Jon Bon Jovi Crushes Hope of a Richie Sambora Return

Jon Bon Jovi basically crushed any hope fans had about a potential return by guitarist Richie Sambora.

The singer told Ultimate Classic Rock that he and Sambora haven't been in contact, despite both participating in the upcoming docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. JBJ shared that Sambora's interview portions were filmed in London, and he wasn't there. The frontman also noted that he has yet to see the complete docuseries.

Bon Jovi said, "We're not in contact because he's not in the organization any longer. Doesn't mean that there's not love forever, but it's 11 years ago that he just didn't show up anymore."

Sambora, of course, left Bon Jovi in 2013. At the time, Sambora cited wanting to spend more time with his daughter, Ava, who is now 26. Sambora's exit will be addressed in Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which premieres on Hulu on Friday, April 26.

In addition to the docuseries, Bon Jovi also has a new album on the way. Forever comes out on June 7 and is Bon Jovi's 16th studio album. Jon Bon Jovi told Ultimate Classic Rock that the album's overall theme is "joy," which he had to work towards by facing some "dark misery."

JBJ said, "I’m thinking about where to go musically and I run into a problem physically, where now I have to seek out a specialist in the field to do a vocal surgery that is not often done."

There's certainly a lot of joy on the new single "Legendary." As with many Bon Jovi songs, "Legendary" features a bombastic chorus that you can seemingly already hear fans singing along to at arenas all over the world.

JBJ told Ultimate Classic Rock the mention of a "brown-eyed girl" is a nod to the Van Morrison hit, but it's also a nod to his wife/high school sweetheart, Dorothea.

"Got what I want/Cause I got what I need/Got a fistful of friends/That’ll stand up for me/Right where I am/Is where I wanna be/Friday night comes/Around like a song/Sweet Caroline and we all sing along/Got my brown-eyed girl/And she believes in me/Legendary"

"Legendary" can be heard below and is available for streaming/download here. Meanwhile, Forever is available for pre-save/pre-order here.

Bon Jovi has been active for over four decades, and they aren't showing signs of slowing down.

Their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career has netted them over 130 million albums sold worldwide and legions of fans spanning generations.

Narrowing down their catalog to a select number of songs and ranking them is a daunting task, but here are Bon Jovi's 35 best songs, ranked.

A new docuseries about Bon Jovi is set to premiere on Hulu on April 26. The docuseries is titled Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.

The docuseries also has the cooperation of all Bon Jovi members, both past and present. A teaser trailer of the docuseries offers a supercut of the band's wild career, including the exit of guitarist Richie Sambora.

Additionally, the teaser trailer shows Jon Bon Jovi in a hospital bed. He's holding a dry-erase board that simply says, "I'm good." Meanwhile, an unidentified voiceover says, "Jon's going through his challenges." It then cuts to JBJ saying, "It almost killed us."

The "challenges" appear to be about Bon Jovi's recent vocal issues, which he discussed during the Pollstar Live! conference in February 2024.

Per Ultimate Classic Rock, Bon Jovi said, "It's become public knowledge now, but I've had major reconstructive surgery in my vocal cords, and I never had anything like this, ever. So it's been a difficult road, but I found a doctor in Philadelphia who did something called a medialization, because one of my cords was literally atrophied."

A description of Thank You, Goodnight from Hulu also promises it will delve into the band's "most public moments of friction." Of course, this is likely a reference to the 2013 exit of Sambora, who has often talked about the potential of rejoining the band.