Jon Bon Jovi's real name is John Francis Bongiovi Jr.
He was born on March 2nd, 1962, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
When he was two years old, the family moved to another city, Sayreville.
His father, John, is a hairdresser, and he is a native of Sciacca, a little town near Agrigento, Italy. His mother, Carol, is a former Playboy bunny with unfulfilled acting inspirations.
Nowadays, Carol is the president of the official Bon Jovi fan club.
He has two brothers: Tony and Matt.
Jo(h)n is about 1 meter and 78 centimeters tall.
His eyes are blue.
At 13, Jon started playing guitar and piano,using as trainers Elton John's songs. He was restless at school: ( favorite subject: history,but by his own admission "miserable" at English ).
Attendance at Seyreville High School gave him the opportunity to get to know David Bryan.The first band Jon was part of was Starz. Later he founded Atlantic City Expressway. He
founded this band with David Bryan. He also was part of bands like:Raze, The Rest, The Lechers and John Bongiovi and The Wild Ones.
The 17 year old singer/gitarist was practically playing in the doorway of the emergency exit
during his debut performance at the local Stone Pony Club.This because he was only 17 at the time while the minumum age was 18 for the club. In case of a police-check Jon would be out the back door in no-time.
In his school days Jon Bongiovi used to hang out day and night with his big buddy, Dave Sabo, a guy with the exact same interests.
The two made an agreement for life: if one of the two would ever reach the top as a musician, then he'd do everything to get the
other one there too.And they kept their word. Sabo's band, Skid Row, was put under the management of Bon Jovi and played together with them on stage.
As a young boy, Jon held a job at the record studio of his cousin Tony Bongiovi, and in the meantime, he had the oppurtunity to make some recordings.
At 19, Jon had his first recording experience, singing the song "R2-D2 We wish you a merry Christmas" on a Star Wars Christmas
album, "Christmas With the Stars", with songs by John Williams, produced by Jon's cousin and released on the RSO label.
Another song, the tune "Runaway" (with a borrowed intro from Billy Joel -'All for Leyna'), found its way to a collection album filled
with local rock bands and turned out to be the most requested songs on the local radio stations in no time.
Everything resulted in a contract offer of the Mercury record company.
With a band that he arranged himself, consisting of David Bryan, guitarist Richie Sambora, bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres, they made the debut album "Bon Jovi" in 1984.
Extra contributions came from star-guitarist Aldo Nova and the later to be- Rainbow drummer Chuck Burgi. In no-time the band was opening for Kiss in Europe.
The logo on the inner record cover of the debut album was designed by Jon's four year younger brother Anthony Michael Bongiovi. Jon auditioned for the movie "Footloose".
But he didn't make his movie debut until 1991 in the western 'Young Guns II'. The performance isn't overly impressive; within several minutes he gets killed.
Jon's favorite drink is called 'Muff Dive' which is a mix of Vodka, peach brandy and 'vossebessensap' (some sort of berry juice ).
When Jon started to make milions he bought four houses at once. One for himself and his newly wed wife Dorothea and one for his parents, while brothers Anthony and Mat both got an apartment.
"
We are Americans of Italian descent", Bongiovi said, "so our family ties are very strong. That's why I wanted to share my success with the ones I care for".
On May 31st, 1993, Jon's first daughter was born and was named Stephanie Rose Bongiovi. On February 19th, 1995, his son, Jesse
James Louis was born. Jon is a doting and protective dad. Jon has been quoted as saying that his two children are his "greatest productions ever".
Jon has been married to his highschool sweetheart Dorothea Hurley ( 29/09/62 ) since April 29th, 1989. They married at the Graceland
Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two have been inseperable since except for a minor break up at which time Jon dated
actress Diane Lane. Jon wrote several songs to win Dorothea back and in his anguish came the wonderful tune Silent Night.
The secret to their marriage?
Jon reveals a small part of the secret: "
Dorothea is not really bothered when I go off the sly sometimes, that's just partof the Rock&Roll life."
Jon singer/guitarist loves cartoons! His favorite paper heroes are Superman and Uncle Scrooge.
"Money is not important in my life. As a kid I never had money. The first years that I made music, I didn't make anything either. What kept me going was pride: I played my own songs.
" The firsts two records didn't bring in any money either. That started with the third record. And then all of a sudden I had so much, that again it wasn't important anymore. "I was never a big heavy metal fan
," Jon says now. "We got that label because, at one point in time, we opened for Kiss and the Scorpions. No, we make pop music. Just like Alice Cooper."
He Dedicates his time and talents to a number of charitable organizations. Over the last five years, Bon Jovi has given Christmas benefit concerts to aid local community charities.
Jon lives with his family in New Jersey.
Jon is an admitted workaholic. He does enjoys movies and is an avid runner.
He follows American football and is a die-hard New York GIANTS fan. |
