Bon Jovi

We've been reading up on early Bon Jovi.

(Still waiting for Jon's autobiography to be written and published.)

(For those of a similar interest we'd recommend the Motley Crue books - "The Dirt", Nikki's "Heroin Diaries" and "Tommyland".)

Jon's first band was called "The Wild Ones", which he set up with David Bryan (back when he was David Rashbaum) when they were at High School together.

Jon later met Richie at an Aerosmith gig. Richie was fronting his own band, singing as well as playing lead. Jon basically poached him for the band that was to become Bon Jovi, which was quickly signed.

What we didn't know was that Alec Jon Sucks (and he did) and Tico Torres were session musicians. One was hired by the record company, who recommended the other (not sure which way round it was, nor does it really matter). It was Doc Maghee's idea to promote Jon, more or less as a solo star with a backing band. This is where "Bon Jovi" came from (Jon's surname is actually Bongiovi), both as the band name and name of the album. It's the reason why Jon stands alone on the cover, with that woman in the background, and the rest of the band are on the "back page".

We also found out that Jon originally wanted to be an actor (he's still trying!) and tried out for Kevin Bacon's role in Footloose. We can only imagine how that would have turned out!

Much has been said about Such's departure from the band. The gentlest story was that he was getting older and had enough of the stadium touring life. He was replaced by session bassist Hugh Macdonald, who is rarely photographed with the band, and who's picture never appears on the albums with them.

Jon was asked about Such in a TV interview once. He simply said "I don't talk to him anymore. But I do think about him sometimes."