Jon Bon Jovi Shared His First Contract From 1980 and My, How Times Have Changed (And Not Changed)

Fully appreciating the progress made toward a specific goal is often easier from an outsider’s perspective than from the vantage point of the person working toward the finish line, but that’s not always the case for celebrities. These stars become such impressive monoliths in our minds that we often forget they’re humans with their fair share of dreams, setbacks, wins, and failures. That includes internationally renowned rock stars like Jon Bon Jovi.

The Bon Jovi frontman put this all back into perspective with a December 2025 social media post, which featured a scan of the singer’s first-ever music contract. The contract, addressed to John in red ink, read, “You have agreed to perform and you have in fact performed services in connection with a Christmas album tentatively entitled, ‘Christmas In The Stars’, produced by the undersigned, on behalf of RSO Records Inc. and based on the characters of the motion pictures entitled ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (‘LP’).”

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The “undersigned” was Meco Monardo, and Bon Jovi’s payment was $180 as “full compensation” for your services in connection with the LP.” The contract added, “You will not be entitled to any other consideration for your services, including any royalties or other sums based on sales of the LP or records derived therefrom.”

For some inflationary context: $180 in 1980 translates to about $700 at the time of this writing, which most singers would find tremendously generous for a short stint in the studio. (For many modern musicians, the 1980 rate is about the same as 2025. Oof.)

The Early Contract Shows How Far Jon Bon Jovi Has Come Since 1980

Jon Bon Jovi talked about the Star Wars-themed Christmas album during an April 2024 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, explaining how the aspiring rock vocalist got a gig doing novelty records for not-too-shabby pay that early in his career. “I was a gopher in a recording studio from the fall of 1980 until 83, when we did the first record. There was a guy named Meco Monardo, who was doing these kind of tribute records taking advantage of the Star Wars craze. He was pretending to be a young boy, and he says, ‘Young boy, can you sing?’ I said, ‘That’s what you know. Yeah, I think I can.’ He says, ‘Go in there, and if you want to do this, it pays $183, and I got $183 to sing.” The song was “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.

While this astromech droid carol was Bon Jovi’s first professional studio gig, it was, obviously, not the track that propelled Jon Bon Jovi and his band to stardom. That song would come four years later in 1984 with the release of “Runaway”. After Bon Jovi propelled to stardom, we can’t help but imagine Monardo likely wished he would have featured the “young boy” in the studio a little bit more…maybe even worked out the contract to where Monardo could collect the kind of “royalties or other sums based on sales” on Bon Jovi’s behalf.

Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage