The Bon Jovi frontman pays homage to lives lost to the deadly virus on his upcoming studio album as he talks about his friends and neighbors who passed away from the coronavirus.
- Oct 4, 2020
AceShowbiz - Jon Bon Jovi has lost friends and neighbours to coronavirus.
The "Livin' on a Prayer" hitmaker's 18-year-old son, Jacob, and bandmates David Bryan and Everett Bradley survived the virus after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this year (20), but other people in the rocker's life haven't been as lucky.
"The virus was all around us," Bon Jovi tells the Daily Mail. "We were in the bullseye in New York and New Jersey, and I lost friends and neighbours. A dear friend of mine lost his mum. The guy that sold me this apartment beat cancer but lost his life to COVID-19."
The pandemic also impacted Bon Jovi's music plans - a planned summer tour was scrapped to allow ticket holders to use the refund cash to buy groceries.
"Given these difficult times, we have made the decision to cancel the tour entirely," a statement read. "This will enable ticket holders to get refunds to help pay their bills or buy groceries. These are trying times. You've always been there for us and we'll always be there for you. We look forward to seeing everyone again on tour when we can all safely be together."
Meanwhile, the release of the group's new album, "2020", was delayed, allowing Bon Jovi to write and record new songs that tackled issues fans were facing during the pandemic.
In an interview with "Good Morning America" on Friday (02Oct20) - the new release date - the rocker explained one new song, "Do What You Can", was inspired by a photo his wife Dorothea took of him washing dishes at one of his JBJ Soul Kitchen restaurants, which provides free meals for the homeless.
"Because of the crisis and the shutdown, no restaurants remained open, but we remained open," he said. "Dorothea snapped that picture of me for the social media and she asked me for a caption... and what I said was, 'If you can't do what you do... do what you can!' "
"The next day when I woke up, I thought, 'Well, that's a big ol' Bon Jovi song title,' so I went in my little music room and I wrote the song."
The track was one of two last-minute additions to the new album - "American Reckoning" is an acoustic song dealing with the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police officers in May (20).
