Jon Bon Jovi has been a busy man lately, being named MusiCares Person of the Year for 2024, as well as the subject for the upcoming Hulu docuseries, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. But his future as a singer could be in jeopardy.
The Bon Jovi frontman recently admitted to having had surgery after struggling to sing live. In an interview with Pollstar Live!, the 61-year-old expressed doubt about his band's future.
"I've had it become public knowledge now, but I've had major reconstructive surgery in my vocal cords, and I never had anything like this ever," he said. "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.
"Sometimes people get nodules; that's a pretty common place," he continued. "Sometimes deviated septums and things that they've done take its toll on the cords. The only thing that's ever been up my nose has been my finger. And so it was very difficult this last decade to have to contend with something that was out of my control, which was … the strong [vocal cord] was literally taking what was left of the weak one. So they put a plastic implant in it for the last almost two years now. I've been in this rehab, getting it back together, but I'm getting very close."
Bon Jovi said his performance at the MusiCares gala on February 2 was the first time he's sang live in two years, but he hopes to be ready to support his band's forthcoming album.
"The new record's done," he said. "So now I just wanna get back to two and a half hours a night, four nights a week, before I'm gonna go out there on the road again. But I'm confident in my doctor."
He adds that if he can't get his vocals back in shape to where they were before he started experiencing these issues, he may call it a day on his singing career.
"My health has been the first and foremost topic of discussion, but I'm well on the road to recovery there. If I can't be great, I'm out," he confessed. "And I think that the documentary that we're about to put out addresses all of that. It's called Thank You, Goodnight for a reason. And we'll determine what happens there."
With all of what's ahead for the band, however, Bon Jovi does hold out hope that he will get things back on track so he can participate.
"We do have this incredible four-part doc to celebrate the 40th. We have a brand new record that I'm very excited about," he said."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 the level at which I've become accustomed, then there's no harm in that. There's no foul there."