It is already available worldwide on Disney+ Thank you, goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story! documentary, in which the last 40 years of the band are commemorated. In the documentary, the world star lets the camera get unusually close to him again and again in an impressive way, and the scenes of the year 2022 alternate with flashbacks of the wild 80s and 90s.
It begins as if it were the swan song of one of the world’s biggest rock stars… But it’s a fresh start, punctuated by spectacular glimpses of four decades of show business. Unreleased pictures, videos and even songs. The viewer suffers along with the band boss when he collapses backstage after a concert and simply falls to the ground. The pictures are stirring up a lot of dust and show another superstar. An injured one.
With his old bandmates, including drummer Tico Torres, 70, and keyboardist David Bryan, 62, the bandleader races back 40 years on the rock ‘n’ roll rollercoaster, finally giving his millions of fans a glimpse into the still-uncertain future.
Health problems
The father of four from New Jersey (he has been married to his childhood sweetheart Dorothea for 35 years) has been struggling with health problems for years.
My two vocal cords were no longer equally strong. One was as thick as a thumb and the other was dying
– he said in an interview with Bild.
To see vulnerability and desperation in someone who seemingly has it all and can have it all; who shot his way to the top with his schoolmate David Bryan, playing his first gigs in backyard clubs; who, as a teenager, was able to stand on stage with his role model, Bruce Springsteen, at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park (New Jersey), “because Bruce happened to be there and wanted to stand at the microphone.”
“I could no longer give the 100 percent that I demand of myself. A lot of sounds were risky and uncertain,” said the singer. After numerous world tours and thousands of concerts, his body demanded sacrifice, but Jon Bon Jovi did not want to pay for it for a long time. “There comes a time when you ask yourself, ‘Is that all there is?’ I didn’t want to be a fat Elvis. After all, he never lost his voice.”
On the way to healing (?)
Attempts to save him cost huge sums of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Jon massaged his vocal cords and tried acupuncture. Cameras followed as they bombarded his throat with laser beams from the outside. And they showed her tears as her faith in her future on the stage fades away. Then country music legend Shania Twain, her old friend, arrived with the solution. “He was the one who recommended me a specialist surgeon. This surgeon saved her voice years ago, and maybe he saved me too. Three months after his surgery, he was able to sing again,” said Jovi.
The singer has decided to undergo surgery to insert an implant to stabilize one of his vocal cords.
Now I’m singing with a piece of plastic in my throat. But I’m not a stage terminator
– He told. Smiling, he showed the scar on his neck reminiscent of a tracheostomy. “And it was a good decision. He is like an athlete who has to go his own way. I know this can take time. That’s okay. My goal is to come back with Bon Jovi and be at least 100 percent…”
“It takes time. I will bear it. Of course we want to go back on stage and see the fans,” he added finally.
The band’s new studio album is Forever is titled and will be released in June. The songs have the band’s signature sound, and Jon Bon Jovi’s voice is said to be very good again. And the singer promised: a Thank you, good nightot It wasn’t meant to be goodbye.
(Cover photo: Jon Bon Jovi on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Emma McIntyre / Getty Images / The Recording Academy)
