Jon Bon Jovi casts doubt on his band’s future after vocal cord surgery: "If I can't be great, I'm out"

9 February 2024, 13:52

Jon Bon Jovi has opened up on the future of his band after his vocal cord surgery.

The Bon Jovi singer, who underwent reconstructive surgery on his vocal cords recently, was being awarded the Milestone Award at the Pollstar Live! conference for his band's 40th anniversary.

Whilst it seems as though the rocker is well on the mend, he couldn't guarantee how long Bon Jovi would be around for.

"It's become public knowledge now, but I've had major reconstructive surgery in my vocal cords, and I never had anything like this, ever," the frontman revealed during his keynote Q&A. 

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"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 pretty commonplace," Jon Bon Jovi added. "Sometimes deviated septums and things that they've done take [their] toll on the cords."

"The only thing that's ever been up my nose has been my finger. So it was very difficult this last decade to have to contend with something that was out of my control."

A vocal cord medialization is "a procedure in which the paralysed vocal fold (vocal cord) is pushed to the middle so that the functioning vocal fold can close properly to regain normal vocal function and swallowing ability."

Jon said he needed the surgery because his "strong [vocal cord] was literally taking what was left of the weak one. So they put a plastic implant in, and for the last two years now, I've been in this rehab, getting it back together."

"But I'm getting very close. Friday night [at the MusiCares award ceremony] was my first live performance in two years."

"New record's done. So now I just want to get back to two and a half hours a night, four nights a week, before I'm gonna go out there on the road for real. But I'm confident in my doctor."

He made a live performance comeback on stage recently, performing alongside Bruce Springsteen and Shania Twain, and along a new Bon Jovi album you'd expect tour dates to be announced.

Though, after criticism for his vocal strength on Bon Jovi's most recent tour in 2022, Jon confessed: "If I can't be great, I'm out".

The announcement of a new documentary on Jon Bon Jovi and the band's history, titled Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, cast further doubt on the band's future.

He addressed concerns during his Q&A, though wouldn't confirm if Bon Jovi would actually tour again.

"My health has been first and foremost a topic of discussion, but I'm well on the road to recovery there," Jon added.

"If I can't be great, I'm out. 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."

"But we do have this incredible four-part doc to celebrate the 40th. We have a brand-new record that I'm very excited about. 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 a level to which I've grown accustomed, then there's no harm in that."