Jon Bon Jovi on Becoming a Grandfather, His 37-Year Marriage & Fighting to Save His Voice

I will never not be from New Jersey. Growing up in the shadow of New York City made us who we are. The idea that the greatest city in the world was right out your window gave us aspirations and Jersey gave us perspiration. You know, it gave us a reason to sweat and to aspire to grab the great white wine. I'd often joked and said the only thing that's ever been up my nose was my finger. I never did anything to hurt the cords. You know, I didn't have any excesses. And I'm a trained vocalist for many, many, many, many years. I'm not even what sometimes you call a stylist. I'm a vocalist. I've practiced the craft. So when a doctor had to explain to me that one of the cords was literally atrophying so if they're supposed to both look like this I had one that looked like this. It was dying. And they had to put a plastic implant called a medialization, a Gore-Tex plastic to get them to close simultaneously and together so that I could hold a tune and have my range back. Sounds pretty six million dollar man to me, you know, but I had to go with it because that was, it was that or both sound like I sounded. You hear how soft it gets and breathy when I let go? And in the process the doctor said I promise you nothing but work hard on this idea and it will eventually get there. And I had faith in the doctor. Ever since the thunder, there's been shelter from the storm. Well the work was yesterday and the work is again tomorrow. I mean that's just literally the facts. It's not dissimilar from being an athlete and you train for a season. And in this case when you were injured and coming back from that kind of an injury, you have to also come back at a standard that you're accustomed to and there cannot be any compromises. So the process was much slower than I had anticipated. But your vocal cords when you really think about it are as big as your thumbnail. So when I say it's up to God, it's up to God. And you can do all the exercising you want but then it's out of your hands. But I was patient. I never lost faith and although the process was slow, the progress was steady. God has been my co-pilot and in this recovery it was longer than I had ever expected but it had to be right. If you were to ask me the question and said when did you think it was there, well the day after the surgery, I went, it works. I thought that worked. Every step along the way, you know, it was just a little better, a little better, a little better. Then when I was able to start having rehearsals once a month with the band for a week, we would mark the progress and the progress and the progress. Then it was can you do two days in a row, three days in a row, four days in a row, three hours a day. Yes. And as the process and the progress got better and I had the love of the band and my love for them has only gotten deeper, everybody said we should go play. Me and the boys getting ready to be back on the big stage. If I had just been healthy year after year and we're going about our business and you tour and you make a record and you tour and you make a record, yes there is growth but this forced a whole other shedding of one's skin to become a different man, right? And while I became this different man, I could tell you who were the closest beings to me was the rest of those guys on that stage and how that they never doubted and never looked for work or decided to retire or the sacrifices that each one of them have made to be there for me so that I could be there for us is on a whole other level. It's been a long time. It'll have been four years since I've been on the big stage but I'm fully recovered. I feel great. I mean we literally are well past 50 songs that are show ready at this point so the thing about my shows is I change the set up quite a bit and we're well rehearsed and now it's just about waiting out the clock to get to the stage. I know many an entertainer who live for the applause. I don't think that was ever my motivation. In order of doing it, it was writing a song was number one, recording it was number two to see if what you've written is worth anything and then three was performing it. A lot of these songs have lived in the zeitgeist of people's lives now for four plus decades so wow, you've won at number three because number one worked so well. You know and you go out there and you sing those songs and people just go yeah that's my song. Wouldn't I want to have that joy again? There'll never be another 240 show tour. There's no reason for that but I think that the idea of going with a well paced experienced band on the road tour can really be a rebirth. I think this tour could be the best thing we've ever done because I think of it as a No one warns you about these chapters in life because then they have their own schedules in the process and you're no longer the boss of anything but you get them together when you can and we have as much time whenever wherever we can. It's cool but they're all grown now. Romeo graduates next month. He's done with college and that's the end of it. Blink of an eye. Quickest four years ever. That's it. They're all in the real world now. Jake and Millie were here today with the baby. Jesse and Jesse were here two weeks ago with the baby and Papa's a giddy goofy grandfather. It's awesome. See my bracelet? It says Papa John. I'm like the pizzeria. It's awesome. It's absolutely awesome. No one prepares you for those things and then you see it and it's an extension of you and then them with their spouses and then it becomes a whole other part of a family and then the magic of a baby and just wanting the best for them. Praying for their health. Praying for their future and hoping for the best. My wife, Darcia. I got it right the first time, buddy. I'm so lucky. It'll be 37 years now. This month. And together 46. It's a long time. It's awesome. Just great. She has just been awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Trailblazer of the Year by the James Beard Foundation for her creation of the Soul Kitchens. So we're going to Chicago and I'm taking everybody from all the restaurants and flying them out there to celebrate her because of this incredible award that she's received. Giving back was always important but doing it through food, which we realized many, many years ago you didn't need a scientist to find a cure. She created the model of the restaurants which now we have four and we're about to do a fifth. Her great dream is that we'll go out of business but unfortunately we never will. And it's thriving and we're expanding into different areas, you know, whether it's finding people housing or getting expungements done yesterday. 45 people were expunged with their criminal records because of the Soul Kitchen. Getting them off the street in code blue nights that we pay for a warming center. You know, we've built a thousand units of affordable housing but it's all because of the foundation which led to the kitchens which has led to these other incredible things. And all the kitchen and the whole second phase of it was solely Dorothea. So to be able to celebrate her in this way, you know, in Chicago is going to be a wonderful treat for her, for me to be their witness and for all of the employees of the kitchens that I'm going to take with us. Outside of work, what brings me joy is being in the moment and realizing that the sun is shining and it sounds a little tripe but it's not. I used to always have my nose to the grindstone, always put my head down thinking of what was tomorrow. Never living in the today. This forced me to not only live in the today but be appreciative for every today that's still here. So the simple joys of waking up with my granddaughter today, playing tennis with some guys that I've never met before, you know, staring at the little puffy cloud in the sky and saying, this is great. I'm not uptight about this interview. I'm not uptight about going to do the shows. I'm not uptight about this is it. This is as real as it gets. That's joy.