History

The New Jersey based band created an new era in hard rock, one which appealed as much to teenagers as to housewives.

The shift in style worked, and Bon Jovi were the only American pop-metal band of the 80's to retain a sizable audience in the 90's. Awards

Jon Bongiovi spent most os his adolescence ditching school to play rock & roll, usually in local bands with hid friend David Rashbaum. Jon spent lot of his time, also, in his cousin recording studio, Power Station, where he was hired as a janitor and in his free time he was able to write demo songs. Soon, Jon was recording demos at the Power Station with several famous musicians, including members of the E Street Band and Aldo Nova.

" Runaway " was one of the demos, and became a hit on local New Jersey radio called WAPP, it was the New York cutting edge rock radio station.

" Runaway was a fluke, it started breaking

nation wide with out a band, no management,

with no representation. Nothing."

Jon Bon Jovi

Therefore, Jon formed Bon Jovi to support the song, recruiting not only Rashbaum, but also guitarrist Dave Sabo, bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres.

" That's when Jon called me up and said:

'We've got a record deal, I'm putting the

band back together.'

I said if your lying to me, I'm going to kill you!"

David Bryan

" I got a phone call from Alec, he says:

'I'm playing with these guys and you

should come check it out'. I met Jon.

Jon came over in like a foot and a half of snow."

Tico Torres

Top Hit Upon signing with Polygram/Mercury in 1983, Jon changed his last name to Bon Jovi in order to de-emphasize his etnic background ans Rashbaum adopted his midle name Bryan as his last name. Before the group entered the studio, one last change was made to the group, Jon replaced Sabo with Richie Sambora. He caught Bon Jovi's act on stage one night and met Jon backstage.

He (Jon) said, 'all right, know these songs,

blah,blah,blah, and he gave me a demo tape,

and this, that, and the other, and of course,

I came prepared and he was late.

By the time he got there, the band sounded

better than it obviously ever did. And he

just walked in and said 'Okay, your in!?

Richie Sambora

Bon Jovi eponymous debut album was released in February of 1984, and "Runaway" became a Top 40 Hit, but the initial sales were modest. They played everywhere they could and soon built a loyal audience on the road. They opened for Kiss and the Scorpions.

The folowing years, 7800ºFahrenheit was released in 1985 and went gold. That was followed by another nine month tour opening for Ratt and Scorpions. Despiste the band's respectable sucess, Bon Jovi weren't becoming the superstars they had hoped, and they changed their aproach to their next album, Slippery When Wet. They headed for Vancouver, CAnada and recorded their third album, in six weeks. They hired Desmond Child as a collaborator in the song writing process and wrote together 30 songs and auditioned them for a local New Jersey and New York teenagers, basing the album's running order on their opinions. After ditching the original cover of a busty woman in a wet T-shirt for the title traced in water on a garbage bag, Slippery When Wet was released in 1986, which sold nine million copies in the US alone, and it was the #1 album in the USA

" You give love a bad name " and " Living on a Prayer ", reached number one, while "Wanted dead or alive" reached the Top Ten, which established Bon Jovi as superstars.

After beeing together for four years, Bon Jovi was the hottest band in America and with the sucess of SWW, Bon Jovi played over 200 sold out shows.

Bon Jovi do it again with the New Jersey album in the fall of 1988, which shot to number one upon it's release. New Jersey album was less sucessful than it's predecesoor, selling five million copies and generating two number ones singles: "Bad Medicine" and " I'll be there for you", as well the Top Ten hits " Born to be my baby", " Lay your hands on me" and "Living in Sin".

In 1989, the band supported Cher, who was dating Sambora at the time, on her Heart to Stone album. This one was recorded while the group was in the midst of an eighteen-month international tour, 16 months visiting over 20 countries.

In August 1989, was for a lot of people history in the making. Bon Jovi played with Motley Crue, Scorpions, Cinderella, Skid Row, Gorkey Park, and Ozzy Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival. They were the first western rock bands allowed to play in Moscow's legendary Lennon Stadium.

In the same year, Jon and Richie stole the show at the MTV Music Awards singing Wanted dead or ALive and Living on a Prayer acoustically. This started the popular "Unplugged" series so well knowned on MTV.

Following the completion of the tour, in New Mexico, the band went on hiatus. During their time off, the band do seperated thins. Jon, for example, wrote the soundtrack for Young Guns II, which was released in 1990 as the Blaze of Glory album.

September of 1991, Bon Joi received the Lifetime Achievement Award by MTV. Jon gave the award to a girl standing on the side of the stage and told her he didn't want it. He felt that it was done all for ratings and he hated the idea. Not long after that, Jon fired his manager Doc McGee and he started his own management company to handle all tha band affairs.

In 1992, Bon Jovi reunited to record their fifth album, Keep the Faith and to promote them, they returned to their roots playing a few dates at the small New Jersey clubs were it all began. Keep the Faith sold 10 million records.

A hits collection, Crossroad, followed in 1994, with two new songs: "Always" and "Someday I'll be Saturday Night". "Always" stayed in Top Ten for six months. On the fall of this years, Alec John Such was fired and he was replaced by Hugh McDonald, but he is not an official member yet. But on July 2001 Alec joined the band at Giants Stadium for the first time in nine years but he had no plans in returning to the band. Photos

In the fall of 1995, Bon Jovi released These Days wich proved to be a bigger sucess in Europe than America. He went platinum in the States and topped the UK Charts. On this tour they played in 42 countries and 72 sold out stadiums.

After appearing in the 1996 film Moonlight and Valentino, Jon released is first official solo album in the summer of 1997.

Three years later, Bon Jovi regrouped and released Crush.

May of 2001, Bon Jovi released their 9th album One Wild Night 1985-2001 and gecame the first live album that Bon Jovi ever released.

On 23th September 2002, Bon Jovi released their 10th album called Bounce.

Two studios album and one live album in three years was no enough for the guys so, with the help of Pat Leonard (co-producer), the band reunited and make what today is This Left Feels Right. This fresh album is a showcase of the band's greatast hits, each completely reworked from an acoustic base with new arragements and various styles.

" We went into the studio thinking we were making

an acoustic record. We had a definite idea of the record

we were going to make. But once we began experimenting

with the songs and trying out new ideas, we create a

very different, unique album. We made a complete left

turn and took the project down a different road."

Jon Bon Jovi

" I am having the most fun I've ever

had working on this album. I'm so excited -

I literally cannot wait to get into the

studio everyday and get to work."

Richie Sambora

The band then hand-picked several cities on their Bounce Tour and designated them as shows wich would open with a one hour acoustic setr before performing the remainder of the concert "plugged in".

No matter what, they accomplish individually, they still be 5 kids from New Jersey who set out to become the biggest band in the world... and did!

= This story is not finish yet, because, as you know, BON JOVI is still rocking! =