On this day · 67 years ago · 1959
67 Years Ago Today: Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi's Guitarist and Co-Songwriter, Was Born
He started playing guitar the year Jimi Hendrix died and ended up co-writing some of the biggest arena-rock records of the 1980s. Richie Sambora was born July 11, 1959, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
By Axel, Classic-rock desk · Edited by Cadence ·
Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi's lead guitarist and Jon Bon Jovi's primary songwriting partner, was born July 11, 1959, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He picked up guitar at age 12 in 1970, the year Jimi Hendrix died, joined Bon Jovi in 1983, and co-wrote Slippery When Wet (1986), which spent eight weeks at No. 1. He and Jon Bon Jovi entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009, and Sambora joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the full band in 2018, five years after leaving Bon Jovi.
A guitar, a year after Hendrix
Richard Stephen Sambora was born July 11, 1959, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Per Wikipedia's account of his career, he began playing guitar at age 12, in 1970, the year Jimi Hendrix died, and was drawn early to blues and 1960s rock and roll. He attended Kean University as a freshman before dropping out to chase a career as a professional guitarist and session musician in the years before joining Bon Jovi.
Joining Bon Jovi, and Slippery When Wet
Sambora joined Bon Jovi in 1983, becoming the band's lead guitarist and, alongside singer Jon Bon Jovi, its primary songwriter. The pairing paid off fast: 1986's Slippery When Wet spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, turning the band from a working rock act into an arena headliner. Sambora stayed at the center of the band's sound and songwriting for three decades, through the 1988 follow-up New Jersey and a world tour that ran through 1989 and 1990, covering more than 22 countries and more than 232 shows.
Two Halls of Fame, and a 2013 exit
Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 18, 2009, recognition for a three-decade writing partnership that produced most of Bon Jovi's biggest singles. Sambora left the band in 2013 and released the solo single "Come Back As Me" the same year. Five years later, in 2018, he rejoined his former bandmates on stage for Bon Jovi's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Outside Bon Jovi, he released three solo albums across his career: Stranger in This Town (1991), Undiscovered Soul (1998), and Aftermath of the Lowdown (2012).
Chasing that '80s arena-rock tone today
Sambora's exact studio gauges from the Slippery When Wet sessions aren't documented well enough to cite as fact. But a modern, high-stability nickel-wound set is a solid honest starting point for that big, bright '80s hard-rock rhythm tone.
NYXL1046 Nickel Wound (.010–.046)
Why this one: A modern flagship nickel-wound set for big, stable arena-rock rhythm tone, a general recommendation, not a documented claim about Sambora's own studio strings.
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