by Merv Buchanan
John Francis Bongiovi, Jr., better known as Jon Bon Jovi, began playing piano and guitar at the age of 13. After almost a decade spent perfecting his craft in a series of New Jersey bands, he formed the power rock band
Bon Jovi in 1983. Over the years, the band had numerous personnel changes. But the best-known lineup featured Jon on lead vocals and Ritchie Sambora on lead guitar.
Music fans began to take notice of Bon Jovi in 1984 when Jon’s self-penned song Runaway cracked the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But the real breakthrough came in 1986 when their album Slippery When Wet, recorded in Vancouver, Canada, rocketed to number 1, where it stayed for 8 weeks, eventually staying in the Top 100 for 2 years. Its hit singles, Living On A Prayer and You Give Love A Bad Name quickly became rock anthems.
Over the course of their long career, Bon Jovi recorded 16 studio albums, plus compilations and live albums, producing the hits Bad Medicine, I’ll Be There For You, Bed Of Roses, and their best-selling single Always, among others.
As the members of Bon Jovi matured, they moved to more mainstream music styles. Their hit song Who Says You Can’t Go Home won a Grammy award and made music history as the first song by a hard rock band to reach the top of the country music chart. This soon widened their audience to include country music fans.
As a testament to their wide appeal, they have headlined such diverse events as the Monsters Of Rock, Farm Aid, and Moscow Music Peace Festival and sold out major arenas across the globe.
To date, Bon Jovi has sold more than 130 million records. They have performed over 3,000 concerts in 50 countries for more than 34 million fans.
Besides winning a Grammy, they have won MTV, BRIT, AMA, and other awards and have been inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the US.
Texans Trae Doss and Roy Lee Nelson’s re-creation of Jon Bon Jovi and Ritchie Sambora in concert is so outstanding they were selected to appear on AXS TV’s “World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” show, beating out dozens of other contenders. Their dedication to quality, accuracy, and showmanship has resulted in a steady stream of concert, club, and festival bookings across the US, including headlining The California State Fair, and performing in front of thousands of music fans at the recent international music festival in Honduras.
If you are ready to rock, you’re in the right place at a Blaze Of Glory show. The duo appears at The Luna Lounge in Bucerias on February 9th and 10th and at Rancho Santiago, up the Cuale River in Paso Guayabo on February 11th.
