Made For Loving You' for KISS) to co-write
some
material for their third album.
Child co-wrote 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and 'Livin' On A Prayer',
both
of which went on to become American Number 1s. After a conflict
over the
album cover - which originally featured a voluptuous babe wearing
a wet
yellow T-shirt and eventually featured the album's title 'Slippery
When
Wet' written in water on a garbage bag - the record
was released in August
1986 and went supernova. The singles' videos were on constant
rotation on
MTV and a massive world tour propelled the album to top the
US album
charts on three separate occasions. It also went Top 10 in the
UK.
When the band reconvened to record the follow-up they stuck
to the old
adage 'if it ain't broke it, why fix it'.
The
album 'New Jersey' hit
the
shelves in September 1988 and quickly became a million-seller,
spawning
the hit singles 'Bad Medicine', 'Born To Be My Baby', 'I'll
Be There For
You', 'Lay Your Hands On Me' and 'Living In Sin'. The subsequent
tour
played to over two million people and included a co-headlining
appearance
at the Moscow Music Peace Festival ('New Jersey' had been the
first
contemporary rock album to be officially released in Russia).
After the
tour, the band decided to take a break.
Break-up rumours were fuelled when both Jon and Richie released
solo
albums (the soundtrack to the film 'Young Guns II' and 'Stranger
In This
Town' respectively). But the band regrouped and began recording
a new
album.
The
first taste of the new album was the title track, 'Keep The
Faith',
released in October 1992. Initially it seemed a lot of the band's
fans
were put off by this 'new direction', which relied less on the
rock flash
of old and had a harder edge with lyrics that commented on social
issues
rather than about girls and cowboys. However, buoyed by an accompanying
world tour, the album sold over eight million copies worldwide.
1994
saw the release of a greatest hits collection, 'Cross
Road', which
featured two new tracks - 'Always' and 'Someday I'll Be Saturday
Night' -
both of which became hit singles. They also enjoyed a festive
hit with
'Please Come Home For Christmas'.
After
the greatest hits album came the news that Alec John Such was
leaving the band. The bassist had apparently been unhappy with
his
relationship with Jon for some time. Such was replaced by session
man Hugh
McDonald (although he's never been credited as a full band member).
The
end of June 1995 saw the release of a new Bon Jovi studio album,
'These Days'.
It coincided with another massive world tour, including
three sold-out nights at London's Wembley Stadium, while the
album yielded
five hit singles. Jon could also be seen on the big screen
with a role in Moonlight And Valentino while David released
a solo project
called 'On A Full Moon'.
More
successful was his solo album 'Destination Anywhere' (released
in
1997) which gave him Top 10 hits with the singles 'Midnight
In Chelsea'
and 'Queen Of New Orleans'. Richie also continued his solo career
with the
album 'Undiscovered Soul' in 1998.
The year 2000 saw Bon Jovi return with
a new album, 'Crush',
and another
spectacular tour, which included a two-night stand at Wembley
Stadium. Jon
also saw his movie career take off with a role in submarine
thriller
U-571.
While the band was out touring in 2001,
they released ONE WILD NIGHT: LIVE 1985-2001.
This was BON JOVI's first-ever live album.
The
songs were culled from archives of recorded material the band
had been collecting from their earliest days on the road right
through the current tour.
In March 2002, BON JOVI entered the recording studio to begin
recording their 8th studio album, BOUNCE.
The title is a subtle reference not only to New York City's
and the United States' ability to bounce back from the World
Trade Center attacks as a nation but, it also refers to BON
JOVI and the band's ability to bounce back again and again,
over the years.
End of 2003 saw the release of the album This Left
Feels Right where a slew of 'Jovi classics
were re-jigged as more laid back acoustic numbers.
At the start of 2004 Jon, Richie and the band present
us with a double DVD of the songs performed live.
BON JOVI has proven they are a formidable force. Music trends
come and go but good songs stand the test of time... and so
do BON JOVI, who have more good songs they're looking
forward to sharing with the world. (top)
