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Bon Jovi
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Miami Vice Performer
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"Wanted Dead or Alive" ("El Viejo")
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Members
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Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongoivi, Jr., born 1962, vocals)
Phil Xenidis "Phil X", born 1966, guitar) David Bryan (born 1962, keyboards) Tico Torres (drums, born 1953) Hugh McDonald (born 1950, bass) |
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Active
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1983-present
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Bon Jovi is an American rock band whose song "Wanted Dead or Alive" appeared in the episode "El Viejo" of the series Miami Vice.
Career[]
The band was formed in 1983 by Jon Bon Jovi, along with Richie Sambora (born 1953), David Bryan, Tico Torres and Alec John Such (1951-2022). Their self-titled debut album was released in 1984, along with their first single, "Runaway", which reached the Billboard Top 40, and they began touring with ZZ Top, The Scorpions and KISS. Their second album, 7800° Fahrenheit, did not sell well, but they resumed touring with fellow metal band Ratt. Bon Jovi's third album, Slippery When Wet, launched the group into superstardom. Their first two singles, "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Livin' On A Prayer", both reached #1 (as did the album). Their third single, "Wanted Dead or Alive", also reached the Top 10 and is known as the group's "anthem", and the fourth single, "Never Say Goodbye", was their first "power ballad" and was featured in proms during the late 1980s into the 1990s. When Slippery... was released, Bon Jovi was the opening act for .38 Special. Six months later, they were the featured act and selling out arenas and concert venues around the country. 1988's New Jersey was also a monster hit, featuing the #1 songs "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There For You", and the Top 10s "Born To Be My Baby", "Lay Your Hands On Me", and "Living In Sin" (the video was originally banned by MTV for its' content but was heavily played when it was edited), becoming the only rock album to have five Top 10 singles. The band embarked on an 18 month tour that covered over 230 shows from 1989-90, and at the end the group was exhausted and took a hiatus. Jon Bon Jovi recorded the song "Blaze of Glory" for the movie Young Guns II, then the band reunited for the album Keep The Faith, which they returned to their New Jersey roots, and despite the musical tastes changing to Grunge/Alternative in the early 1990s, their album reached the Top 10 and their single, "Bed of Roses" also reached the Top 10, but the biggest news was that Jon Bon Jovi cut his trademark long hair. In 1994 their single "Always" (from their Greatest Hits album) became Bon Jovi's biggest selling single, the next year Such left the band, replaced "temporarily" by bassist Hugh McDonald. Their 1995 album, These Days, was the first without Such and it did well commercially. After a tour supporting These Days, the band took a self-imposed hiatus in 1997, returning in 2000 with the album Crush, the single It's My Life reintroduced the band to a new, younger, audience whose parents probably listened to Bon Jovi's albums in the 1980s. They released five more albums in the 2000s, capped by another Greatest Hits album in 2010. In 2013 the band released Because We Can and began another world tour, but during the tour Richie Sambora left for unspecified reasons and was replaced by Phil X (who had filled in for Sambora previously) and in 2014 Sambora left the band permanently. In 2015 a compilation album Burning Bridges was released followed by a studio album, This House is Not for Sale, featuring the promotion of Phil X and Hugh McDonald to full-time band members. Bon Jovi was finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 after winning the fan vote, and former members Sambora and Such returned to perform at the induction ceremony.