" 6   Questions to Jon Bon Jovi" Question: Instead of shooting a video, you have made a one-hour-long movie about 4 of your songs, featuring Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and Kevin Bacon. How did you get the idea? JBJ: I hate most of BJ videos. This time I wanted to do everything perfectly. Dave Stuart showed me his shortmovie with Bob Dylan... that's how I got the idea of conecting four songs to create a story. First I was supposed to sing in the movie. But in the later script, music plays a smaller role. Question: How did you get to know Demi Moore, who plays your wife? JBJ: She has come to see our shows for years and I've jammed with Bruce Willis. He sings and plays harmonica. That's how we got to know each other better. Question: Does your wife give interviews? JBJ: No, why?!? Question: Maybe she would be as indiscrete as Heather Locklear, who talked enthusiastically to the press about the penis of your band-buddy Richie Sambora? JBJ: Wow, what a statement! (laughs) Is he now the happiest man on earth? Respect Richie! Question: You have to travel with your family to a little island - which garment would you take with you? JBJ: That's easy: shorts! Question: Why? JBJ:(big grin) Cause I'm not Richie Sambora. My wife is ok with shorts, coz she doesn't like my penis that much. BRAVO, May 7, 1997 JON ROCKS SOLO Hamburg, "Hotel Atlantic", suite 308, 3rd floor. Jon Bon Jovi (35) drops lazily on the sofa. On the table in front of him there's a dish with some fruits and cookies. He eats some strawberries - and doesn't touch the cookies. He laughs: "I don't want to ruin my figure, I worked sooo hard to keep in shape!". The Bon Jovi-frontman, who at the beginning of this year prooved his acting skills in the not very successfull thriller "Leading Man", looks gorgeous. He wears a black outfit: jeans, t-shirt, a cool leather-jacket and boots with 5 cm-heels. His short buzz is redish. "I dyed them for my next role in "Long Time, nothing new", he explains smiling. "We start shooting in NY in a week." Jon is actually on a 5 days short-trip through Europe - without band e without his kids Stephanie Rose (4) and Jesse James Louis (1). He took only his wife Dorothea (35) with him. "Our kids are better taken care of with my mum in New Jersey." Jon hosted in Monte Carlo ath the C?te D'Azur with Princess St?phanie the "World Music Awards". After London and Paris, he's today in Hamburg, to accept for the whole band the silver BRAVO-Otto'96 in the cathegory "Hard'n'Heavy". "What? Only silver?", he shouts with mocking disappointement, "1999 will be released the new Bon Jovi-album - and then we're getting gold again!" BRAVO: During the last months you have been more in front of a camera than in the music studio. Do you have fun acting? Jon: Yeah! I try to do both. When I'm not shooting a movie, I'm in the studio - like when I recorded my second solo-album "Destination Anywhere". I've written songs like "Janie (Don't take your Love to town)", my first single "Midnight in Chelsea" or "Every Word was a Piece of my Heart" during the last Bon Jovi tour in 1996, in cities like Vienna, Amsterdam and London. I'll never give up music. It was my first love.. BRAVO: Are you still in touch with the other band-members? Jon: Yeah. I've just met my drummer Tico in Monte Carlo, but didn't reconize him at first. He has a short buzz now (grins). He has a lot of success as an artist and has own expositions in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and London. Richie Sambora will release his second solo-album in autumn. I can't wait to hear his songs, but there is no competition between us two. My keyboarder David Bryan is playing right now in Dr. John's band and Hugh McDonald plays the bass on my new album, which by the way will be released on June 16th. BRAVO: Your solo-songs sound surprisingly grungy... Jon: They are supposed to sound like that. After all it's a solo-album and that should be heard. Besides, there has been a certain influence from people who have co-produced and co-written my songs, like Dave Stewart (former Eurythmics). BRAVO: What is the drammatic song "August 7th" about? Jon: It's a true story and a really tragic one. On August 7th 1996, Katherine, the 6 year old daughter of my tour manager Paul Korzilius, has been found murdered in Texas. She was laying on the border of a field with fatal head-injuries. Obviously, she was kidnapped and tried to escape by jumping out of the car, but she hit her head real hard on the floor and bleeded to death. When I heard about that, I was so devastated like never before in my life. I had to think about my own children. I've put all my thoughts in this song, with the line "Sometimes God calls his Angels too soon!" and have dedicated it to Katherine. BRAVO: Are your kids protected by bodyguards? Jon: No, I'd like them to grow up as normal as possible. Stephanie will soon start to go to nursery-school. We live in a small town now, in Rumson/NJ, at just one car-hour from New York. In Rumson there aren't that many risks like in the city - but, things like that can happen also there. BRAVO: For the album you have shot a short-movie in New York with Hollywood-stars like Demi Moore and Whoppi Goldberg. How this? Jon: This was my idea, coz I wanted to integrate my acting skills into the videoclips (grins). In the movie I play the husband of Demi Moore. She's a nurse who has a miscarriage. Out of her grief, she starts taking drugs and goes crazy. I don't get along with her anymore and so I leave her. Later I regret and go back to her. In the meantime she has kidnapped a foundling [looked it up in the dic., it means a child that was found in a garbidge-can or so] and hidden him in our appartement. The cops find out about it and try to storm our apartment to find the baby. They shoot - but I won't tell ya who will be killed. I didn't want a happy ending. BRAVO: Where can we see this minimovie? Jon: Right now we are discussing with TV-channels, which want to show it, by the way also in Germany But this summer it will also be realeased on tape and can be purchased in stores. BRAVO: Are you happy with your success as an actor? Jon: I still have to work a lot on me! Till now i've already shot four movies, two of them are still to be shown in the cinemas. But I'm still beginner. Right now as an actor i feel about the same as after my second album! But I was pretty disappointed that my second movie "Leading Man" hasn't been shown in the US cinemas. Maybe the story was too European. The movie is played in London and for the Americans that's a totally different world. I've shown the video of the movie to my parents and they loved it! BRAVO: Are you doing a solo-tour? Jon: No, there won't be a real tour. I'll do some appearances with guest-musicians. Right now, I'm more concentrating on filming a new movie "Long time, nothing new" with Ed Burns and Lauren Holly, the wife of comedian Jim Carrey. In the movie, I play a pretty boring guy, who works at the municipality and "fights" with another guy, a small gangster, for a woman. In the end, we both don't get her... Cosmopolitan, June 1997 Jon Bon Jovi SOLO No, ladies, he hasn't left his wife of eight years, Dorothea. But there's still good reason to get revved up about Jon Bon Jovi. His new solo album, Destination Anywhere, arriving this month, is sure to take off. -Karen Duffy The unequal distribution of talent can be maddening. Thirty-five year old Jon Bon Jovi has fronted one of the most popluar rock bands in the world for 14 years, has an enormously successful solo career, and is presently establishing himself as a leading man in film. He's also a model in the Gianni Versace campaign. Not bad for a self-described "mall rat" from New Jersey. Then there's the fact that Mr. Jon Bon Jovi is astonishing handsome. Yes, he is as easy on the eyes in person as he is in photographs, videos and movies. He's so good-looking that if he went one more click on the handsome meter, it would flip back to ugly. His eyes are electric blue, his lips full. Dressed in tight black jeans, a powder blue V-neck pullover, and unscuffed black suede cowboy boots, Jon makes a very good first impression. His apartment on the Upper West side of Manhattan is as immaculate as his attire. Walking into the large, open, sunlit space (no walls separate the living areas), there's no way to tell that a rock star lives here. There's not a gold record or guitar in sight, and the stereo system is positively understated. The off-white walls and oversize, overstuffed couches seem more suited to the home of an interior designer or lawyer. Most interviews with celebrities of Jon's magnitude are conducted in neutral territory, usually a quiet restaurant or publicist's office. These meetings are often encumberd by managers, personal assistants and various other handlers. Jon talks unprotected, without a palace guard, about his new solo album Destination Anywhere, out this month. He also speaks freely about the nearby family photos of his wife, Dorothea, and 2 small children, Stephanie, 4 and Jesse James, 2. "In my unbiased opinion, I think they look like me", he says of the kids. And they do. Then the phone starts ringing, and for the rest of the interview, it never stops. It's clear from witnessing Jon in action as he calculates his every move that he could easily by running a Fortune 500 company had he not played a gig the night before he was to take the SAT. When the other kids in his class woke up that Saturday morning in 1979 to take the college boards, "I stayed in bed," Jon confesses. "I said, "oh, the hell with it. I'm going to be a rock-and-roll star," which was the silliest thing I could have said." Having first picked up a guitar at age 7, by the time he was in high school Jon was fronting a band called the Atlantic City Expressway, named after a sign near his home in Sayreville, New Jersey. (Bon Jovi keyboard player Dave Bryan was also in the group.) Jon's hairdresser father and florist mother were suprisingly supportive of his long-shot career choice. They let him transfer out of an all-boys Catholic high school after ninth grade and into a public school where he found, in his words, girls and guitars. "I was failing everything. I guess their theory was if I was going to be in a bar until three in the morning, at least they'd know where I was." True Romance Jon met Dorothea Hurley, who was dating a friend of his, about this time. When the friend left to join the military, Jon made his move. They've been together for almost 17 years and married for the past eight. "She was the coolest girl in our high school and incredibly sexy," he says lovingly. "She is someone you would want to be friends with." She also let him cheat off her in history class. "I liked her for saving my hide, but I loved her long before that." After dating for nine years, they eloped to Las Vegas in 1989 and married at the Graceland Chapel of Love. Jon is amazed at Dorothea's strength - mental and physical. She's a second-degree black belt in karate who competed in tournaments until she had children. "She's very independent; she has her own life," he says of Dorothea, a full-time mother. When asked how she deals with his status as a sex symbol, he just laughs: "She could care less. She is the one who goes to bed with me at night. Her attifude is that I chose this profession - it has nothing to do with her. She's not one to run to get her picture in a magazine or show up somewhere and say, 'I'm Dorothea Bon Jovi.' She plays it just the opposite, very low-key. The band Bon Jovi was anything but low-key at the height of their fame in the mid-'80s. Bandmates Dave Bryan, Richie Sambora, Alec John Such, and Tico Torres were known as much for their outrageous look as for their music. But the music was at the core of their fame. In the early '90s, when other mainstream bands were redefining themselves in reaction to the grunge phenomenon, Bon Jovi didn't give in. "A lot of our comtempories went off and decided, 'We're going to be heavier on this record,' Well, f---, we just did another record [and stayed true to our style]," says Jon. The resulting album, 1992's, Keep the Faith, reached number five on the charts. After selling more than 75 million records worldwide with his band, Jon has recently recorded his second solo effort, Destination Anywhere. His first solo outing, Blaze of Glory, the soundtrack for 1990's Young Guns II, earned him both Oscar and Grammy nominations; it also produced a number one song, the title track "Blaze of Glory." Destined for Success Jon is pleased with the way Destination Anywhere turned out. "I think a lot of people are going to be suprised at what they hear. The one thing I said going into this was that everything would be the opposite of what was expected of me." Destination Anywhere is definitely a noticeable departure, with a grittier, harder edge - a sharp break from the anthemic, guitar-driven sound that has been Bon Jovi's trademark. "This album is a lot more introspective, personal. It was written for a theatre instead of an arena, " he says. He called in Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame to produce seveal tracks, including "August 7th," which chronicles the mysterious hit-and-run death of Katherine Korzilius, the 6-year-old daughter of Jon's manager. A half-hour short film tied to the release of Destination Anywhere also deals with the loss of a child. The shoot is the talk of the music industry as much for its innovation as its multimillion-dollar price tag. Some of the songs from the album are incorporated into the story line of the film; the lyrics of others are read as dialogue. It will play in its entirety on MTV and will also be cut into individual videos. For the acting end of the operation, Jon recruited some friends from the business, including Annabella Sciorra, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kevin Bacon. The video begins with Jon ("my job is nondescript, but you pretty much figure I'm a musician") in a seedy New Jersey motel room. Sciorra's character calls in a panic, saying "You better get home! This time she [Moore] has really lost her mind!" The next call comes from a bookie, who threatens "If I ever see your ass again in New York City, it's going to be at your funeral." The question is, should I or shouldn't I go home to this troubled wife? Jon explains. "The reason we're at odds is that we haven't had closure on the loss of our child. People deal with this situation in different ways; maybe one person's going to drink, one's going to become a workaholic." Jon's charater returns home and finds his wife has stolen a baby from a hospital, and the film ends with a bang on the door. "You don't know if it's the cops to arrest us or the hospital to take the baby away or the bookie to get even with me," Jon says excitedly. "So, it's a hip story." Role Playing Jon's first experience on a film set was on Young Guns II. He was impressed with the fact that the actors - Christian Slater, Keifer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, ect., learned skills that could become hobbies, like horseback riding, "I spent my whole adult life playing arenas. From the time I had five dollars to go horseback riding, I was working and I never stopped to learn a hobby I could enjoy. It took six or seven years after I got a record deal at 21 years old for me to gradually find other outlets." One of those new outlets is acting. Though he made his official movie debut in Young Guns II, he likens his near-cameo part to a trivia question: Which rock-and-roll star appeared in the Western Young Guns II? "As an extra for one second," Jon explains, "I got shot." In his real debut, as the object of desire for Elizabeth Perkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katherleen Turner and Whoopie Goldberg in 1995's chick flick Moonlight and Valentino, Jon's charismatic performance received critical acclaim. All in a Day's Work He now has three staring roles in upcoming films: Little City, a modern romantic comedy with Penelope Ann Miller expected out this fall; the recently wrapped Homegrown, a black comedy dealing with the marijuana trade, costarring Billy Bob Thornton, and a new Ed Burns project, Long Time, Nothng New, currently in production. Jon's acting teacher of six years, the legendary Harold Guskin, isn't suprised by the quality roles his student has been offered. "He's free and easy on-screen, but he has a lot of strength," says Guskin, who has worked with Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, and Bridget, Jane and Peter Fonda. For someone so committed to studying acitng, it's ironic that Jon failed to tell his bandmates he was taking lessons for almost two years, "because I didn't know if I was going to follow through with it," he says. So how do acting and singing compare? "They're both a collaboration. The big difference for me personally is I didn't have to write the script, and when you're the singer and the songwriter and the manager of a band, it's like being the director and the producer and the star of a film. When I'm acting, I just show up and do my job. It's kind of like being a bass player." Throughout the conversation, Jon continues to work the phone. He offers to take it off the hook, but it's his daily routine. He fields calls from his manager, his father, his daughter's godfather, and his wife. Call by call, he books himself for every day he had scheduled off for the next four months. With his agent, he's firm in expressing his commitment to a film project and finds it impossible to ask for a half-day off because he does not want to appear like "some rock star" on the set. "It's tough for a guy who's a workaholic," Jon says. "It's like any other addiction. It's not for the money and it's not for the fame, but it's the thrill of the chase. I love working. I get exited by the prospect of achieving something." But when asked about his greatest achievemnt, Jon points to a wall full of family photos. The biggest problem he seems to have is explaining stardom to his kids. "They ask, 'Why do so many people know you? Why did you sign your name on that paper like that?'" His kid-friendly explanation to them: "Well, people see Daddy the way you see Barney on television. You've seen me sing on TV. Daddy is just like Barney." Jon's Barney-loving children have been on tour with him since they were 3 months old. He'll continue taking them on the road when they get older but, he says, "It'll be more difficult. Steph's in nursery school, and there are play dates. "When you live life in a traveling circus, you miss a lot of home. You miss all those birthdays, holidays and a normal life. I'm envious of my brother-in-law, because he's able to be home every night with his family. I never could do that. I've missed out on a lot." But Jon has lived a lot too. John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. - his real name - married the love of his life, has two beautiful children, and is doing what he always dreamed about. Not surprising considering the translation of his last name. "I've heard Bongiovi means everything from 'good life' to 'good fisherman.' My ancestors in Cicily were fishermen," Jon says with a smile, "but if it means good life, I'm certainly living it."