Jon Bon Jovi claims he’s only talked to Richie Sambora twice since he left Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora in 2018; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Jon Bon Jovi wants fans to know that despite what Richie Sambora says, the guitarist hasn’t made any “great overtures” about rejoining Bon Jovi.

Since Sambora left Bon Jovi in 2013, he’s hinted several times that he might reunite with the band, most recently in November 2023. But according to Jon, if Sambora is interested in doing so, he hasn’t made it very clear. In fact, according to Jon, the two have had very limited contact since 2013.

“I’ve talked to him twice,” Jon tells Classic Rock magazine. “He. Quit. The. Band. I swear to Christ there was never a fight, nothing … He wasn’t kicked out, he quit. And he hasn’t made any great overtures about coming back.”  

Jon also tells the magazine the exact circumstances under which Richie departed the band right before a show in Calgary.

“I talked to him the day before, I remember it so well. It was Easter Sunday, 2013 … [I was in New York] and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m feeling great … see you up there [in Canada].’”

“He said: ‘Can I stay home one more day?’ ‘Of course. You want to fly private tomorrow? Sure. Do it. I don’t care. See you up there,’”  Jon continues. “And then the next day the phone rings at three in the afternoon, and, you know… ‘I can’t go on.’”

Since then, Sambora has claimed that one reason he wanted to leave was that the band was getting “stale,” which Jon refutes.

“I didn’t think so, and the collective, we didn’t think so,” he tells Classic Rock. “I personally thought that everything was going incredibly … And it was never brought up in the room, or in the writing, or in the recording, or during the first 20 shows of that tour.”

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