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John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. or Jon Bon Jovi (age 47) was born March 2, 1962 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, US. He is an American musician, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead singer and founder of rock band Bon Jovi. He was also the owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the now suspended Arena Football League. Throughout his career, he has released two solo albums and eleven studio albums with his band which have sold over 120 million albums worldwide.
Jon Bon Jovi Interview May 2008 At Home

As a solo artist, he has numerous awards for his work, including a Golden Globe. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monmouth University in 2001. He campaigned for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election, John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, and Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.
On April 6, 2009, it was announced that the Tribeca Film Festival will screen a Bon Jovi documentary called When We Were Beautiful. The film follows the band on the Lost Highway Tour during 2008. The film is directed by Phil Griffin and will be the centerpiece of the festival and is considered a work-in-progress.
During a stop in Los Angeles on the New Jersey tour in 1989, Bon Jovi secretly took a trip to Las Vegas, where he married his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Rose Hurley (*September 29, 1962) on April 29, 1989 at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dorothea is a Karate instructor. Together they have four children: Stephanie Rose (b. 31 May 1993), Jesse James Louis (b. 19 February 1995), Jacob Hurley (b. 7 May 2002) and Romeo Jon (b. 29 March 2004). Bon Jovi maintains a strong family foundation to this day. Jon and his family reside in Manhattan and Middletown, New Jersey. The grounds of their Middletown residence includes a building Jon has converted into a British style pub. He has named it the 'Shoe Inn', stating he has hung a horse shoe in it as he feels he has been blessed, and considers himself 'one of the luckiest men in the world'.
Jon Bon Jovi Interview May 2008
60 Minutes interview
Jon Bon Jovi Interview May 2008 Part I

In 2001, he received an honorary degree at the Monmouth University graduation ceremony at which he also gave the commencement address. In 2001 Jon also addressed the Oxford Union in England.

In 2004, he became founder and primary owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League with fellow band member Richie Sambora. He appeared in several television commercials for the league, typically with John Elway, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Bon Jovi has been a New York Giants fan his entire life, and also has a long-standing friendship with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, demonstrated by Belichick often playing Bon Jovi music at Patriots practices.
Jon Bon Jovi Interview May 2008 Part II

Raised a Roman Catholic, Bon Jovi has expressed his belief in God, stating in a 1993 interview in Philadelphia that he "believes in an omnipresent God who is 'right here' (pointing to the room around him)". In 1995 he discussed writing the These Days record and how blessed he'd been using the phrase "God willing, or I should say God, thank you."
He was guest star on American Idol in May 2007, during the show's "Rock Week" in which the contestants all performed his or his band's songs. On October 13, 2008 Jon hosted the third episode of the 33rd season of Saturday Night Live. A Democrat, Bon Jovi toured extensively on behalf of Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, appearing at and playing acoustic sets (with Sambora) at rallies for the Kerry-Edwards ticket throughout the United States. Bon Jovi also played as a part of the Live Earth concert at the Meadowlands in 2007, and was introduced by former Vice President Al Gore. In 2008, Jon Bon Jovi supported Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and after she dropped out, he supported Barack Obama, even holding an exclusive fundraiser at his home for him; he will play a 2009 Manhattan fundraiser for Hillary to attempt to eradicate some of her $6.3 million dollar campaign debt. On Sunday, January 18, 2009 Bon Jovi performed a duet at the Obama Inauguration Concert of the Sam Cooke classic "A Change is Gonna Come" with Bettye LaVette. On June 4, 2009 Bon Jovi performed an acoustic benefit show for democratic Gov. Jon Corzine at the NJPAC in Newark, New Jersey.
On June 24, 2009, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Andy Madadian recorded a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. The handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to "we are one".
Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, a soundtrack to the movie "Young Guns II" (in which he also appeared for less than a second), more commonly known as Blaze of Glory. Released in 1990, the album featured high profile guests such as: Elton John, Aldo Nova, Little Richard, and Jeff Beck, among others. The album fared well commercially and received very positive reviews and quickly achieved double platinum status. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Jon an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but he did not win the award. That same year, however, "Blaze of Glory" was awarded a Golden Globe.
Jon Bon Jovi was born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the son of two former Marines, hairdresser John Francis Bongiovi, Sr. and one-time Playboy bunny Carol Sharkey. He has two brothers, Anthony and Matthew. He is Italian-American. He also spent summers in Erie, Pa. with his grandparents, as he said when he came to a sold-out (over 15,000) Veterans Stadium in 1988. As a child Bon Jovi attended St. Joseph High School, in Metuchen, New Jersey during his freshman and sophomore years. He later transferred to Sayreville War Memorial High School in Parlin, New Jersey.
Jon Bon Jovi - Interview - Ellen Degeneres Show

Jon spent most of his adolescence bunking school to opt for music activities instead and he ended up playing in local bands with friends and his cousin Tony who owned the then famous New York recording studio, the Power Station. As a result, his academic records displayed less than spectacular achievements and poor grades. By the time he was 16, Jon was playing clubs. It was not long before he hooked up with keyboardist David Bryan (real name: David Brian Rashbaum), who played with him in a ten-piece rhythm and blues band called Atlantic City Expressway. Jon also performed with bands called The Rest, The Lechers and John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones.

When he was seventeen, Jon was working sweeping floors at his cousin Tony Bongiovi's recording studio, The Power Station. In 1980, when Meco was there recording Christmas in the Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album, Tony recommended Jon for the song "R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas." This became his first professional recording (credited as John Bongiovi).[8] He left in 1983 when he got a record deal.
Bon Jovi Interview in New York Summer 2008

Along with Hugh McDonald, who would replace Alec John Such as Bon Jovi's bass player in 1994, and David Sabo, Jon released a song, Runaway, one of a few songs John wrote during his bus travels from Sayreville to The Power Station. He went to several record companies, including Atlantic Records,and Mercury (PolyGram), but they all turned him down. He went (as a last resort) to a Disc Jockey at WAPP-FM, a Manhattan radio show, and asked for the DJ to listen to Runaway; the DJ accepted. The DJ enjoyed Runaway and played it; he even put it onto the WAPP record. Runaway became a hit on the charts. Along the way, Mercury gave Jon a recording contract in 1983, and to promote Runaway, Jon called up Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres and Alec John Such and formed a band. John later found a man called Doc McGhee, who later became their manager. After John claimed he wanted a group name, one of the group suggested "Bon Jovi". Although Doc McGhee showed distaste to this suggestion (claiming it sounded like a French ice cream), the name stuck, and the group emerged as Bon Jovi, along with John slightly changing the spelling of his name to suit the band, and emerging as Jon Bon Jovi.
Jon wrote what would become his second solo album, 1997's Destination Anywhere. The album received very positive reviews and was a success across Europe. It was rumored that the record company was pursuing Jon to name the record "These Days, Part 2", since the album was somewhat of a moody progression from These Days. A short movie of the same name was recorded right around the record's release, based entirely on the songs from the record and starring Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Whoopi Goldberg. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics played guitar on the record, as well as producing some of the tracks. That year Jon Bon Jovi earned a BRIT Award for Best International Male and also won a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Male.
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