Richie Sambora declares he’ll finally return to Bon Jovi on 1 condition
The band might be getting back together.
Richie Sambora revealed that he’s ready to return to Bon Jovi more than 10 years after he unexpectedly quit the rock band.
“The fans will just love it,” Sambora, 64, said on “The Allison Hagendorf Show” on Wednesday. “It’s not finance, it has nothing to do with [that]. The world could use it.”
However, the singer admitted that his return hinges on frontman Jon Bon Jovi and his recent vocal cord issues.
“As Jon said, he’s been having problems with his voice, and now he had that operation,” Sambora explained. “It’s an iffy thing at best. I don’t know if there’s anybody that has ever had that be successful. I’m not really sure about that. And I went to his house, and we talked about it.”
Sambora said that if Bon Jovi, 62, gets his voice back, then he’ll be back in the band.
“I’ll go play. I got songs. I swear to God,” Sambora shared. “It’s the honest-to-God truth. I told everybody that I would, without a doubt, go back. The world needs it. We need hope.”
Bon Jovi underwent surgery for his vocal cords in 2022. In a recent interview with People, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer — who has been promoting the band’s upcoming album “Forever,” set to drop on June 7 — revealed that he works with vocal coaches and does daily voice exercises to get better.
“Every day is the recovery process,” he said. “I’m capable of singing. What I’m not necessarily capable of is two and a half hours a night, four nights a week. But I’m aspiring to get that back.”
Back in March, Bon Jovi told a Boston radio station that he’s not sure if he can tour again. “Although I’m well on the road to recovery and was able to take my time and do a song a day when I made the record, my need, want, desire is to be able to do two and a half hours a night, four nights a week for months on end,” he said.
Bon Jovi and Sambora haven’t been bandmates since Sambora abruptly left the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame group when he failed to show up for his plane to Calgary, Alberta, for a concert in April 2013. He entered rehab for alcohol abuse and exhaustion.
Sambora addressed his controversial exit from the band in the new Hulu docuseries “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.”
Sambora said he doesn’t “regret” leaving the rock group, but he does wish that he handled things differently.
“I’d like to apologize fully right now to the fans, especially, and also to the guys,” he said in the doc. “My feet and my spirit were just not letting me walk out the door.”
Bon Jovi also weighed in on Sambora’s decision to leave the group, saying that the members of the band were “quite angry and disappointed and shocked.”
“Nobody expected Richie to quit in the middle of the night,” said the band’s frontman, who stopped talking to Sambora after he quit. “But at the end of the day, that’s what makes the journey so amazing — that nobody knows where their life is gonna lead ’em.”
Last month, Sambora released a new solo single, “I Pray.” He followed that up with another single, “Livin’ Alone.”
Sambora plans to release two more singles, “Songs That Wrote My Life” on May 10, and “Believe (In Miracles)” on May 17.
