Jon Bon Jovi may never sing live again: “If I can’t be the guy I once was, then I’m done”

Jon Bon Jovi performs at the Fifth Annual LOVE ROCKS NYC Benefit Concert Livestream for God’s Love We Deliver at The Beacon Theatre on June 03, 2021 in New York CityJon Bon Jovi performs at the Fifth Annual LOVE ROCKS NYC Benefit Concert Livestream for God’s Love We Deliver at The Beacon Theatre on June 03, 2021 in New York City. CREDIT: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jon Bon Jovi has revealed that he may never sing live again, admitting that if he can’t be “great”, then he’s “done”.

The ’80s rock legend opened up about his ailing vocals in a new interview with The Sunday Times, sharing: “If the singing is not great, if I can’t be the guy I once was… then I’m done.”

He added: “And I’m good with that.”

Last month, the ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ singer revealed that he was uncertain about being able to tour again after undergoing surgery on his vocal cords in 2022.

The artist said he’d undergone a procedure known as medialisation in 2022 after one of his vocal cords was found to be atrophying.
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon JoviBruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Elaborating in his interview with The Times, Bon Jovi said there was a “big difference between being in a studio and going out on the road”.

He explained: “We have just recorded a new album. I sing in vocal therapy every day. But I want to perform for two and a half hours a night, four nights a week – and I know how good I can be, so if I can’t be that guy … put it this way, I don’t ever need to be the fat Elvis.”

The band’s 16th studio album, ‘Forever’, is due to be released on June 7, 2024, which they previously described as “a return to joy”.

Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock, the frontman said he had to “work through a lot of dark misery” to arrive at the joy.

He continued: “Our last record, which was called ‘2020’, was a lot of observations and narratives about what was going on in the world around us – whether it was the COVID crises or George Floyd, shootings in schools, soldiers with PTSD.”

The band’s new four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story – will debut on HULU in the US and Disney+ in the UK on April 26.

Bon Jovi said that the series will explain “why we are what we are,” including “all of the truths, all of the warts, all of the punches in the nose that got us to this place.”