Ten things you may not know about Bon Jovi

Last update: March 13, 2008 - 5:45 PM

TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT BON JOVI

Here's what we learned from 60 minutes on the phone with guitarist Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan:

• Their recent hit "Who Says You Can't Go Home" was first recorded with Keith Urban. "It sounded really great, but it wasn't good for a guy and a guy to sing that song," Sambora says. So the president of Mercury Records suggested rising country star Jennifer Nettles. That duet went to No. 1 on the country charts.

• "Livin' on a Prayer" almost didn't make it onto "Slippery When Wet." After Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi wrote the first verse and chorus, they were in a taxi in New York and Jon thought their record label would give it away to a movie soundtrack. Said Sambora at the time: "What, are you crazy?"

• Bon Jovi's current "Lost Highway" is not a country album. But it's "a Nashville-oriented kind of record," Sambora says. "Nashville is the Hollywood of music."

• Bon Jovi found out that Chris Daughtry was a fan. So they gave the "American Idol" finalist a "test drive" as opening act for two nights in New Jersey last year. "He went over really, really well," Sambora says. "We're kind of fast friends with him."

• Sambora went through alcohol rehab in 2007. He credits his mother, band and fans for "pulling me up and helping me out of all those situations."

• Bon Jovi is making a documentary film with director Barbara Kopple. She won an Oscar for "American Dream" about the strike at Hormel Foods in Austin, Minn.

• Sambora has no plans to go Hollywood even though he, like Jon Bon Jovi, has acted in films and on television. "We've got a good day job," he says.

• Bryan is working on two plays. "Memphis" is about the first white disc jockey to play black R&B on the radio circa 1950. "Toxic Avenger" will be directed by Tony-winning John Rando of "Urinetown" fame.

• Fame is fickle, the Jersey boys say. Bon Jovi's 1995 album, "These Days," yielded seven Top 10 singles in Europe, but only one Top 20 tune in the States ("This Ain't a Love Song").

• Bryan and his son attended this year's Super Bowl. He's a longtime New York Giants season ticket-holder. "They're for life. I'm going to hand them down to my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandkids."

JON BREAM