Bon Jovi Got Its Name Because ‘We Just Couldn’t Think of Anything Else,’ Says Richie Sambora

The major music act Bon Jovi got its name from the lead singer, Jon Bon Jovi. According to the band’s former guitarist, Richie Sambora, there wasn’t much thought behind the decision.

Richie Sambora claims Bon Jovi’s name is misleading

In February, Sambora sat down with Absolute Radio to discuss his appearance on The Masked Singer and his time playing with Bon Jovi. While discussing the possibility of recording new material with the band’s frontman in the future, the guitarist said Bon Jovi would be “crazy” not to do so. 

“Actually, I did write that other [Bon Jovi] stuff, too,” Sambora said. “It’s a misnomer when people go just because his name is on [the band] that’s the name. We just couldn’t think of anything else, really.” 

Despite being credited as a writer and producer on over a dozen Bon Jovi songs, most people assume the frontman wrote all of their songs. 

“People think that I just come up with the guitar parts and something like that. But songwriting is conceptual. You have to have a concept. It’s a story. And it can sometimes just come from looking out the window and observing, and a lot of times it comes from your own life, and for the most part of Bon Jovi, my life was a lot [more] colorful than everybody else’s in the band!”

Richie Sambora’s role was to ‘shut the f*** up’

According to Sambora, his role in the band was to keep quiet about who wrote Bon Jovi’s music. He spoke about it on Nile Rodgers’ Deep Hidden Meaning Radio show after the host pointed out that the guitarist had a more significant role in the band than fans thought. As reported by Guitar World, Rodgers stated:

“A lot of people don’t know… but you’re like singing on everything. It’s strange because when the band has a front guy, and the band has the front guy’s name, you think that all the singing is the front guy.”

“And all the writing,” Sambora added. “That was part of my deal: to shut the f*** up… And you know what? Guess what? I did it. And it worked out because that’s what [Bon Jovi] needed, for whatever reason.”

Richie Sambora recalled writing ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’

In the same interview, Sambora discussed what inspired him to write one of Bon Jovi’s biggest hits, “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Noticing the band’s fan base was predominantly female, he decided they needed a song for the men to enjoy.

“I got stoned one day, and I was sitting in my mother’s basement waiting for Jon to bring me a pizza so we could get going,” Sambora recalled. “And I came up with that riff, and I went, ‘Well, that’s pretty easy’ …. And it made girls able to bring their husbands and their boyfriends, [who] didn’t feel like they had to go hide someplace.”

Sambora left Bon Jovi in 2013 after 30 years with the band. While he claimed he wanted to spend more time with his family, his bandmates told a different story. According to The Wrap, Bon Jovi accused Sambora of abandoning them partway through the band’s tour.

“I haven’t seen him in over three years,” Bon Jovi revealed in 2016. “He just didn’t show up for work anymore. And that’s the truth of the matter.”

Sambora has dealt with alcohol and drug addiction since 2007, which may have impacted his decision to leave the band.