Jon Bon Jovi goes home to Sayreville with stirring message: ‘Opportunity to make a memory’
SAYREVILLE – Jon Bon Jovi quoted himself, speaking about his Sayreville Bomber pride.
“If you remember one thing from our meeting today, know this, you are writing the story of your life,” the iconic Jersey rocker told students and staff at his alma mater Sayreville War Memorial High School. “Make it a great one, so that one day you can say, ‘Who says you can’t go home? There’s only one place they call me one of their own.'”
The Jersey boy returned to Sayreville Tuesday for the dedication of the Jon Bon Jovi Performing Arts Center and Music Suite, emblazoned with his mural created by students, as part of the induction of the high school’s Hall of Fame class.
“I recall that it was right here on this stage that I performed live for the very first time,” Bon Jovi said. “It was a summer talent show, my band played three songs. We lost the contest, and I brought the second-place trophy [here]. I brought it to show you that they even spelled my name wrong, and that success is all about failing nine times, but learning to get up ten.”
Jon Bon Jovi holds up the trophy he won for his first performance at Sayreville High School, during the ribbon cutting on the new Jon Bon Jovi Performing Arts Center at the school on Tuesday.© Alexander Lewis/MyCentralJersey.com
Bon Jovi was raised in the Sherwood Forest section of the borough and played football and trumpet and performed in the school musical, Class of 1980.
“You sit here today as the future of Sayreville’s dreamers, participating in theater, music, voice and as recording engineers,” he said. “Now some of you may choose to continue on this path after graduation. Others may consider this a steppingstone. Whatever you choose to do after you leave here, remember that every day is another opportunity to make a memory.1 / 25
©Alexander Lewis/MyCentralJersey.com
Bon Jovi told the audience he had no other plan than wanting to be a musician, recalling missing the senior prom to open for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at the Freehold Raceway.
“I first strummed a broomstick, and then my first guitar, less than two miles from here on Robin Hood Drive, he said. “I know it was less than two miles from school, because anything under that distance meant that you had to walk to school.”
A surprise for a friend
Bon Jovi brought along his friend, Dave “The Snake” Sabo, a fellow Sayreville graduate who played baseball and strummed guitar with Bon Jovi before co-creating Skid Row.
Sabo, who credits Bon Jovi for helping Skid Row secure its first record deal, was shocked when he was announced as a fellow member of the Hall of Fame class.
“I will say that all of my career accomplishments would never have happened without this guy right here,” Sabo said. “You’ve heard about some of his benevolence, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface, and not to take up too much of your time, but I am so thankful for his mentorship, his friendship and his brotherhood, and I’m honored to be here in front of all of you. I love this school, and I love this town, and I love the people who are associated with all of what’s going on today.”
Jon Bon Jovi hugs his former bandmate Dave Sabo of Skid Row. They were both inducted in the Sayreville High School Hall of Fame on Tuesday.© Alexander Lewis/MyCentralJersey.com
Bon Jovi and Sabo share not only a longstanding friendship, but a guitar teacher in Al Parinello.
The school’s new music studio, a gift of Bon Jovi and JBJ Management, was named “AP ’95” in Parinello’s memory. The moniker is what Bon Jovi carved into his guitar after his mentor’s death in 1995.
“It’s just that I wanted to know that he’s always, always with me,” Bon Jovi said. “Whenever I pick that thing up, or whenever I’m writing a song, whenever I am in the world, that guy is next to me.”
Not just music
Today, Bon Jovi is an accomplished singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor and philanthropist, with a career spanning four decades in entertainment, as well as charitable causes such as such as feeding the hungry through his JBJ Soul Kitchen restaurants in Red Bank, Toms River, Newark and Jersey City.
“It’s a journey, you know, I’ve been on this journey my entire adult life, and started here. I started before I was an adult,” he said. “… And I get to sit here today and share this with you guys. You know, it’s generational at this point, and it’s been a gift. And not everything has been roses, not everything has been wonderful, but that’s part of the journey too.”
Jon Bon Jovi visited his alma mater Sayreville High School on Tuesday for a dedication of the new Performing Arts Center in his name. Bon Jovi and former bandmate Dave Sabo of Skid Row were both inducted in the school’s Hall of Fame.© Alexander Lewis/MyCentralJersey.com
Being named the MusiCares Person of the Year by The Recording Academy earlier this year was a full-circle moment for Bon Jovi, recalling a night in high school when fellow Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen showed up to one of his shows.
“On this night, we were performing, and I turned around and there was my childhood hero on the stage next to me singing,” Bon Jovi said. “… The MusiCares event is where artists come and they perform your songs for you,” he continued. “Bruce flew out to perform with me. He played our new single and that song that he had jumped up on stage to performing with me that very first time.”
Through it all, Bon Jovi has never lost sight of where he came from.
“When I was a kid, you always have this little notion about ‘I’m going to break free,’ ‘I’m going to be my own man,’ ‘I’m going to go see the world,'” he said. “And then when I get there, there’s only so far you can go before you’re on your way back home. And no matter where I’ve gone around this globe for 40 years, you carry where you’re from with you, and it’s reflected in the songs that you write or the relationships that you have.”
