What Was Jon Bon Jovi’s First Big Hit?
Awarded by People magazine as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” in 1996 and title “Sexiest Rock Star” in 2000, John Francis Bongiovi Jr., or Jon Bon Jovi is one of the most famous rock stars from the 80s. He’s an American singer and songwriter, philanthropist, record producer and also an actor. One of his most famous accomplishments was being the frontman and founder of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was started in 1983. In his lifetime to date, he’s released fifteen studio albums with his band and two solo albums.
He started acting in the 1990s, staring in Moonlight and Valentino and U-571 and making appearances in hot TV shows like Sex and the City, Ally McBeal and The West Wing.
He is most well known for his work in the 80s and 90s, as well as for being incredibly gorgeous. So how does a sexy beast like him become famous so quickly? Well, he had a major breakthrough song released on the radio, of which he was reluctant to have played! Let this be a lesson for all you looking to make it to fame with your music, don’t be afraid to let it be heard!
What Was Bon Jovi’s First Big Hit?
Jon Bon Jovi’s first big hit was “Runaway” when he visited a local radio station WAPP 103.5FM “The Apple” in Lake Success, NY to write and sing songs for the station. When he spoke with DJ Chip Hobart and to the promotion director, John Lassman, who suggested Jon let WAPP add the song “Runaway” to the station’s compilation album of local homegrown talent.
Get this, Jon was first reluctant! But eventually he did give them the song which was first recorded in 1982 – after a rough early recording in 1981 – with local studio musicians whom he designated The All Star Review. These included: guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan, drummer Frankie LaRocka and bassist Hugh McDonald.
In March of 1983, Jon Bon Jovi called David Bryan, who called bassist Alec John Such and an experienced drummer, Tico Torres. Dave Sabo, known as “The Snake”, who was Bon Jovi’s friend and neighbor was also invited to join, but he later formed the band Skid Row instead.
Then Guitarist Richie Sambora later joined (after auditioning for Kiss) and they all became members of Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi’s Debut Album: Bon Jovi
When the band started playing showcases and opening for local talent, record executive Derek Shulman quickly took note and signed them to Mercury Records and was also part of the PolyGram company. But because Jon Bon Jovi wanted a group name, Richard Fischer’s friend Pamela Maher suggested they call themselves Bon Jovi, which followed the example of the Van Halen brothers. At first they weren’t too enthusiastic about the idea, but eventually they hit the charts under that name. The other name would have been Johnny Electric.
Their new manager Doc McGhee (also band manager for Skid Row, Mötley Crüe and Kiss) helped them to release their debut album Bon Jovi, on January 21, 1984, which included their debut song “Runaway”, which made the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The number also peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Before long, they were opening for Scorpions in the U.S. and for Kiss in Europe.
2nd Album: 7800° Fahrenheit
Bon Jovi released their second album, 7800° Fahrenheit. They also released three single: “Only Lonely”, “In and Out of Love” and the ballad “Silent Night”. 7800° Fahrenheit also peaked at No. 37 on Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by RIAA. It still didn’t sell as well as they had hoped, but it still allowed them to go out touring again.
In May 1985, they headlined venues in Japan and Europe. At the end of their tour in Europe, they began a six-month run of U.S. tour dates and supported Ratt. During the tour, they appeared at the Texas Jam and Castle Donington’s Monsters of Rock concerts in England. They also performed at the first Farm Aid in 1985.
Third Album: Slippery When Wet
By 1986, their success grew into worldwide recognition, especially with the release of their third album on August 16, 1986, Slippery When Wet, selling 28 million copies worldwide as of 2011. It spent eight weeks on the top of the Billboard 200 and the first two singles of the album, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” both hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
They had also changed their approach and hired the professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator. Bruce Fairbairn was also chosen to produce and moved Bon Jovi to Vancouver, Canada to record their third album. It included three Top 10 singles, with two reaching number one: “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer”.
By 1987, Slippery When Wet was name the top-selling album by Billboard while “Livin’ on a Prayer” won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance. Bon Jovi also won an award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band at the American Music Awards and an award for Favorite Rock Group at the People’s Choice Awards.
Bon Jovi headlined at 130 shows in the “Tour Without End”, which grossed about $28,400,000. When asked what this breakthrough to fame meant for him, Jon Bon Jovi commented, “Everything is bigger, and it moves twice as fast. You’re recognized twice as often. This is bigger, the whole world gets bigger. You have to sell more records, be huger. You get smarter and you understand the business a little more, so it’s more responsibility. You understand it now, and you want to make sure everything goes right.”
Fourth Album: New Jersey
The fourth album, New Jersey (1988), was also a huge success, selling over 10 million copies and featuring five Top 10 singles (considered to be a record for a glam metal album), two of which were No. 1: “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You”. The album also peaked at No. 1 in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. The other three singles, “Born to Be My Baby”, “Lay Your Hands on Me”, and “Living in Sin”, reached the top 10.
Bon Jovi made the news when the video for “Living in Sin” was banned by MTV for sexual content; however, it was re-edited and MTV put it in heavy rotation.
Shortly afterwards, Bon Jovi went on another worldwide tour throughout 1989 and 1990, visiting over 22 counties and performed at 232 shows.
In August 1989, the band performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, where they became the first band officially sanctioned by the Soviet government to perform in the Soviet Union and New Jersey became the first U.S. album legally released in the U.S.S.R.
After being on high-paced world tours and recording both Slippery When Wet and New Jersey back to back, Bon Jovi was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. After the final tour date in Mexico and without any clear plans for the future, they decided to go home. Although there were few if any goodbyes between each of them, they each retreated to their own projects and were uninterested in making another album.
Bon Jovi in in the 90s
In 1991, Jon Bon Jovi decided to fire his management, agents and business advisers (including Doc McGhee). He took on these roles himself by closing ranks and establishing Bon Jovi Management. In October of that year, the group went to St. Thomas in the Caribbean to discuss their future plans. They solved their differences by allowing each member to speak their feelings without interruption. They then headed back to Vancouver Little Mountain studio with Bob Rock to work on their fifth album, Keep the Faith, in January 1992.
Fifth Album: Keep the Faith
Keep the Faith was released in November 1992, which represented “the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Bon Jovi” and marking a change in the band’s sound and image. This was different from their heavy drums and crazy guitar solos and introduced a more sound and contained more serious lyrics. Jon Bon Jovi had also cut his hair, which made headlines on CNN.
They also played at a few New Jersey clubs where they first started recording to promote their album. They also appeared on MTV Unplugged but it was different from the other episodes of the series. Their performance captured Bon Jon in a more intimate, “in the round” experience where they performed electric and acoustic renditions of their classic hits, as well as new material from Keep the Faith. The concert was commercially released in 1993 as Keep the Faith: An Evening with Bon Jovi.
The album reached Double Platinum status by the RIAA and produced the Top 10 hit “Bed of Roses” and the title track hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. This also let them go on an extensive international world tour for the album, visiting countries they’ve never been to before in South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. They visited a total of 37 counties, performed 177 shows and had 2.5 million fan on the Keep the Faith Tour/I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead Tour.
Sixth Album: Cross Road
In October of 1994, Bon Jovi released a greatest hits album titled Cross Road with two new songs: “Always” and “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” Their first single, “Always” became Their highest selling single and stayed on top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for six months. The album became the best-selling album of 1994 in the United Kingdom. Bon Jovi also won an award for Best Selling Rock Band at the World Music Awards.
Jon Bon Jovi: Other Acts
Jon Bon Jovi started acting in 90s, starring in Moonlight and Valentino and U-571 and appearing on TV shows in Sex and the City, Ally McBeal and The West Wing.
Jon Jovi was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2012, he ranked No. 50 on the list of Billboard Magazine’s “Power of 100”, a ranking of “The Most Powerful and Influential People in the Music Business”.
Bon Jovi was also a founder and former majority owner of the Arena Football League team, the Philadelphia Soul. He is also a founder of The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, founded in 2006.
What Do You Think of Bon Jovi?
Bon Jovi of course had much more history throughout the 90s, 2000s and 2010s, but the purpose of this blog was to highlight his debut song and early history. You’ll definitely want to check out what they’ve been up to as of lately!
So what’s your favorite Bon Jovi Song? What do you think of his acting? I personally love “It’s My Life” and “Runaway”. Please let me know what you think in the comments below!
