As the sun set over London’s Hyde Park last July, few would have noticed the man in the black baseball cap being quietly escorted to his seat for Bruce Springsteen’s headline show.
Even fewer among the 65,000 crowd would have realised the man should have been on the stage himself. “I was meant to sing that day. But then I just said: ‘I’m not ready’,” Jon Bon Jovi explains. “It was my goal to be healthy for Hyde Park. But it got to that time, and I just couldn’t.”
While the fans missed out on a sensational duet that balmy summer evening, it marked another chapter in Jon’s long, and often painful, recovery from the vocal surgery he had in 2022. The star went under the knife after finally accepting that his voice was not up to the demands of touring.
Although it was his wife of 35 years and childhood sweetheart Dorothea, 61, who quietly had a word in his ear, Jon knew deep down his time was up. “After a 15-show run where I couldn’t even will my voice back, I was really ready to call it a day,” he says.
Jon Bon Jovi and Tom Bryant during their interview in London
Bruce Springsteen performing at BST Hyde Park Festival last year (Getty Images)He saw a doctor, who confirmed his vocal cords were atrophying and recommended a cutting-edge procedure. After confiding in country sensation Shania Twain, who had the same surgery, he took the plunge in the knowledge that it really was his last resort. “Shania was like a godsend,” he says. “She had the identical procedure with the same doctor and told me: ‘You’ll come through it... but be patient’.” Two years on and Jon cuts a sanguine, relaxed figure in his London hotel suite as he talks about his recovery.
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It is the third time I have interviewed the singer and each time he has been on sparkling form. This occasion is no different, with his mood clearly buoyed by rave reviews of his latest single Legendary, a thumping return to form for the band that bears his (stage) surname.
But it is hard not to detect a certain weariness as the 62-year-old reflects on what must have been a tough 24 months, not knowing if he would ever recapture his magic live. And he does not pull any punches when it comes to admitting to just how ready he is to walk away from touring should his voice not fully recover.
“If, God forbid, I don’t do it again live because it’s not up to my standard, I can walk away because at this point, I’ve done it all,” he says. “I have no reason to not be honest with anybody at this f***ing point. Maybe when I was younger, you might make up bullsh** as you go along, but I have nothing else to prove and certainly nothing left to hide.”
Jon laughs that this honesty extends to other parts of his life too. “The grey hair is all mine,” he adds. “F*** it, I’m not dyeing my hair. And I’m not getting Botox, or eyejobs. Life is too short to bullsh**.” But when it comes to his recovery, there have been tangible green shoots along the way.
Three months ago, he performed a handful of songs with Springsteen at the MusiCares Person of the Year benefit gala, where he was named Person of The Year. He says: “I remember waking up on the Saturday of that performance and there were different voices in my head. There was less doubt, less fear…and it was a nice feeling. I’m still in the process of healing and believing that it’s going to work out. So I haven’t ever relinquished hope yet. And I do see that progress is happening consistently.”
But if the curtain were to fall on his life on the road, Jon remains defiantly at peace with any such decision. He explains: “There have been examples of guys that have stayed at the dance too long. My motivation is not money. My motivation is not based in applause. My motivation was to leave a legacy of this catalogue of music and the history of being a great performing band. That’s good enough for me. I’m having hit records today, which is mind f***ing blowing so I’m cool if I don’t have to live in another hotel room for a year.”
Bon Jovi’s new album, Forever, is out on FridayIt is fighting talk. But justifiably so. The band have chalked up a staggering 130 million album sales worldwide, with anthems such as Livin’ on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, It’s My Life and Bad Medicine going down in rock history. And their new album Forever, which is out this week, is once again destined to dominate the charts.
Not bad for a New Jersey boy who started out playing in local bars with his first band Atlantic City Expressway before hitting the big time with 1983 debut single Runaway. It was while Jon was still at school that he first got to perform with the Boss, now 74, who was a local hero at the time.
The two of them shared the stage in 1979 at a biker hangout called the Stone Pony. Now, 45 years and the best part of 300m combined record sales later, the two men are firm friends. “We’ve always been friendly but I would honestly say that I could sit with him in a room now and say he’s like a brother almost,” Jon smiles. “How many guys come from New Jersey and have achieved what we’ve achieved?”
And although he was disappointed not to take to the stage with him last year at London’s BST Hyde Park show, Jon says how there was an unexpected upside. “It was fun to just hang out for a couple of days and be in London with no commitment and just do nothing but eat, drink and go out. We went to Wimbledon, as well... talk about an adult fantasy week. We had a blast.”
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Jon was probably grateful for the respite as this summer has been as hectic as ever with three of his children getting married. Eldest son Jesse, 29, has tied the knot with longtime love Jesse Light, while Jake, 22, has just got wed to Hollywood and Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.
Daughter Stephanie, 31, is also set to walk down the aisle, with Jon writing a song on his new album in her honour called Kiss The Bride. Only Romeo, 20, has yet to meet his Juliet. “When they come in and say this is the one that I want to spend my life with, you go: ‘Whoah.’ And then you wonder if you’re going to like them, but I feel very blessed. I’ve met all the kids’ partners, and I think of myself and Dorothea and those early days.”
*Bon Jovi’s new album, Forever, is out on Friday in stores and online
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