Bon Jovi are an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey, currently consisting of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, lead guitarist Richie Sambora, bassist Hugh McDonald (previously Alec John Such), keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres.

Jon Bon Jovi (born John Bongiovi) began playing the piano and guitar at thirteen and set up a number of rock groups in his mid to late-teens, including Jon Bongiovi and the Wild Ones. This went through several incarnations and slowly evolved into Bon Jovi. They caught the eye of record executive Derek Shulman, who signed them to the major label Mercury Records, releasing their debut self-titled album in 1983. Although it was not a huge commercial success, it produced the Hot 100 Top 40 single Runaway and eventually went on to sell over two million copies in the US alone. This was followed by 1985’s 7800° Fahrenheit, which produced the Hot 100 singles Only Lonely and In and Out of Love.

However, the group’s mainstream breakthrough was their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. It shot to number one on the Billboard 200 and produced the smash hit number one singles Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name, as well as the Top 10 hit Wanted Dead or Alive. It sold over 28 million copies worldwide – with 12 million shipped in the US alone – making it one of the bestselling albums of all time. This was followed by their final release of the 1980s, New Jersey, which also shot to number one in the US charts and produced five Hot 100 Top 10 singles (the most ever for a hard rock album): Bad Medicine, Born to Be My Baby, I’ll Be There For You, Lay Your Hands On Me and Living In Sin.

During the 1990s and 2000s Bon Jovi released a further seven Top 10 studio albums, scoring hits with singles like Keep the Faith, Bed of Roses, Always, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, This Ain’t a Love Song, It’s My Life, One Wild Night 2001, Everyday, Have a Nice Day and (You Want To) Make a Memory. Their latest release, November 2009’s The Circle, has produced the single We Weren’t Born to Follow to date.