I hate to break it to all of you Bon Jovi fans out there. But you may never see the band reunite in its fullest form again.
Videos by Wide Open Country
In an interview with Classic Rock magazine, the 'Livin On a Prayer' legend reveals that he has only spoken to former guitarist Richie Sambora twice in 11 years. In April 2013, Sambora abruptly leaves the band mid-tour. Bon Jovi details the reaction to the guitarist's departure, "It was a shock." "Nobody anticipated it, no one saw it coming. I talked to him the day before, I remember it so well," he continues. "It was Easter Sunday, 2013, and I was driving through the Lincoln Tunnel as I was talking to him, because I was living in New York, and I was like: 'Yeah, I'm feeling great, the album [2013's What About Now] is gonna come in at Number One, see you up there.'
Despite being accommodating, Sambora doesn't have it in him to return. The singer adds, "He said: 'Can I stay home one more day?' 'Of course. You want to fly private tomorrow? Sure. Do it. I don't care. See you up there.' And then the next day the phone rings at three in the afternoon, and, you know... 'I can't go on.'"
Why Did Sambora Leave Bon Jovi?
Let Richie call it, the band were getting stale. The rest of the group didn't feel this way. "I didn't think so, and the collective, we didn't think so," Bon Jovi expresses. "I personally thought that everything was going incredibly fucking well. And it was never brought up in the room, or in the writing, or in the recording, or during the first 20 shows of that tour."
Since then, the singer has only ever spoken to Sambora twice since 2013. According to Bon Jovi, there's never been any bad blood on his end. "He. Quit. The. Band. I swear to Christ there was never a fight, nothing... He wasn't kicked out, he quit," he emphasizes. "And he hasn't made any great overtures about coming back."
In November 2023, there might've been hope. Sambora reunites with his old bandmates in 2018 when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. He says afterwards how a return is in the cards for the band's 40 year anniversary tour. But when the band's docu-series recently came out, Sambora wipes his hands clean, seemingly disgusted with what he was seeing.
This seems fixable if Richie ever changes his heart and communicates openly and directly why he's discontent with the band. Time will tell.
