Bon Jovi John (full name John Francis Bongovi), American musician, film actor, was born March 2, 1962 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Known as the founder and vocalist of the popular rock band Bon Jovi. John began to study music as a child: mastered the guitar by the age of 13, began to perform in local music groups and write songs. His first song Runaway unexpectedly became popular after being broadcast on a local radio.
After such success, young John already saw himself as a famous performer, endlessly touring around the world. His idols at that time were the Beatles. John Bon Jovi wanted to look like Paul McCartney, write music like John Lennon, feel the rhythm like Ringo Starr, and lead the guitar like George Harrison. And although by that time the legendary four from the shores of foggy Albion had already broken up, John continued to collect their records.
Bon Jovi Group
John’s dreams began to come true little by little when he started having like-minded young musicians from neighboring neighborhoods. The guys gathered in a nearby club and spent hours rehearsing music fragments that they themselves invented on the go.
In 1983, Bon Jovi John organized his own group, where he invited his friend pianist David Rashbaum, drummer Tiko Torres, bass player Alec Joe Sach and solo guitarist Dave Szabo. The group was named Bon Jovi. The first studio to contract with was Mercury. In 1984, a debut album was released, which was called Bon Jovi. The following year, the group released its second album, called 7800 Fahrenheit, which showed good sales results and became gold. The Bon Jovi band immediately became popular.
The next album, Slippery When Wet, recorded in 1986, was even more successful, its sales reached 28 million copies, and Bon Jovi John became a star. Three songs from this album took the first lines in the charts.
The band's next album, released in 1988 under the name New Jersey, was also in demand. In his support, John Bon Jovi, whose biography was replenished with a new page, organized a tour. The tour was a success.
Search your way
At the next stage of his activity, John Bon Jovi, who felt a surge of energy and began to produce other groups, in particular Gorky Park and Cinderella. However, producer John earned nothing in his new career because of his inexperience. After that, Bon Jovi John decided to become a professional composer. To begin with, he created several soundtracks for the film "Young Arrows", which will later be released as Blaze Of Glory - a solo disc in 1990.
However, this restless John seemed a little, and he began to shoot a small feature film, which also needed soundtracks. They were immediately written, successfully sounded in the picture, and then entered the second solo disc called Destination Anywhere.
Filming a movie
John Bon Jovi, whose photo was often printed in glossy magazines, had a pleasant appearance and was naturally artistic. Therefore, his desire to try himself in cinema was quite natural. In 1995, John made his film debut in the melodramatic film "Moonlight and Valentino." He immediately fell into a starry environment: the filming partners were Gwyneth Paltrow, Whoopi Goldberg and Kathleen Turner.
John Bon Jovi did not stop there, and in 2000 the musician again participated in filming. This time in the military drama U-571, where he played Lieutenant Pete Emmett, a crew member of an American submarine. So in the cinema a new actor appeared - John Bon Jovi. Films with his participation were as popular as the songs.
Music and songs
But the main thing in John’s life is music, and the musician puts songwriting first. Concerts and recordings are in the background, although the existence of Bon Jovi, and hence John himself as a musician, depends on the success of the performances and the release of the next album. Songs of John Bon Jovi have always been popular and collected good reviews from music critics.
His main achievement, John Bon Jovi considers the album Destination Anywhere. The 12 songs recorded on the disc impress with their spontaneity, they are all different: sad, funny, mysterious ...
In this album, emphasis was placed on complex compositions with emotional coloring, exquisite passages and background guitar chords. Bon Jovi tried to perform not so much as a musician, but more as an artist, defiantly moving away from stereotypes. His voice was quiet, and this manner had an effect - the disk turned out as John wanted.
Destination Anywhere Album
Characteristically, John brought a motley team to work on Destination Anywhere. Among the guests were Dave Stewart and Steve Lironi - musicians with a name. When the recording of the tracks began, the experiments went in full flow. The standard layout scheme of the album immediately went into oblivion, they simply forgot about it. Creating a disc Destination Anywhere can safely be called extreme. All this radicalism around the new album took place in London, as John Bon Jovi at that time participated in the filming of The Leading Man, which took place at one of the London film studios.
Many of the songs on the Destination Anywhere album were a reflection of some kind of events: the single August 7 talks about the murder of manager's daughter Bon Jovi; Midnight in Chelsea is filled with impressions of being in London; Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town is a kind of chronicle of the family contradiction of John himself, whose wife loved to make scandals right in the kitchen. And the song Every Word Has A Piece Of My Heart is simply lyrical, sincere and sincere.
Breaking the standards, breaking down the methods that had been worked out before him, that was John Bon Jovi during his heyday, so his career was so dizzying.
Bon Jovi group is an extremely close-knit team in which the musicians from the very beginning united into one whole, complemented each other. Thanks to the friendly atmosphere, the results of the joint work spoke for themselves. All albums, and their 13 studio, 3 solo John and 4 solo guitarists Richie Sambir, are more than successful. The composition of the group changed only once, when Alec John Sach left the group.
Touring tours
In 1989-1990, the group worked on several major tours. The route passed through 22 countries, 232 concerts were played. In August 1989, the musicians visited the USSR at the Moscow Music Peace festival.
Bon Jovi became the first swallow to fly from the West to the Soviet Union, previously closed to rock musicians from Europe. The company "Melody" even then released a disc with Bon Jovi records.
At the end of 1990, after several touring trips, the musicians decided to take a break for a while. John Bon Jovi and Sambir Richie went about their solo albums, and the rest of the band just took time out. In 1992, the group reunited and released the album Keep The Faith.
Bon Jovi Stats
The statistics of the Bon Jovi group are impressive: the musicians released 11 albums in a studio recording, three large collections, as well as one live album lasting three and a half hours. Albums sold a total circulation of 130 million copies. The group played 2600 three-hour concerts, visited fifty countries. The total audience of Bon Jovi was 34 million people. In 2004, the group was awarded for achievements in music at the American Music Awards, and in 2006, all four musicians were included in the UK Music Hall of Fame. And finally, in 2009, John Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were included in the Composers Hall of Fame.
Political activity
In 2007, John Bon Jovi and his group participated in the election campaign of Vice President Al Gore, who personally represented Bon Jovi at the Life Earth concert in Medaulands.
In 2008, the musician and his group supported the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Interesting Facts
- John Bon Jovi expressed a desire to be buried after death to the music of the Beatles, the melody In My Life.
- John is the owner of the Philadelphia Soul football team (game in the hall).
- The musician founded the John Bon Jovi Soul Foundation. Funded the construction of 260 homes for the poor in New Jersey.
- In 2011, John opened the Soul Kitchen restaurant complex , where prices are not indicated: each visitor has the right to pay as much as he can.
Personal life
It would seem, what kind of personal life can a musician have when he sees only a guitar and music partners ... Tours, records, concerts - such is the life of John Bon Jovi and his friends. However, John found time and got married in April 1989.
The musician chose his wife also extreme: Dorothy Hurley has a black belt in karate and teaches martial arts. And although quarreling with Dorothy is "more expensive", John sometimes allows himself such pleasure. The song Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town is about this ...
The newlyweds signed in Las Vegas, without thinking about anything. In 1993, they had a daughter, Stephanie, in 1995 - the son of Jesse, in 2002 - the son of Jacob, and in 2004 - the son of Romeo.