 Стиль: Hard Rock
Год образования: 1983
Страна: USA
Просмотров: 4631. Обновление: 28 July, 2005 by Project Moderators
Биография группыIn 1983, John Bongiovi was being paid $50 a week to work as a “gofer” at New York City’s legendary Power Station
recording studios. He was running errands, fetching coffee and sweeping floors (the very same ones upon which he often
found himself sleeping,) all the while watching the Who’s Who of the rock ‘n’ roll world pass through the front doors.
When Jon wasn’t working as a gofer, he was working on his own music. At all odd hours of the night, using the empty
studios and any lingering musicians he could recruit, John recorded his own original songs.
Armed with a demo tape, John shopped his music to lawyers, managers, record labels and radio stations in New York and LA
with little luck. That is until he was approached by Chip Hobart, a DJ at the (now defunct) Long Island/NYC radio station
WAPP. WAPP was putting together a compilation album of local unsigned artists and Hobart wanted to include John’s song
“RUNAWAY” on the LP. John was reluctant. He wanted to sign with a label and record an album, not donate one song to a
radio station sampler of homegrown talent. But, with a little convincing, John agreed to let “RUNAWAY” be a part of the
album. After that decision, John’s life would never be the same.
“RUNAWAY” by John Bongiovi got airplay… lots of airplay (not just on WAPP in New York, but in major markets all over the
country that were affiliated with WAPP.) Without John being signed to a label, his song was becoming a hit, breaking
nationwide. WAPP booked a handful of live shows to promote the album and wanted John to perform. The problem? John didn’t
have a band! “RUNAWAY” was one of the tracks John had recorded at the Power Station with a combination of musicians he had
wrangled in to help him – they weren’t really a band! So, John recruited his long-time friend, Julliard-bound keyboardist
DAVID BRYAN, Franke & The Knockouts drummer TICO TORRES and Jersey bassist ALEC JOHN SUCH. On guitar, John asked a
neighborhood friend to help him out. John now had the band he needed to play the promotional concerts. Backstage after one
of these shows, John was approached by guitarist RICHIE SAMBORA. Sambora declared that HE should be the guitarist for this
So, when John Bongiovi finally signed to Mercury Records (several record companies had suddenly come around and tried to
sign the young musician,) the band’s line-up was as it would remain for more than ten years: JOHN BONGIOVI, DAVE BRYAN,
TICO TORRES, ALEC JOHN SUCH and RICHIE SAMBORA. Following label advice, John shed the “h” from his first name and
de-ethnicized his last name. He re-emerged as JON BON JOVI and the band BON JOVI was born.
Jon had been approached by a manager who promised to make BON JOVI the biggest band in the world so now DOC McGHEE was
overseeing the band’s career. They opened for ZZ TOP at Madison Square Garden before the label had released the band’s
self-titled debut album, BON JOVI, in FEBRUARY of 1984. The record included the proven hit “RUNAWAY” which was released as
a single, as well as what would be the second single “SHE DON’T KNOW ME” (a song Mercury requested Jon record and include
on the album as part of his deal – to this date, that song remains the only track that has ever been included on a Bon
Jovi album for which Jon does not have any writing credit.) “RUNAWAY” broke into the Top 40. MTV played the video and BON
JOVI made their debut on American Bandstand.
As was the fashion at the time, the band’s look was as much a part of their image as was their music. Tight leather pants
and colorful scarves, ripped shirts and elaborate jewelry, big hair and eyeliner… this was the norm. But live performance
was how the band would build a following and earn their reputation. After BON JOVI was released, the band hit the road,
opening for heavy metal acts SCORPIONS in the United States and KISS in Europe. Solo dates in JAPAN caused mayhem, selling
out in three days and certifying the album gold. The band was determined to play anywhere and everywhere in an attempt to
reach new audiences and learn from the headliners they were supporting.
In December of 1984, BON JOVI came home from the road and immediately headed in a Philadelphia studio to work on their
next album. In APRIL of 1985, BON JOVI released their sophomore effort, 7800o FAHRENHEIT (the album’s title was a
reference to the supposed melting point of rock.) The band released three singles (with accompanying videos): “ONLY
LONELY,” “IN & OUT OF LOVE” and the ballad “SILENT NIGHT, all of which received widespread airplay on MTV. While the album
did not do as well as they’d hoped in terms of sales, it allowed BON JOVI to get out on the road touring again, exposing
them to a vast new audience and fine-tuning their live show.
In April and May of 1985, BON JOVI headlined 3,000 seat venues in Europe and Japan. In May, the band began a 6-month run
of U.S. tourdates supporting RATT (in the midst of that tour they managed to make appearances at the Texas Jam andd Castle
Donnington’s Monsters of Rock concerts in England, plus Jon did a solo appearance at the very first FARM AID.)
Self-proclaimed workaholics, by the end of 1985, JON and RICHIE were anxious to get to work on the new material they’d
begun to write for album #3.
In April of 1986, BON JOVI packed up and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to record their third album. Six months of
decadent living and non-stop studio work resulted in SLIPPERY WHEN WET. The album, produced by Bruce Fairbairn and
recorded and mixed by Bob Rock, was released in JUNE of 1986 and was destined to represent what would become the trademark
BON JOVI sound. The first single, “YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME” became the band’s first Number One single on the Billboard
charts. The follow-up single, “LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER,” hit Number One as well, spending four weeks at the top position. MTV
wholeheartedly embraced BON JOVI, whose camera-friendly good looks and larger-than-life live concert videos helped
catapult the band into superstardom.
The album’s third single, “WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE,” peaked at #7 on the Billboard charts but emerged, and still remains to
this day, the BON JOVI “National Anthem” – the band’s most recognizable hit. But while all this was happening at home in
The States, BON JOVI was out touring, earning their superstar status by proving they were the real deal on stage, night
after night after night. This time, when BON JOVI made the trip to Castle Donnington, they were the headliners.
When SLIPPERY WHEN WET was released in April of 1986, BON JOVI was the support act for .38 SPECIAL. By the end of 1986,
BON JOVI were well into six months of headline dates in arenas across America (including a sold-out New Year’s Eve concert
at their hometown venue, New Jersey’s Brendan Byrne Arena.) With the overwhelming success of SLIPPERY WHEN WET (it spent
94 weeks on the Billboard charts and eight of those weeks at #1,) BON JOVI were bona fide superstars. While they were
determined to succeed based upon musical merits alone, the appeal of the band, especially Jon’s cover-boy good looks, made
them MTV staples and the chosen wall decoration for many teenagers’ walls.
While the band adamantly denounced any labels that tried to define the band as anything other than rock ‘n’ roll, BON
JOVI’s melodic hard rock style can be credited with expanding the audience for the late ‘80s style of “pop metal” to
include females. BON JOVI is also largely responsible for opening the floodgates to a slew of hard rock / melodic pop
bands that made it big in the latter half of the decade (in the wake of BON JOVI’s massive success, A&R departments
scrambled to sign copycat bands and touted every up & coming group to be the next BON JOVI.) |
Участники группы Bon Jovi
Текущий состав:
Jon Bon Jovi (Founder). Роль в группе: Guitars, Vocals
Richie Sambora. Роль в группе: Guitars
David Bryan (Founder). Роль в группе: Keyboards
Tico Torres. Роль в группе: Drums
Hugh Mcdonald (Guest). Роль в группе: Bass
Бывшие участники:
Alec John Such. Период: 1983 - 1994. Роль в группе: Bass |
ДискографияCD: Bon Jovi (1984)
CD: 7800 Fahrenheit (1985)
CD: Slippery When Wet (1986)
CD: New Jersey (1988)
CD: Keep The Faith (1992)
Compilation: Crossroad (1994)
CD: These Days (1995)
CD: Crush (2000)
Live: One Wild Night Live: 1985 - 2001 (2001)
CD: Bounce (2002)
CD: This Left Feels Right (2003)
CD: Have A Nice Day (2005) |
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