Richie Sambora has released 12 studio albums and 5 concert & compilation albums with Bon Jovi to date. The group released its first album called "Bon Jovi" on January 21, 1984. The song "Runaway", which attracted attention with Richie Sambora's guitar solo, became the band's first hit.
Sambora, whose full name is Richie Stephan Sambora, was born on July 11, 1959, to Polish Adam Sambora and Italian Joen Sienila. He grew up in New Jersey. He started playing guitar at the age of 11 in 1970, after the death of Jimi Hendrix. The name of his first band was "Richie Sambora and Friends". He gained fame as the guitarist of the Bon Jovi band.
Joining Bon Jovi
While Sambora was playing with the band "Message", Jon Bon Jovi, the founder and father of the Bon Jovi band, was looking for an experienced guitarist for his newly formed band. Richie Sambora was among the audience at one of these concerts of Bon Jovi, who gave concerts to small groups in those years. After the concert, Sambora went to Jon Bon Jovin and offered to play together. Jon Bon Jovi left after leaving the door open, saying why not? He gathered more information about Sambora in the following days, and a few days later, Richie called Sambora and said that he accepted his offer. During his first rehearsals, Sambora won the admiration of the other Bon Jovi members, and thus he joined the Bon Jovi band in 1983.
Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwriting unit for the band. He has also released three solo albums: Stranger in This Town in 1991, Undiscovered Soul in 1998, and Aftermath of the Lowdown released in September 2012.
Bon Jovi Career
Richie Sambora has released 12 studio albums and 5 concert & compilation albums with Bon Jovi to date. The group released its first album called "Bon Jovi" on January 21, 1984. The song "Runaway", which attracted attention with Richie Sambora's guitar solo, became the band's first hit.
Although the band could not achieve the sales figures they wanted with this album, they attracted great attention during their tour. He performed as a sub-unit of legendary bands such as Scorpions in the USA. After this album, the group started preparations for their second album and released the album "Fahrenheit" in March 1985. After this album, the group went on a 6-month tour as a sub-unit of the group "Ratt". However, the band could not achieve the breakthrough they wanted with this album.
August 18, 1986 was a turning point for Bon Jovi. The album "Slippery When Wet", which they released at that time, made the band famous worldwide. The album, which is now considered a classic, included songs such as "You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive and Never Say Goodbye", which are still talked about today. The album brought many awards. He received important awards from authorities such as MTV and Billboard magazine. The band started touring after the album and gave 200 concerts during the tour. In 1987, 70,000 spectators watched the Donnington-Monsters of Rock festival in England, where they participated as the main band, and the festival went down in history as the Donnington-Monsters of Rock festival with the highest attendance ever.
After this album, the band started preparations for a new album to show that their success was not a coincidence. Although rumors spread that Richie Sambora would be the vocalist on the new album, this did not happen. The album "New Jersey" was released on September 13, 1988. The album was as beautiful as Slippery When Wet. The album, which managed to produce many hits, included songs that are still popular, such as "Bad Medicine, Born To Be My Baby, I'll Be There For You, Lay Your Hands On Me and Living In Sin". At the same time, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora gave a stunning acoustic performance at the MTV music awards. These performances inspired the “MTV Unplegged” series. After the tour, which lasted 2 years and gave a total of 232 concerts, major problems began within the band. There were rumors that they fought frequently while on tour. The fact that all members left on separate planes at the end of the tour confirmed this.
Richie Sambora would later describe those times as follows: “When I look back at those times, I remember very bad things happening. When the tour ended, we all turned into living dead. When the tour ended, we didn't even say goodbye to each other. We all got on different planes. Nobody cared.”
By 1990-1991, the ties within the group were completely broken. Group members were not meeting each other. They even stood in separate rooms backstage at the few concerts they had to give. The band members began working on their own solo projects. In 1990, Jon Bon Jovi released his solo album "Blaze of Glory", which was also the soundtrack of the movie Young Guns II. In 1991, Richie Sambora released his solo album "Stranger In This Town".
After this troubled period, Jon Bon Jovi made a sudden decision to reassemble the group. He wanted the members to confront each other and resolve their issues. This process took 3 months. Richie Sambora would later say the following about those days: “We were exhausted after the New Jersey tour. We were fed up with each other and the music world, but we never said the words "I hate you" to each other. We always tried to put things right by asking why. I knew it wouldn't end this way, I didn't know how or when; But I knew we would get back together.”
Following this process, the band released the album "Keep The Faith" on November 3, 1992.
Bon Jovi released the album "These Days" in 1995. The album, in which Richie Sambora draws attention with his guitar tones, is considered Bon Jovi's most mature album. After this album, the band gave a sold-out concert at Wembley Stadium in London for 3 consecutive nights. This concert is considered by many to be the most important Bon Jovi concert ever. This concert was later made into a DVD under the name "Live From London".
In 1997, the group took a break to allow the members to concentrate on their solo work. In 1997, Jon Bon Jovi released the album “Destination Anywhere”. Richie Sambora released his second solo album "Undiscovered Soul" in 1998.
The group reunited in 1999 and released the album "Crush" in 2000. The song "It's My Life" from this album became one of Bon Jovi's most memorable hits. In addition, it gave Bon Jovi a young generation of fans called the "Crush Generation". The album "Bounce" was released in 2002. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora composed songs for this album, mostly touching on the events of September 11. In 2003, the album "This Left Feels Right" was released, which included acoustic versions of old Bon Jovi hits. This album was followed in 2004 by the "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong" set, consisting of 4 CDs and 1 DVD, consisting of songs that the band had not previously included in their albums.
On September 15, 2005, the band released their 9th studio album, "Have a Nice Day". The success of the song "Who Says You Can't Go" in this album in the country field led the band to make an album in this style. Jon Bon Jovi and Sambora composed songs in this style. The album "Lost Highway" was released on June 19, 2007. In 2011, the album "The Circle" was released, which was considered the band's comeback with rock & roll. This album was followed by the "Greatest Hits" album, consisting of the band's hits and 4 new songs.
Solo Career
Stranger In This Town (1990): Richie Sambora released his first solo album around the time Bon Jovi was on the verge of disbanding. This blues-oriented album called "Stranger In This Town", released in September 1990, received full marks from fans and critics. Bon Jovi bandmates Tico Torres and David Bryan took on the roles of drummer and keyboardist on the album. Additionally, Eric Clapton played solo guitar in the song "Ms. Bluesman". He wrote the songs "Ballad of Youth", "One Light Burning" and "The Answer" on the album with his friends in his old band "Shark Frenzy". Apart from this, the song "Rosie" was planned to be on Bon Jovi's New Jersey album, but it was later removed. Sambora used this song on his own album. The album consists of 10 songs. The songs "Ballad Of Youth" and "Stranger In This Town" from the album were released as singles.
Aftermath of the Lowdown (2012): Richie Sambora released his 3rd studio album, "Aftermath of the Lowdown", on September 25, 2012, after 14 years. This album, which is also in the rock & blues style, consists of 12 songs, just like the "Undiscovered Soul" album.
Richie Sambora abandoned Bon Jovi's "Because We Can" tour in 2013, citing personal reasons.
Guitar Technique
Sambora, who idolized names such as the master blues guitarist Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, who is considered by many to be the best guitarist of all time, and Jimmy Page, the guitarist of the legendary band Led Zeppelin, had a different style from most guitarists of his time. Sambora did not use the popular and constantly used guitar techniques of the period and created his own style. Sambora expresses this situation with the following words: "In many Bon Jovi hits I played, the aim was to play more melodic and catchy things rather than creating solos. That's why the solos were more melodic breaks. You can imagine it being played by another instrument or an orchestra. In other words, with solo direction." rather, they were created with more melodic direction.”
Sambora is an impressive and impressive stage performer, and his improvised guitar solos at concerts are also highly appreciated. Apart from this, Sambora is one of the guitarists who use the talkbox, which is a guitar effect device and allows the sound coming from the amplifier to be delivered to the guitarist's mouth through a hose and the guitarist's mouth movements make a sound similar to the human voice from the guitar.