Jon Bon Jovi has addressed recent issues with vocals and the future of Bon Jovi and his solo career. Bon Jovi revealed that he recently had reconstructive surgery on his vocal cords, and said he wasn’t sure if he would ever tour again.
“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,” said Bon Jovi during a Pollstar Live! interview. “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.”
Vocal fold medialization is a procedure in which “the paralyzed vocal fold (vocal cord) is pushed to the middle so that the functioning vocal fold can close properly to regain normal vocal function and swallowing ability,” according to Jefferson Health.
Bon Jovi added, “Sometimes people get nodules; that’s pretty commonplace. Sometimes deviated septums and things that they’ve done take [their] toll on the cords. The only thing that’s ever been up my nose has been my finger. So it was very difficult this last decade to have to contend with something that was out of my control.”
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Bon Jovi said he underwent the procedure to help balance having one strong vocal cord and a weaker one. “So they put a plastic implant in, and for the last two years now, I’ve been in this rehab, getting it back together,” he revealed. “But I’m getting very close. Friday night [at the MusiCares award ceremony] was my first live performance in two years.”
[RELATED: 10 Songs You Didn’t Know Jon Bon Jovi Wrote for Other Artists]
On February 2, 2024, Jon Bon Jovi was honored during the MusicCares Person of the Year gala event and performed a new song “Legendary” along with “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” and “The Promised Land” with special guest Bruce Springsteen, and a finale of “Livin’ on a Prayer” with Sammy Hagar, Shania Twain, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Marcus King, and more on stage.”
“The ‘new record is done,” added Bon Jovi. “So now I just want to get back to two and a half hours a night, four nights a week, before I’m gonna go out there on the road for real. But I’m confident in my doctor.”
In celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary and the release of their eponymous debut, the forthcoming documentary, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which will premiere on Hulu on April 26, sheds some light on Bon Jovi’s vocal struggles, along with chronicling the band’s four decades and rise to fame.
“My health has been first and foremost a topic of discussion, but I’m well on the road to recovery there,” shared Bon Jovi. “If I can’t be great, I’m out, and I think that the documentary that we’re about to put out addresses all of that.”
He continued, “We’ll determine what happens there, but we do have this incredible four-part doc to celebrate the 40th. We have a brand-new record that I’m very excited about. And the hope is that I get to go out and celebrate it this time because I’m so excited by it. But if I can’t do it at a level to which I’ve grown accustomed, then there’s no harm in that.”
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
