Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi: The Kids Are Alright

2021-02-01T20:57:00.007-08:00

Bon Jovi has hit the top with an image tailor-made for today’s teens

Bon Jovi backstage before a performance, Illinois, early March, 1987. Pictured are, from left, David Bryan, Tico Torres, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Alec John Such.

Jon Bon Jovi‘s hair is about fourteen inches long. Its color is somewhere between chestnut and auburn, and the frosty streaks in it give it a sizzling golden sheen. When Jon musses it or boosts it with a squirt of hair spray, it flares around his face like a nimbus, a halo – an aura of shiny fuzz. The hair has great body and good texture and a nice, natural wave, and the ends don’t look the least bit split. He calls it ratty, but that’s just a bluff. Truth is, it would be safe to say that Jon Bon Jovi has the most wonderful hair in rock & roll today.

As Jon tells it, the length of his hair is neither fashion nor fetish but instead a reaction to suffering, as a kid, years of punitive shear jobs by his father, a New Jersey hairdresser. Now twenty-five, Jon is considerably past the age when his father might yet come after him with snippers without invitation, but still the fourteen rebellious inches of wonderful hair remain. Sort of an ongoing separation therapy, maybe. Sort of Oedipal when you think about it.

And most assuredly a sort of talisman that reminds Jon that he has sold some 7 million albums precisely because he is so conscious of and reverent toward his days as a buzz-cut kid – and therefore, he figures, so attuned to kids around the world.

This wonderful hair is at present whipping around in a soggy Florida breeze. The breeze is funneling through the van that is carrying Jon Bon Jovi and his four band mates to a charity softball game in St. Petersburg. At the moment, no one in the van is paying attention to Jon’s hair because the members of the band are listening to bass player Alec John Such, who is reading a newspaper article that touches on the one subject that matters to all of them: kids.

“Listen to this,” Alec says, rattling the paper for emphasis. He points to the article, which is headlined The Pace Of Puberty Varies. “It’s a letter,” he says, “from this kid.” The magic word thus invoked, everyone in the van is rapt. “This kid,” says Alec, “wants a peris transplant.”

“A penis transplant?” asks David Bryan, the keyboard player. “Where does he want it?” Guitarist Richie Sambora is chuckling. “Hey, Al,” he says, “are you volunteering?” The question is followed by a full round of seat thumping and hollering, incriminating comments and cackles. Even Jon, who hardly ever shucks and jives with his goofy, rambunctious band, is grinning.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Alec says, and he shuts everyone up by reading the advice columnist’s sober response: “A penis transplant is not the solution to your problem because it has not yet been successfully done.”

If it had been, though, you can bet Bon Jovi would write a song about it, or play a charity softball game for it, or at least consider it in the course of charting their career. In other words, if it matters to kids, it matters to Bon Jovi – and conversely, if it doesn’t matter to kids, Bon Jovi pays it no mind. This holds true for politics, bad news, weird ideas, strange sounds, unpopular positions: Bon Jovi has no truck with any of them, because kids, as far as the band can tell, don’t dig it. And kids are Bon Jovi’s compass.

The band is proud of the fact that no artistic or political goal steers it. “Why would we want to do an experimental album?” says David Bryan. “That’s just selfish.” And the boys in Bon Jovi respect kids so much, so to speak, that they even brought in local youngsters to pick the songs for their current album, Slippery When Wet. This is a band that, above all, utterly believes in its audience.

And its audience clearly believes in the band. Masters of melodic, welterweight, metal-edged rock, they are now on a full-house world tour and have the Number One single, LP and compact disc in the country. With 7 million copies of Slippery When Wet already sold – PolyGram expects it to continue into the double digits – they are on the way to having the best-selling hard-rock album in history. That they have been accused of making middling music that has neither the snap of heavy metal nor the crackle of more topical pop doesn’t matter to them. That they have become a popular joke – strutting rock stars with little butts and big hair – doesn’t bother them one bit. After all, they figure, as far as jokes go, they’ve got 7 million punch lines.

He started as John Bongiovi, and he started in Savreville, New Jersey, and he started a band as soon as he could balance a guitar. His parents – the aforementioned hairdresser father (who now, with Jon’s full cooperation, cuts and colors his son’s hair) and a mother who in her younger days was a Playboy bunny – passed through the usual stages of parental grief. (Why must our son go to high school in sunglasses? Why does he hang out in bars all the time? What is it about that damn Telecaster anyway?) In exasperation, they finally called a cousin for an opinion on whether or not Jon and his band were wasting their time.

This was a cousin in a position to know. Tony Bongiovi owns Power Station, the preeminent New York recording studio, and has produced albums for Talking Heads, the Ramones and Aerosmith, among others. At the time, Tony was looking for a young, unformed talent he could develop. He went to hear Jon and his band the Rest and recalls thinking, “There was a magic there.” The band disbanded, but in 1980, right out of high school, Jon came to the studio.

The terms of Jon’s stint at Power Station were eventually so excitedly debated that it took a lawsuit and the complete disintegration of Tony and Jon’s relationship to sort it out. Tony says he developed a sound for Jon, advanced him money and studio time, freely lent his expertise and “accelerated the process” of Jon’s success. Though the Bongiovis are a close Italian family whose members are used to helping one another out, Tony says his work with Jon was equivalent to a $200,000 advance, and he was entitled to a cut of Jon’s future earnings.

Jon says that he never even knew Tony before he came to hear the band. Jon also says that he was an “errand boy” who swept floors and was allowed to use the studio only at odd hours and was charged for the privilege. Tony’s influence on his career, Jon says, was “slim to none.” They parted company when Jon signed his record contract. Tony then initiated a lawsuit against Jon in 1984. The settlement gave Tony producer’s credit, a fee and royalties for the first album; a cash award and a one-percent royalty for the second and third albums.

At any rate, being at Power Station meant Jon got to hang around with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie. “It was a great experience,” he says, “for teaching me now how to treat being a star.” He was also able to record nearly five LPs’ worth of material, some of it with regulars like Roy Bittan of the E Street Band. One of those sessions resulted in the song “Runaway.” Featured on a radio-station compilation album in 1983, the song, with its chiming keyboards and urgent beat, became a regional hit – and suddenly John Bongiovi found himself something of a star before he even had a band.

Jon recruited one from the scenic environs around Exit 11 of the New Jersey Turnpike. There was David Bryan Rashbaum, once a Juilliard-bound pianist, who had joined Jon in an earlier band (he later ditched Rashbaum for what he calls the “better showbiz name” of Bryan); Tico Torres, a steady veteran drummer who had toured with the Marvelettes, Lesley Gore and Lou Christie; and Alec John Such, who was playing bass with a thriving New Jersey band, Phantom’s Opera. Last to join was Richie Sambora, who had played with Alec in another New Jersey band called the Message. (“There was no message,” says Alec, just to clarify things. “That was just the name of the band.”)

Derek Shulman, a senior vice-president at PolyGram, heard Bongiovi and his band at a performance for record executives. They all agreed on a sliced and diced version of Jon’s last name for the band, and Shulman signed them immediately. More than anything else, Shulman was struck by Jon’s appetite for success. “With Jon,” he says, “I felt he had an unbelievable desire to be a star. He had a burning desire to be huge.”

The girls are a problem. Shrieking and weeping, they storm Al Lopez Field in the seventh inning of the softball game and cling to Jon as if he were covered with Velcro. (The game is subsequently called on account of hysterics.) Whooping and squealing, they bust down the gates around the civic center in Fort Myers before the concert there the following day. (The doors are opened early to ease the crush.) During the show in Jacksonville, they divest themselves of red satin garters and pink scarves and trainer bras and shirts and wads of paper on which they have written things like Jon I Love You Please Call Me. Charlene.

Of course, that’s not really the problem. The problem is that if you get too many girls, what with their enthusiasm and all, you might scare the guys away. Or, more exactly, if your demographics skew too female, the downside risk is that you alienate your male consumer. On the other hand, without your females, you can’t break out. And Jon and his colleagues, inflamed as they are with the desire to be huge, will have none of that.

At first, they were just like any other arena act. Draped in black leather and outlined in eyeliner, they opened for ZZ Top, Judas Priest, the Scorpions and 38 Special, playing constantly and everywhere – dinky towns as well as megalopolises. “Runaway” became a national hit, and they began racking up decent sales: their first album, Bon Jovi, sold well, and the next, 7800° Fahrenheit, even went gold. But if they hadn’t done something different, the most they could have hoped for was the best heavy metal usually gets: teenage male audiences that top off around 2 million and have to be maintained by constant touring. They had that audience, and they didn’t want to lose it, but they knew that wasn’t all there was.

That meant girls.

Bon Jovi made its break by making nice: nice dispositions, nice looks, nice songs, nice attitude, all of which appeals to listeners who think they don’t like heavy metal. It appeals especially to girls, who are usually spooked by heavy metal’s adulation of the ugly. The band started its shift after the second album. Off went the leather, and out went the word: the band was tight and lively, and the guys were… they were… all right, damn it, they were cute. And fun. In a further effort to distinguish themselves from their more metallic rivals, the members of Bon Jovi frequently grinned and made few if any oversights in hygiene, and their increasingly playful performances made it seem as if they were just tickled to be onstage. Even the band’s name, in a genre where band names often refer to things bestial or impolite, had a cheery ring to it.

The songs followed suit. Rife with roaring guitar riffs and chords full of portent, Bon Jovi’s music became all the more sprightly and tuneful. The lyrics, once standard-issue suicidal, now were tales that turn out happy, or rousing shouts of rock & roll imperatives, or heartbreak sagas that end with each individual involved becoming a far, far better person. “We wanted to give people something positive,” says Richie Sambora, who writes most of the songs with Jon. “We don’t want to get heavy. We don’t want to tell people politics, things like that.” And if the songs verged on cliché, well, so be it. “Maybe it’s clichés to critics,” says David Bryan, “but it’s not to the kids. And they grow up, and then there’s more kids, and they don’t know it’s a cliché.”

And then there’s that, you know, hair. Jon’s, of course. The whole band, in fact, has nice hair, as well as the kind of good looks that blur the distinction between pop-culture creations you’d enjoy terrorizing your parents with (like anyone in Metallica or most of the guys in Venom) and those you’d like to marry (like Rick Springfield and, well, Rick Springfield).

All this nice making had to be done, of course, without getting too genial and pretty for the male fans, who like a little nasty with their blasting guitars. But Bon Jovi’s ascendancy coincided with a political and cultural conservative retrenchment in which this kind of good, clean fun was right at home. Even the band’s elementary patriotism (“I’m so happy that I go on the road and I come home to America,” Richie explains) had its hook. If this verged on something so centrist and compromising that it had no core, it also verged on being a perfect, pleasing concoction for the times – and Bon Jovi knew it. “We want,” says David, “to make everybody happy.” The splintering of Van Halen, which had started this heavy-metal trend, made it an even more perfect moment. “The timing was right,” says Alec Such, “in that kids were looking for something else besides the satanical.”

New album ‘2020’ out now

2021-02-01T20:30:00.001-08:00

New album ‘2020’ out now https://BonJovi.lnk.to/2020-TheAlbum Follow Bon Jovi: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BonJovi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bonjovi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bonjovi Website: https://www.bonjovi.com/ Music video by Bon Jovi performing Livin' On A Prayer. (C) 1986 The Island Def Jam Music Group #BonJovi #LivinOnAPrayer #Remastered

I’ll Be There For You – Live in Philly

2021-01-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

JON BON JOVI NEW RELEASES 'AN EARLY GIFT FROM ME TO YOU'

2021-01-26T01:23:00.006-08:00

Bon Jovi has never released an official holiday album, but Jon Bon Jovi is gifting fans this year with not one, not two, but three holiday songs for them to enjoy.

The songs are covers of Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again," The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" and "If I Get Home on Christmas Day," which was recorded by Elvis Presley on the 1971 album "Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas."

Petty's "Christmas All Over Again" is a 1992 song that appeared on both the charity album "A Very Special Christmas 2" and on the soundtrack for "Home Alone 2: Lost In New York."

The Pogues' song, which is a duet with late singer Kirsty MacColl, came out in 1987, but was recently in the headlines due to the BBC's Radio 1 announcing last month that it would only play a censored version of the song, removing several offensive words in lyrics. In his version, Bon Jovi has gotten around that by rewriting the lyrics to remove the offending words.

The music videos for the songs are exclusively available to members of the JBJ Experience Fan Club.

In other Bon Jovi news, more than a million fans tuned into the band's Facebook page to watch the documentary "On a Night Like This," which featured the band performing its hits as well as songs on the new album, "2020."

Sources: www.bonjovi.com

On A Night Like This - Bon Jovi 2020

2021-01-26T01:20:00.004-08:00

JON BON JOVI HAS HAD A HARD YEAR, TOO

2021-01-24T21:19:00.005-08:00

Sometimes it takes an artist to reflect an event back at us, so we can truly see and feel it. It could be a photo taken by a journalist or a witness, like the Falling Man from 9/11. Or it could be a film, like Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, which brought home the reality left in Katrina’s wake. This year, Jon Bon Jovi’s trying to show us who we are with his new album 2020, which tackles the pandemic, political divisiveness, and police violence, among other fractures in the current American landscape. It’s his attempt to, as he puts it, “bear witness to history.”

This is Bon Jovi’s second record since longtime writing partner and guitarist Richie Sambora abruptly left the band during a world tour back in 2013, amid some personal challenges and family struggles. He talks about 2020 as his first time stepping out from behind the rock star person, and it’s a more personal, less glam record than we’ve heard from him before.

But this is still Jon Bon Jovi: 2020 opens strong (first words: “Wake up!”) and grabs you immediately with its straightforward pop-rock clarity. The album is unusual and maybe necessary and inspiring—it became a kind of personal musical life raft this summer during a difficult stretch for my family. When I watched Jon perform ‘Do What You Can’ and ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ for a benefit he organized for first responders and front-line workers in his home state of New Jersey this summer, it felt as if Bon Jovi could connect the dots between the different voices struggling to be heard in America, and help lead by example through this tumultuous time.

Bon Jovi has also put his money where there were suddenly more mouths to feed than ever and fewer hands to do the work. Since March, both he and his wife could be found most days at the two community restaurants and massive food bank supported by his foundation near his homes in hard-hit New Jersey and Long Island. During the unending months of lockdown, he helped support thousands who needed it, and now he’s delivered a credible soundtrack of American life this year. GQ spoke to Bon Jovi about 2020 and 2020.

GQ: What was the process for this record, now that you’re calling all the shots?

Jon Bon Jovi: Well, I turned the record in and then Covid happened and shut the world down. So I knew that if I was gonna have a topical record in 2020, I better write a Covid song. That’s ‘Do What you Can.’

I was inspired by the health care workers, the students who sacrificed, the grocery store clerk who became an essential worker, the caregiver, the unsung heroes who stepped up to help their neighbors and those who simply wore a mask, not because it was a political tool but because it was a sign of respect for their fellow man.

Then of course the George Floyd incident hit, BLM, so then I sat down to write ‘American Reckoning’ and, finally, at that time I said Amen, the album is now complete. I took the two, let’s call them love songs, off the record and put on ‘Do What You Can’ and ‘American Reckoning’ and I said now there is my 2020.

You say that as if it’s easy to write pop songs about a pandemic and systemic racism and police violence.

I think experience has probably given me that ability, to be honest. Now I find that I have nothing left to really prove, and I have nothing to hide. And the world is in such a place that I felt that I could bear witness to history, as long as I was willing to be that witness. I am but a witness to history.

The events I touched on in 2020 touched me. Topics such as veterans dealing with PTSD, gun control, inequality, racial injustice, and many others have an unbiased seat at this table. I didn't take sides on any of these important issues. I just reported on them factually. That was my technique throughout the process. Make it very obvious what the song is about and where I stand, but don't wave a finger, don't be accusatory, that was what I set out to do.

Truthfully, I'm at a point in my career where I know what I do for a living but it doesn't define me; it’s just what I do.

Do what you can. So, what does define you, as a man?

Well, being a father, being a philanthropist. Being the guy that was working in the food bank today and needs a shower desperately and probably should see a doctor for the fuckin hernia that I’m sure I have [laughs].

The model at my restaurants, JBJ Soul Kitchen, is that those in need volunteer for their meals and earn a certificate that will feed up to four family members. Due to the pandemic, we couldn't have any volunteers work. But we still had mouths to feed. So Dorothea and I worked five days a week for two months before we went to Long Island and opened a food bank that fed 6,000 people a month there.

From May through the summer, we worked there every day we were open. We’ve been working since the pandemic began, whether it was at the Soul Kitchen or at the foodbank here on Long Island, giving the food to seven pantries that myself and our foundation have been funding.

When you consider the people who are hungry, they dont give a shit that I play music [laughs]; they’re grateful that I'm the guy that’s giving them the palette of food every week. They never ask me about a record. They ask me about, you know, “Is the egg noodles coming next week?” “Are we getting more fruit?” And that’s what I did this morning, from about seven o’clock today till about noon.

The lyrics include what seems like fairly religious imagery: “On a night like this, one prayer, one wish,” “Is there something more? There is an open door, What are you waiting for?” Was that intentional or connected to all this somehow?

I came through that very Catholic upbringing. I went in and out of Catholic school a couple times and did have a problem with what had become the organized Catholic church, the stuff with the priests and altar boys. Not personally mind you. It was from the outside looking in, I wasn’t touched by it. We were removed from it.

Eventually I found spirituality. And now I think that I revert back to, whether it’s just prayer and my connection, for a yearning for that kind of simpler time of my youth? But I do it more now than I ever did. I look toward some kind of higher power.

Someone else I interviewed recently told me he’d finally started trying to “pray into himself.”

Yeah, I think that’s right. You know, shine a light within and that will shine outwardly and enlighten your actions and how you reach the world around you.

Like the line “shine a light” in “American Reckoning.” Who is the record for?

Me! [laughs] For me. I did this record to get back to the reason why I wanted to do it again. I’d been going through a tough period. In light of what happened with Richie and his kids, his leaving us like that, and not staying to talk. It was very hard for all of us. And it took its toll on me.

The band is a family inasmuch as we had grown up together, done everything together, we had ups and downs, but we never deserted the ship. Whether it was work, or the death of parents or divorces or fame or confusion. We had alcoholism, it got to the point where we had to make decisions that weren’t in the interests of the band, that was for sure.

And so anyhow we came through it. And This House Is Not for Sale [the first release after Sambora left the band] was a kind of waving my fists in the air, saying “I refuse to let my house crumble,” but it’s tough finding people who want to go out there and then showing them how to play the songs and write the songs and have something to say.

It certainly wasn't going to be a big pop record because I’m just not in that place. So then I needed to get in touch with that gift that I have for writing songs. So I’ve worked very hard, whether it was on the record or lately on myself or my relationship with Tico and Dave, so that we got stronger as a unit. And it turned out to be really great, because we got tighter and as a result we felt we, the collective we, did no wrong.

In a strange way my forgiveness for Richie allowed me to grow, and David to grow, and Tico to grow into who we are today. Because we were forced down a different road. You don’t blame someone for that, you sort of have to say thank you, because it helps you continue your little journey. Sometimes someone has to get off an exit in order for you to continue this journey.

There was no fourth leg on the table. And by the way, we had 80 more shows left on that tour. But we did it. And it was very successful.

Having been through this personal rough patch, I really want to know: What’s your philosophy of life these days?

Philosophy? I think that my goal is just to try to be a better version of myself every day. Just try to do something to better yourself. Even if that something is just... sleep. You know? Just something to make yourself better, I don’t mean a better singer or a better rock star. A better person.

That’s important, especially now. I’ll be honest: I’ve had a very tough year myself. Middle age is rough. You got the kids to take care of, the parents getting older—you’re in the “middle.”

Yeah. How old are you?

48.

A lot happens between 48 and 58. I sort of joke that 50 is the last decadent birthday, but by 58 you have a different kind of perspective. And I’m not old enough to start thinking about mortality, I think that’s still another ten, twelve years ahead of me, but the idea that we’re not the kid in the room anymore.

48, 58—you’re sort of accomplishing or have accomplished the great things that you’re gonna do, and that’s all well and good, but what matters more is what you’re building with your family. Because those two chapters, you can’t fuck up either one of those or they’re gonna scar you.

Fix those circumstances and get them right now, start writing your own chapters. Live with them. Make them something worth reading again.

How are your kids?

No real problems. Stephanie is doing well and works in television. The youngest is fully committed to playing the guitar and wanting to learn how to write. He just took a step where he can really play the guitar. That’s what came out of Covid for him, six months in the wood shed. Jake is gonna go to Syracuse for acting. He spent the past year studying. And Jesse has the wine business—very successful, if you like a good rosé.

We talked about family, religion, music—Jersey law requires me to ask you about football and politics. I know you’re a fan of at least one of those things. But you seem to code switch between worlds and get along with lots of different people.

I don’t think that I get along with lots of different people [laughs]. But yeah, football was something that was a common thread in our house, whether it was my father or my uncle, you could find them Sunday watching the Giants. And then my relationships through my celebrity allowed me to meet people on the Giants, which then led me to my relationship with a young man who is now an old man by the name of Bill Belichick. Last night I had dinner with Robert Kraft, who is one of my dearest friends.

Is he still mad at Tom Brady?

He’s not mad at Tommy! No!

Unlike football, politics is not anything I ever grew up with. My family was not involved at all. My wife’s family was probably more involved in politics. And we’ve met a number of politicians over the years. Whether the current governor, or the previous governor, Chris Christie.

I’m friendly with Chris. Although we didn't have to agree with each other’s politics all the time, we could certainly talk as fellow New Jerseyites with things in common that we wanted to do for people there. So you could have a conversation with somebody, regardless of what side you’re on.

Do you think people are still listening to each other? Are you worried about the current political climate? You have a song on the record, “Blood in the Water,” about it.

I think the division that’s evolved in the last four to six years is an America that I'm afraid for. Bickering among political themes has become something that’s dividing families—parents and kids, husbands and wives. I’m worried about how we come together as a country. [A silent pause.] I’m so scared. I’m so scared. I’m scared.

Yeah. Me too.

When I grew up, the idea of the middle class in Sayreville, it was hardworking, blue collar, really white, but a really good hardworking solid town made up of second-generation, primarily European immigrants. Believed in this kind of John Kennedy mantra of we can do anything we wanna do, we can go to the moon, and so I grew up in this very innocent wonderful kind of time. And then I came to be old enough to vote and Ronald Reagan was telling everybody that there should be a car in every driveway and a chicken in every pot, telling Gorbachev to tear down that wall. It certainly wasn't the day and age my kids are growing up in now.

But it also allowed us to dream ridiculously big, because we didn't know any better. You know I’ve told this story many times before: Bono grew up thinking about the Orangemen marching, and we grew up thinking about Little League and Pop Warner. It was many years after the race riots, many many years after the work of MLK, RFK, Malcolm X. It was a different era.

Now my kid just graduated from college. Those poor kids missed out on graduation, the prom, turned 18 at home, given one hour of outdoor time, they were born out of 9/11. That’s a shit hand to be dealt. But on the other hand, I think they’re going to be that next great generation, because they have to be. Are they going to have the same opportunities? What are the chances they’re going to have a chance to sell 130 million albums?

Is that possibility even out there anymore? How different are things now?

The pandemic changed lives. Everyone has their own story. And hopefully out of a crisis comes the next generation’s innovators, inspired, and engaged, ready to lead by example and move into an era of ‘we,’ not ‘me.’

This interview has been edited and condensed.

sources: www.bonjovi.com

Bon Jovi and Billy Joel to Play COVID-19 Benefit

2020-05-04T21:32:00.002-07:00

Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and Sting will perform at an upcoming benefit for New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19.

Read More: Bon Jovi and Billy Joel to Play COVID-19 Benefit | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-billy-joel-sting-covid-19-benefit/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and Sting will perform at an upcoming benefit for New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19.

Tina Fey will host the virtual telethon Rise Up New York!, which airs at 7PM ET on May 11. The event was organized by iHeartMedia and Robin Hood, an organization that helps "low-income New Yorkers escape poverty's grasp."

The initial performance lineup also features Mariah Carey, and additional artists are forthcoming. Other, non-performing guests will include New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Spike Lee, Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bette Midler, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, Idina Menzel, Christopher Jackson, Sutton Foster, Ben Platt and New York Giants players Eli Manning, Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Phil Simms.

Along with the celebrity appearances, Rise Up New York! will showcase the stories of those work of New Yorkers working on the front lines amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

"New York City is at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis has created a whole new set of challenges for the millions of New Yorkers who already struggled to make ends meet," Robin Hood CEO Wes Moore said in a statement (via Billboard). “This is a moment where we rise up together as a community in support of our neighbors and in support of one another."

One hundred percent of donations will benefit Robin Hood's relief efforts, providing food, shelter, educational support and other services. The special will be broadcast nationally on CNBC, through iHeartMedia and Entercom broadcast radio stations, via News 12, Spectrum News NY1, SiriusXM and all New York City TV stations.

Bon Jovi Live

2015-06-22T01:06:00.002-07:00

Live...live...live.....

Bon Jovi Details

2015-06-22T00:39:00.001-07:00

Bon Jovi has released 12 studio albums, plus two compilations and two live albums. They are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide and performed more than 2,700 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans. Bon Jovi was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. The band was also honored with the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 2004, and as songwriters and collaborators, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.

Announcing new show in Jakarta

2015-06-22T00:33:00.005-07:00

“We’ve toured around the world since 1995 and are excited to reunite with our Indonesian fans again! See you Friday, 11th of September 2015” - Jon Bon Jovi

DATE: Sept. 11
LOCATION: Jakarta, Indonesia
VENUE: Gelora Bung Karno Stadium
PUBLIC ON SALE: June 29

More dates will be announced soon. Stay tuned to BonJovi.com/Tour for all of the details.

Announcing Bon Jovi Live in China!

2015-06-22T00:32:00.001-07:00

Get ready - Bon Jovi is coming to China for the first time ever!

Bon Jovi

Ticket details, including Backstage with JBJ fan club pre-sale information, will be added soon.

Not a Backstage JBJ fan club member? Join today to gain access to ticket pre-sale opportunities, exclusive merchandise, the Backstage JBJ community, and more.

Date: Sept. 14

Location: Shanghai, China

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Arena

Fan Club Pre-sale: June 15 @ 2PM CST

Public On Sale (Local Time): June 16 @ 2PM CST

Date: Sept. 25 & 26

Location: Macao, China

Venue: Coati Arena

Public On Sale (Local Time): June 16 @ 10AM CST

Additional dates will be announced soon at BonJovi.com/Tour.

Official Photograph in ST Paul the last night

2013-04-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Interview Jon BonJovi talks about Richie Sambora

2013-04-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hello dear fans,

Go to read that because i think that you'll like this article:
http://bonjovifans.mesfans.com/t512-jon-bonjovi-talks-about-richie-sambora#2558

Have a nice day!

Richie Sambora fights with Jon Bon Jovi

2013-04-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

Christopher Polk/Getty

'It's a classic Jagger/Richards blowup."

On Wednesday, Jon Bon Jovi — who are currently in the midst of a world tour — released a statement saying, "Due to personal issues, Richie Sambora will not be performing on this upcoming leg. All shows will go on as scheduled."
While most assumed "personal reasons" possibly meant substance abuse as the 53-year-old guitarist has struggled with addiction in the past, sources reveal to TMZ that the departure was due to another issue — Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora are "fighting over money."
"Sources directly connected to Bon Jovi tell TMZ that tensions between Jon and Richie have been running high for years and it's finally erupted," reports the website. "One source tells us, 'It's a classic Jagger/Richards blowup."

The site adds that part of the problem is that "Jon constantly belittles Richie."
In September, Sambora spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the group's past tensions:
"Jon’s the leader, and there are no bones about that — and no hard feelings. Everyone has a specific role in the caste system of what this band is, and that’s why it has lasted for 30 years."
But it appears all is not well behind the current concert curtain, as JBJ told the crowd Tuesday in Calgary: "I had two choices: pack up and go home or give you everything I got ... Richie Sambora won't be performing for a while. If there's ever a night I need you, it's tonight, Calgary!"

Jon Bon Jovi — who are currently in the midst of a world tour — released a statement saying, "Due to personal issues, Richie Sambora will not be performing on this upcoming leg. All shows will go on as scheduled."

While most assumed "personal reasons" possibly meant substance abuse, as the 53-year-old guitarist has struggled with addiction in the past, sources reveal to TMZ that the departure was due to another issue — Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora are "fighting over money."

"Sources directly connected to Bon Jovi tell TMZ that tensions between Jon and Richie have been running high for years and it's finally erupted," reports the website. "One source tells us, 'It's a classic Jagger/Richards blowup."

The site adds that part of the problem is that "Jon constantly belittles Richie."

In September, Sambora spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the group's past tensions:

"Jon’s the leader, and there are no bones about that — and no hard feelings. Everyone has a specific role in the caste system of what this band is, and that’s why it has lasted for 30 years."

But it appears all is not well behind the current concert curtain, as JBJ told the crowd Tuesday in Calgary: "I had two choices: pack up and go home or give you everything I got ... Richie Sambora won't be performing for a while. If there's ever a night I need you, it's tonight, Calgary!"

Meanwhile, Sambora tweeted the next day:

@TheRealSambora

Thank you everyone for your concern. I'm well, but had to stay in LA to take care of a personal matter.  Love you all and see you very soon.

*I think that it's very strange this kind of situation.It's the first time that it happen. When the band did start the tour there are two months ago it did seem all was okay and suddenly Jon and Richie have a conflict because of money.I don't understand very well why now?
That's shame!

Bed Of Roses Edmonton April,3,2013

2013-04-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

The way the video was filmed is beautiful and the last part very nice.Good job!

Richie Sambora will not be performing on this upcoming leg tour

2013-04-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

http://backstagewithjon.bonjovi.com/story/news-backstage_jbj/richie-sambora-will-not-be-performing-on-this-upcoming-leg

All the fans hope that all is good for him.What do you think?

BonJovi What About Now Montreal

2013-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

BonJovi I'm with you Toronto on february,18,2013

2013-03-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

American Idol BonJovi 2013 -Because We Can

2013-03-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

That's what the water made me

2013-03-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

Wow!Shake your bones!

Army of One Bell Centre Montreal on february,13,2013

2013-03-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

A splendid video as weel as a great song that i love it.

Living on a prayer

2013-03-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

The way this video was filmed is beautiful.Wow!

Jon and a young girl on stage

2013-03-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today on youtube,i found out this video.I was flabbergasted when i've seen that.Never i wouldn't think jon could invite a fan to go on stage in order to sing with him.A moment will keep in her mind forever.Unforgettable!However,my god she did sing out of tune.She didn't care in my opinion because this young girl was comfortable with Jon.Good got the both!

BonJovi The Fighter

2013-03-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Live BonJovi Photos

2013-03-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

http://live.bonjovi.com/photos?photo_page=1#featured