Jon Bon Jovi on singing after vocal cord surgery: 'A joy to get back to work'

PASADENA, Calif. − Some people get their groove back, but Jon Bon Jovi is getting his voice back.

The musician is celebrating a win 19 months after surgery to repair his damaged vocal cords, an injury after four decades performing as the Bon Jovi frontman.

"God was taking away my ability and I couldn’t understand why," Bon Jovi, 61, said told reporters at the Television Critics Association, where he was promoting his upcoming four-part Hulu documentary, "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story" (due April 26). "I jokingly said the only thing that’s been up my nose is my finger." And yet, "one of my vocal cords had literally atrophied."

"Fortunately, I found a surgeon who was able to do this really cutting-edge implant to build the cord back up. It’s still in the process," he said. While the documentary was being filmed, the singer was less sure he would ever be able to sing professionally again. I say in the film, if I just had my tools back, the rest of it I can do. I can write you a song. I can perform as well as anybody."

And he performed just as well as anybody last week at the annual MusiCares gala ahead of the Grammy Awards, where he was the honoree. "Friday night is the first time I’ve sung. Saturday is the first time I’ve woken up without multiple voices in my head."

Bon Jovi deals with a lot of hard truths in "Thank You," a warts-and-all account of the 40 years of his New Jersey-based rock band that relies extensively on interviews from the members, rather than talking heads.

"One thing we agreed on Day 1 was this was not going to be a VH1 puff piece," he said. "This had to tell the truth. This had to have all the warts in it in order to tell the truth."

That includes interviews with departed guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora, although not with founding bassist Alec John Such, who left the band in 1994 and died in 2022.

But if anyone had anything too truthful to say, Bon Jovi didn't ask for it to be removed. "Without arguing over editorial stuff and letting (director Gotham Chopra) do his thing, there were some punches in the nose," he said of his bandmates' interviews. "But I got over it."

The series covers the band's past, but Bon Jovi is also looking to his future, as his recovery continues and the band is set to release a new album this year. (He recorded a music video just this week.)

"All I can tell you now is that in 2024 is that I’m going to be the best version of me in 2024."