97 Fun Facts About Bon Jovi

In which New Jersey town was Bon Jovi formed in 1983?

Sayreville is where Jon grew up and went to high school, and New Jersey has since named the Garden State Parkway service area in the town after him.

What is Jon Bon Jovi's birth name?

John Francis Bongiovi Jr. was still billed as John Bongiovi on his first record; his respelled stage surname later named the band too, in place of the planned Johnny Electric.

Who was the drummer in Bon Jovi's original 1983 lineup?

Tico Torres was the band's seasoned hand, having already played with the Marvelettes and Chuck Berry; he came in through a former bandmate from the New Jersey group Phantom's Opera.

Which Bon Jovi member had quit an earlier group with Jon to study medicine?

David Bryan was a pre-med student at Rutgers with a perfect grade average when he decided music mattered more, and he won a place at Juilliard before Jon called him back.

Jon Bon Jovi's first professional recording was a novelty Christmas song tied to which film franchise?

Star Wars: he sang lead on 'R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas' after his cousin, the album's co-producer, put him forward; Jon was sweeping floors at the studio at the time.

Which E Street Band member played keyboards on the original 'Runaway' recording?

Roy Bittan was one of the session players Jon hired for the song; another, bassist Hugh McDonald, would join Bon Jovi's lineup more than a decade later.

Bon Jovi's 'Runaway' first got airplay thanks to what kind of release?

A station's local-talent album: WAPP in New York put the demo on its homegrown compilation, it became a surprise hit, and Jon had to assemble a band to tour behind it.

Which future Skid Row guitarist toured with Bon Jovi in 1983 before Richie Sambora joined?

Dave Sabo, a childhood friend of Jon's, made a pact with him that whoever made it first would help the other; Jon later helped Skid Row land its record deal.

Which band was cited as the model when Bon Jovi chose a two-word name?

Van Halen was the example an employee of their manager pointed to when suggesting Jon's surname; until then the group's working idea had been the name Johnny Electric.

Which professional songwriter did Bon Jovi bring in as a collaborator for their third album?

Desmond Child co-wrote the album's two biggest hits; the band then auditioned 30 songs for local teenagers and built the running order on their opinions.

In which city did Bon Jovi record Slippery When Wet?

Vancouver was home to producer Bruce Fairbairn's base, Little Mountain Sound; the band spent six months there in 1986 and came back to make its next two albums.

Where did Bon Jovi get the title Slippery When Wet?

A visit to a strip club inspired the name, Jon has said; a rejected cover shot of the band dressed as cowboys was reused for the 'Wanted Dead or Alive' single.

What object is on Slippery When Wet's final cover?

A garbage bag: after the planned cover was pulled just before release, Jon had a bag sprayed with water and wrote the title across it himself; the album behind it spent eight weeks at number one.

Which was Bon Jovi's first Billboard Hot 100 number one?

'You Give Love a Bad Name' reused a chorus tune first recorded by Bonnie Tyler under another title with different words; it reached number one in November 1986.

What device gives Richie Sambora's guitar riff on 'Livin' on a Prayer' its distinctive voice-like sound?

A talk box pipes the guitar's sound through a tube into the player's mouth, which shapes it like speech; Jon disliked the song's first version until Sambora talked him into reworking it.

What are the names of the struggling working-class couple in 'Livin' on a Prayer'?

Tommy and Gina are a dockworker idled by a strike and a diner waitress; the band brought the pair back for a name-check in 'It's My Life' in 2000.

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora was married from 1994 to 2007 to which Melrose Place star?

Heather Locklear married Sambora in Paris in 1994; the band later counted the couple's divorce among the upheavals it was living through when it made its 2007 album.

Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead or Alive' was long the theme of which Discovery Channel series?

Deadliest Catch paired its crab fishermen with a song Jon wrote about touring, in which he likened a rock band to outlaws riding into town.

Which number-one hit was the lead single from New Jersey, the 1988 album with five Top 10 hits?

'Bad Medicine' came out ahead of an album the band wanted to be a double LP until the label refused; one working title, Sons of Beaches, winked at Slippery When Wet.

In August 1989 Bon Jovi played which landmark event in the Soviet Union?

The Moscow Music Peace Festival put Western hard rock acts on a Soviet stadium stage with official approval, and the album New Jersey was issued in the USSR by the state label Melodiya.

Which TV series was reshaped by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora's stripped-down duet at a 1989 awards show?

MTV Unplugged was already in development, but its showrunners said the duet turned it from a showcase for up-and-coming artists into a stage for big arena acts.

Jon Bon Jovi's solo hit 'Blaze of Glory' was recorded for which film?

Young Guns II star Emilio Estevez had asked to use 'Wanted Dead or Alive'; Jon felt its touring lyrics didn't suit a Western and wrote a new song instead.

Which manager did Jon Bon Jovi fire in 1991?

Doc McGhee had managed the band since its early days; after firing him, Jon took over the job himself by setting up Bon Jovi Management.

Which producer worked with Bon Jovi on Keep the Faith in 1992?

Bob Rock had engineered and mixed Slippery When Wet under Bruce Fairbairn; promoted to producer, he gave Keep the Faith a more serious take on the band's sound.

Which original member, the band's bassist, left Bon Jovi in 1994 in its first lineup change?

Alec John Such was replaced by Hugh McDonald, who had played bass on 'Runaway' back in 1982 yet was kept as an unofficial member for more than twenty years.

Which 2000 album, led by 'It's My Life', brought Bon Jovi back from a years-long hiatus?

Crush was meant to reunite the band with the producer of Slippery When Wet, but the plan collapsed when Bruce Fairbairn died, and newcomer Luke Ebbin co-produced it instead.

Which Swedish pop hitmaker co-wrote 'It's My Life' with Jon and Richie?

Max Martin's co-write nearly lost its salute to Frank Sinatra: Sambora objected to the second-verse line about doing it 'My Way', but Jon insisted on honouring his fellow New Jerseyan.

Bon Jovi's August 2000 concerts were the last ever held at which venue before its demolition?

The old Wembley Stadium heard its last music from Bon Jovi in August 2000; the band was booked as the first act to play the rebuilt stadium too, until building delays moved those shows elsewhere.

Which country singer joined Bon Jovi on the country version of 'Who Says You Can't Go Home'?

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland helped make it the first single by a rock band to top Billboard's country chart, a success that pushed the band to record its next album in Nashville.

Which 2007 album leaned into Nashville-style country influences?

Lost Highway grew out of the band's surprise country chart-topper the year before; Jon called it a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville, and its tour was Billboard's top-grossing of 2008.

Which guitarist replaced Richie Sambora when he left Bon Jovi mid-tour in 2013?

Phil X had already covered 13 shows for Sambora in 2011, so he got the call again when Sambora left before a concert in Calgary; he was made the official lead guitarist in 2016.

Which radio host inducted Bon Jovi into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Howard Stern did the honours in 2018 after the band won the fan ballot with more than a million votes, and two former members rejoined them on stage for the night.

In which city did Jon Bon Jovi secretly marry his high-school girlfriend, Dorothea Hurley, mid-tour in 1989?

Las Vegas: the pair slipped away from a Los Angeles stop on the New Jersey Syndicate Tour and wed at the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

On which TV series did Jon Bon Jovi play a plumber in a multi-episode run as the lead's boyfriend?

Ally McBeal added him midway through its final season as Victor Morrison, the heroine's new love interest, then wrote the character out before the finale.

Jon Bon Jovi founded and owned which Arena Football League team?

Philadelphia Soul won the ArenaBowl in 2008 with him as a co-owner; he had promoted the league in commercials with John Elway, who co-owned another of its teams.

What is unusual about the JBJ Soul Kitchen restaurant in Red Bank?

Diners pay what they can afford, either in money or by putting in volunteer work; Jon's foundation opened the community restaurant in October 2011.

Which actress became Jon Bon Jovi's daughter-in-law when she married his son Jake in 2024?

Millie Bobby Brown and Jake adopted a daughter in 2025, which made Jon a grandfather.

What is the 2024 four-part Bon Jovi documentary series called?

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story followed Jon's recovery from vocal-cord surgery as well as the band's 40-year history; it premiered on Hulu in April 2024.

At which venue did Bon Jovi open the 2026 Forever Tour, their first since Jon's 2022 vocal surgery?

Madison Square Garden hosted the opening run in July 2026; Jon had to end one night early, then took the tour on to Edinburgh, Dublin and London.

What was the title of Bon Jovi's second album, released in 1985?

7800° Fahrenheit is supposedly the melting point of rock, so the title bills the album as American hot rock; it stalled at number 37, and the band rethought its approach for the next one.

Bon Jovi's keyboardist won a Tony Award for the score of which Broadway musical?

Memphis reached Broadway in 2009 after years of regional stagings, then won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and his own for the score he wrote with Joe DiPietro.

Where was Jon Bon Jovi working part-time before he took a job at a recording studio?

A women's shoe store job gave way to one at a Manhattan studio co-owned by his cousin, where he swept floors and recorded his first demos.

Which country star duets with Jon Bon Jovi on the 2007 single 'Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore'?

LeAnn Rimes got the duet only after several attempts with other singers had failed, and she collected its CMT award alone because the band missed the ceremony.

What was the name of the band a 16-year-old Jon Bon Jovi formed with a future bandmate?

Atlantic City Expressway came a year after a Bruce Springsteen concert convinced the 15-year-old that music was his future; the Wild Ones and the Rest followed.

In which 2000 submarine thriller did Jon Bon Jovi play a Navy lieutenant alongside Matthew McConaughey?

U-571 cast him as Lieutenant Pete Emmett; he had just come home from making it when he wrote the lyrics of 'It's My Life'.

In Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead or Alive', the singer calls himself a cowboy riding what?

A steel horse is taken by some to be the band's tour bus and by others a motorcycle; either way, the song is about a rock band's life on the road, not the Old West.

In 2009 Jon Bon Jovi recorded which classic song with an Iranian singer?

'Stand by Me' was cut with the singer Andy Madadian and producer Don Was as a message of solidarity with Iran's people; a Persian sign in the video reads 'we are one'.

On a Nashville bridge to film a video in 2024, Jon Bon Jovi was thanked by police for what?

Talking a woman to safety took a quiet word: he saw her outside the railing during a break in filming and persuaded her to climb back over.

Jon Bon Jovi was part of a group that tried and failed to buy which NFL team in 2014?

The Buffalo Bills went to fan favorite Terry Pegula instead; Bon Jovi's group was backed by Toronto-based investors, and Donald Trump was bidding too.

Jon Bon Jovi's mother Carol, a former Marine and florist, had also once worked as what?

A Playboy Bunny in her earlier days, Carol gave Jon his first guitar at seven, dreaming he would be as famous as The Beatles.

Jon Bon Jovi wrote the 1993 hit ballad 'Bed of Roses' in a hotel room while suffering from what?

A hangover runs right through the song, whose words describe how he felt that morning; the single went on to reach the US Top 10.

Before he ever played guitar, Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora began at age six on which instrument?

The accordion came first; he took up the guitar at 12, after the death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970.

Just before joining Bon Jovi in 1983, Richie Sambora tried out as lead guitarist for which band?

Kiss needed a replacement for Ace Frehley and turned him down; while he was away at the audition, a friend from his previous group joined a new act called Bon Jovi.

Bon Jovi's keyboardist co-wrote a Broadway musical, released on Netflix in 2021, about which royal?

Princess Diana's life became the musical Diana, which was filmed in an empty theater while Broadway was shut and reached Netflix before its stage opening.

The title of Bon Jovi's 2004 rarities set, boasting of 100 million fans, copies whose 1959 album?

Elvis Presley's 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong lent both its title and its cover idea; Bon Jovi doubled the number to mark 100 million records sold.

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora helped produce the 1987 comeback album of which singer and actress?

Cher directed the video herself for 'We All Sleep Alone', the single the Bon Jovi pair wrote and produced for her.

At 15, Jon Bon Jovi knew what he wanted to do with his life after seeing which act in concert?

Bruce Springsteen sent him straight back to the guitar lessons he had abandoned, this time with a demanding teacher whose initials Jon later carved into his guitar.

Bon Jovi's drummer has shown his own work in art galleries since 1994, working in which medium?

Painting is his self-taught sideline: his canvases show everyday scenes and life on the road with the band, and his first show was in New York's SoHo.

In which 2000 drama did Jon Bon Jovi play the abusive ex-husband of Helen Hunt's character?

Pay It Forward made him Ricky, the violent, hard-drinking father who keeps coming back to the family of the boy played by Haley Joel Osment.

Jon Bon Jovi's 'Blaze of Glory' was nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy but won which film award?

A Golden Globe went to the song, which exists only because he was asked to lend an older hit to a Western and chose to write a new theme instead.

Hampton Water, the brand Jon Bon Jovi launched with his son Jesse in 2018, makes what?

Rosé wine is the business: father and son dreamed up the brand, then hired French winemaker Gérard Bertrand to make it.

Jon Bon Jovi, a close friend of its owner, has two Super Bowl rings from which NFL team?

The New England Patriots are owned by his close friend Robert Kraft, and the New Jersey native has performed several times at the team's home field.

Bon Jovi's classically trained keyboardist gave up a place at which music school to join the band?

Juilliard had accepted him after thirteen years of lessons with one of its professors, but a call from Jon about a likely record deal won out.

Which US president appointed Jon Bon Jovi to the White House Council for Community Solutions?

Barack Obama made the appointment in 2010, nearly two years after Jon sang a duet at his inauguration concert.

For the TV concert marking Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, Jon Bon Jovi covered which Beatles song?

'Here Comes the Sun' was played acoustically with his solo group, the Kings of Suburbia, not with Bon Jovi, for the Celebrating America broadcast.

Bon Jovi wrote 30 songs for Slippery When Wet, then let which listeners decide the running order?

Teenagers from New Jersey and New York heard the demos and gave their verdicts, and the band sequenced the record around their favorites.

Still an opening act in 1985, Bon Jovi played the first edition of which American benefit concert?

Farm Aid was born after a remark from the stage at Live Aid that some of the money could help American farmers; Willie Nelson and friends staged it ten weeks later.

Bon Jovi's 1995 album These Days replaced which superstar's new release at number one in the UK?

Michael Jackson's HIStory gave way to These Days, which held the UK top spot for four weeks, yet the same album stalled at number nine in America.

Jon Bon Jovi denies a long-running rumor that he is related by blood to which singer?

Frank Sinatra is no kin of his, he says, though he has loved the rumor all the same; Jon's family name traces back to Sciacca in Sicily.

Jon Bon Jovi told a Detroit crowd that 'Wanted Dead or Alive' was inspired by which Seger song?

'Turn the Page', a weary ballad about life on the road, was playing on Bon Jovi's own tour bus in 1985 when Jon told Richie Sambora they had to write one like it.

Bon Jovi first cut the country duet of 'Who Says You Can't Go Home' with which banjo-playing star?

Keith Urban's version was shelved because Jon felt their voices were too alike, so the label was asked to suggest a female partner instead.

The country video for Bon Jovi's 'Who Says You Can't Go Home' was used to promote which charity?

Habitat for Humanity volunteers, including players from Jon's own arena football team, are seen building homes for low-income families.

Which shouting stand-up comedian urges fans to grab the cameras in a 1988 Bon Jovi video?

Sam Kinison mocks the idea of one more glam clip, then rallies the waiting crowd to take hand-held cameras on stage and shoot a better one themselves.

Which near-ten-minute Bon Jovi song about fading oil towns is the band's longest studio track?

'Dry County' runs 9 minutes 52 seconds and grew out of a summer Jon spent riding his motorbike, unrecognized, through places like Arizona.

Which British guitar hero plays the solos on Jon Bon Jovi's 1990 solo hit 'Blaze of Glory'?

Jeff Beck plays across most of the parent album, whose other guests include Elton John and Little Richard at the piano.

Which actor asked Jon Bon Jovi for 'Wanted Dead or Alive' for a Western and got a new song instead?

Emilio Estevez, the Western's leading man, was told that words about a touring band did not suit an outlaw picture, so Jon wrote him a fresh theme.

Bon Jovi's drummer married which Czech-born supermodel at a New Jersey ceremony in 1996?

Eva Herzigová wed him in Sea Bright, New Jersey, but the marriage ended just two years later.

In which 2011 comedy does Jon Bon Jovi play a rock star linked to Katherine Heigl's character?

New Year's Eve gave him a role close to home: a rock star with a big show to play while he tries to win back his former fiancée.

As Keep the Faith came out in 1992, which change to Jon Bon Jovi's look made headlines on CNN?

A haircut became news because the media had fixed so much attention on his hair; the shorter style arrived alongside a more serious sound from the band.

Which Bon Jovi album, released a year after the 9/11 attacks, took its title from the nation's response to them?

Bounce referred to the country's ability to bounce back, and its cover shows a radio telescope dish at the Very Large Array.

On the UK's The Masked Singer, former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora performed disguised as what?

A jacket potato was his disguise on the show's fourth series; in his day job he had played lead guitar for Bon Jovi for thirty years.

In the 1997 short film based on Jon Bon Jovi's album Destination Anywhere, who plays his wife?

Demi Moore plays Janie, an emergency room nurse, in a cast that also includes Kevin Bacon and Whoopi Goldberg; the film premiered on television.

The chorus tune of Bon Jovi's first US number one was recorded earlier by which Welsh singer?

Bonnie Tyler's single had disappointed in the charts, so its frustrated writer reworked the same chorus with Bon Jovi a few months later to prove it was a hit.

Jon Bon Jovi swept floors at which Manhattan studio, co-owned by his cousin, before his break came?

The Power Station put him in the right room: a disco producer recording there asked the floor-sweeper to sing on a Christmas novelty record.

Which bassist, heard on the original 'Runaway', became an official Bon Jovi member only in 2016?

Hugh McDonald had filled the bass role since 1994 without the title: for 22 years he was left out of most album covers and publicity shots.

The rejected first cover of Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet stayed on most releases in which country?

Japan kept the shot of a model in a wet yellow T-shirt, which the label pulled elsewhere for fear that big retail chains would refuse to carry it.

Which working title did Bon Jovi consider for the 1988 album that became New Jersey?

Sons of Beaches was a cheeky nod to Slippery When Wet; the label also vetoed the band's plan for a double album as too pricey.

Bon Jovi's biggest-selling single was written for, then kept from, which 1993 Gary Oldman film?

Romeo Is Bleeding so disappointed Jon at a preview screening that he shelved the ballad, until a label friend found it and urged him to record it.

On which 2003 Bon Jovi album did the band re-record its biggest hits as slower, moodier versions?

This Left Feels Right began as a plan for a live acoustic record and ended with twelve hits rewritten and re-recorded from scratch.

Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and the band's keyboardist were all born in which New Jersey city?

Perth Amboy can claim three-fifths of the classic lineup by birth, though each of them grew up in a different New Jersey town.

On which Caribbean island did Bon Jovi meet in 1991 to settle their differences and save the band?

St. Thomas hosted a clear-the-air meeting, where each member spoke about his feelings without interruption; the band then went back into the studio.

Which state-owned label gave Bon Jovi's New Jersey an official release in the USSR?

Melodiya was the Soviet state's own record label, so an album that topped the charts in America and Britain also went on official sale behind the Iron Curtain.

Before the group settled on the name Bon Jovi, which name had been the original idea?

Johnny Electric was dropped for a surname-style name in the mold of other famous two-word bands, a choice that met little enthusiasm at first.

Which hard rock star of the early 1980s produced one of Jon Bon Jovi's early, unsuccessful demos?

Billy Squier's help did not land a deal: the demos Jon mailed to record companies made no impact, and his break had to wait for 'Runaway'.

Which 2009 documentary, first shown at Tribeca, followed Bon Jovi on tour after 25 years together?

When We Were Beautiful shares its title with a single from The Circle, and in it Richie Sambora speaks candidly about his addiction to painkillers.

In August 1987 Bon Jovi headlined the Monsters of Rock festival at which English venue?

Donington Park had hosted them once before, in 1985; this time they closed the show, and Dee Snider and Paul Stanley were among the guests who joined them for a cover.

Which producer of Bon Jovi's Have a Nice Day later became one of the band's official guitarists?

John Shanks handled the lead guitar parts on record after Richie Sambora's 2013 exit, having produced the band since 2005.