Jon Bon Jovi made ‘deal with the devil’ in health battle that nearly ended his career-Lucy Mapstone-Entertainment – Metro

Jon Bon Jovi is tired. Really tired. He’s nearly at the end of a long day, at the end of a long week and long month of promoting; first the recently released light-shedding Bon Jovi documentary, and now, a new album.

He’s also at a milestone moment in the overall timeline of Bon Jovi, who have been rocking fans for four decades and have the sort of superstardom only afforded to the music elite. It’s really no wonder he’s feeling the fatigue. It has been a long, long time.

‘Sitting in another f***ing hotel room, you know, 40 years on is not exactly the sexiest thing to be doing on a Friday,’ he jokes, sparkling still through his lassitude. Fair enough.

It must feel like he’s been on the road forever, at least over the past few months, but despite his slumping forward and speaking for several minutes with his eyes shut, he is full of verve.

At 62, he is as much of a rock god as he ever was, his dense, silver hair coiffured into a timeless style not too dissimilar to his 90s aesthetic. He’s physically very fit, trim, and wearing black leather and heavy but pristine boots. Tired today, sure, but not really. Not one bit.

‘It’s fascinating, even to us that we’re here and this invigorated 40 years on and, to have not only this incredible docuseries chronicling 40 years, but to have had a new album coming with a hit single that’s leading the charge and we know it’s not even the best song on the record,’ he says.

‘That’s beyond my wildest, wildest, wildest dreams.’

Jon Bon Jovi has been at it for 40 years – and despite his health woes, he doesn’t intend on giving up just yet (Picture: EMI)

He and his namesake band are now releasing their 16th studio album, Forever, after dropping its lead single Legendary earlier this year. Not the best track, he admits, but the biggest ‘statement’.

While many artists find themselves tweaking their style to fit modern, younger tastes after decades in the recording industry, Bon Jovi’s newest endeavour stays true to their legacy. Their ‘it could only be Bon Jovi’ rock sound they’ve cultivated for years runs through every track like blood, and it was no accident.

‘Early on, when I would look at the Rolling Stones people would say “oh, that record sounds like the Stones.” There was a distinct sound that was to the Rolling Stones. And I thought, “we want to have a Bon Jovi sound”. That is the ultimate goal,’ he recollects.

‘Not to chase fads and fashions because something was popular.’

Bon Jovi, however, aren’t trying to recreate the past despite hanging on to their trademark sound. The past which, by the way, consists of five UK number one albums, 18 top 10 hits and some of the biggest smash hit rock pop anthems of all time, including Livin’ on a Prayer, Bad Medicine and Wanted Dead or Alive.

Bon Jovi have a story to tell with new album Forever (Picture: EMI)

‘What I don’t want to be is nostalgic and what I don’t want to be stuck in a rut trying to chase You Give Love A Bad Name. I was 25 years old. If I was 62 and rewriting that song, I deserve to be under the train that the reader is reading this article,’ he adds with a knowing wink, just for Metro readers.

‘And so we’re not doing that. This is a life’s journey and you’re writing about who and what you are along the way. But there’s an optimism and an anthemic sound of Bon Jovi records, that’s for sure.’

‘You could like or dislike any one of our albums, but they’ve all been honest, you can’t say anything about their lack of honesty. I’ve also not been afraid to show vulnerability or anger or disappointment or any of the emotions that have been true. If only because I didn’t want to get caught up in the lie.

‘I stand before you as a grey-haired 62-year-old male where I could be dyeing my hair and getting Botox or, or doing duets with hip hop guys, because it’d get me on the BBC.

‘I’d rather just live in the truth than pander to your collective approvals.’

‘That’s beyond my wildest, wildest, wildest dreams,’ he says, of Bon Jovi’s continued success (Picture: Metro)

Part of Bon Jovi’s distinguishable sound of course comes from its lead singer’s powerfully potent vocals. Forever includes plenty of tracks that show these off, but it wasn’t easy to get there.

Having undergone surgery two years ago on his vocal cords after realising ‘something wasn’t right in my body’, Jon admits he is still in the process of recovery. For a singer, damaged vocal cords are the same as a long-jumper tearing a ligament in their knee.

It has been excruciating for him, mentally and physically.

‘I really gave myself no choice – it was do it or don’t do it. It’s either get the surgery or retire, because I couldn’t go on with the emotional and physical struggles of trying to do what I know how to do so well,’ he says.

He admits that, yes, there were times he considered ‘f***ing off’ and stopping trying, but instead he now wants to be a source of hope for anyone going through obstacles in life ‘that everybody goes through it’.

During the hardest of moments, when he thought he’d never be able to sing again, he says he did toy with the idea of bargaining with some higher force to spare him.

Jon Bon Jovi with former bandmate Richie Sambora in 1994, at the height of their fame (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)

The Wanted Dead or Alive hitmakers have been around since 1983 – and are still rockin’ (Picture: Ilpo Musto/REX/Shutterstock)

‘Believe me, I’d considered those deals. In my dances with the devil [I’d say] “if I give you this, would you give me that?” Especially during the period where you’re trying to figure out what the f*** is wrong.’

He is still unsure if he’ll ever be able to return to touring, but for now at least we have a new album, which is far less gruelling on his vocals.

While Jon has taken an in-depth look back over his illustrious career for the recent Disney+ docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, it made him realise that he has lived through the ‘gold mining years’ of pop culture, something that today’s stars do not have.

Could he make it as a rock god in today’s music industry, an industry ruled by streaming and social media and an industry without the power of the charts and finding fans organically, through the radio and TV?

‘It’s different,’ he reasons. ‘I wouldn’t say it’s harder, it’s easier, it’s better, it’s worse [now].

‘Every generation has their codes of conduct and the rules that keep them there, get them there. What’s most important is how do you stay there? You know, anybody can do it once. Can you do it for 40 years?’

Bon Jovi certainly can, that’s for sure.

Away from the music, which admittedly takes up the majority of his time and mental bandwidth, Jon welcomed another superstar into his family when Stranger Things actress and Gen Z icon Millie Bobby Brown married Jon’s second-youngest of four children, model Jake, 22, in a private wedding last month.

As a married man himself (35 years wed to his childhood sweetheart Dorothea Hurley), he happily shared the pearls of wisdom he bestowed to his son and new daughter-in-law ahead of their lifetime together.

‘You gotta grow together. That was the good fortune that I had,’ he shares.

‘It’s the journey makes it more fun. And it also answers the questions that you’re gonna find will pop up.

‘She’s just a sweet girl with a very nice family we’ve got to know,’ he adds of Millie who, at 20, has become one of the youngest celebrity brides of her generation.

‘That’s my hope for them. They’re very young, but they know that and they’re growing together.’

Millie Bobby Brown married Jake Bongiovi last month, and her new father-in-law is full of praise for her (Picture: Ian West/PA)

At this juncture in Bon Jovi’s history, it seems that there is more to give. Forever sounds like a swansong album, but it’s not – it’s just another step on this very long path for one of the world’s biggest and most adored bands.

And, for all of their accolades and triumphs (countless industry awards, more than 130 million records sold, sell-out tours and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to name a few) there is one string they have miraculously yet to add to their bow: Glastonbury Festival.

For years fans have been waiting and wondering when they’d get to witness Jon Bon Jovi belting out Always, Runaway and Bed Of Roses out across Worthy Farm. Many of their contemporaries have graced the Pyramid Stage, but they never have.

He smiles at the prospect of such a gig, and floats the idea of filling in the increasingly popular late afternoon legends slot, following in the footsteps of Dolly Parton, Kylie Minogue and Jeff Lynne’s ELO, to name a few.

He admits, somewhat bizarrely, that he’s rarely been asked about it, and adds he’s ‘never had a chance’ and ‘it was never offered’ before.

‘I never went to it. But I heard about that legend slot. I’m aware of the festival obviously. But I never went…

‘I feel like it would be pretty legendary. Let’s think about it, for next year.’

Bon Jovi’s new album Forever is out June 7 via EMI.

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