Who

Bon Jovi is the spectacularly coiffed lead singer of the band that bears his name. When he's not reminiscing about his glorious 1980s past, he's watching arena football.

Backstory

Jersey boy Jon Bongiovi was working as a janitor at his cousin Tony's recording studio, the Power Station, when he recorded a demo that became the hit "Runaway." He quickly recruited a band, changed his name to Bon Jovi, and became the object of a major-label bidding war, eventually signing with Polygram/Mercury in 1983. Bon Jovi's first two albums were solid sellers, but it was 1986's Slippery When Wet that propelled them into the rock stratosphere; the record eventually sold over 26 million copies worldwide on the strength of the number one singles "Livin' on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name." Their 1988 album New Jersey was another huge hit, and the band released several more albums before breaking up in 1996. After two Jon Bon Jovi solo albums, the band reunited in 2000 and released the successful comeback album Crush.

Of note

More popular than Def Leppard and more tuneful than Guns 'N' Roses, Bon Jovi was the biggest pop-metal band of the '80s, and Jon Bon Jovi himself—with his MTV-friendly good looks and flowing mane of blond curls—became one of the biggest pop icons of the decade. Bon Jovi hits like "Livin' on a Prayer" are still a staple of karaoke nights everywhere, and unlike many of their hair-metal brethren, the band has managed to stay popular into the 21st century (well, with fortysomething moms in New Jersey, at least). And unlike peers such as Tommy Lee and Axl Rose, Jon has managed to age somewhat gracefully to become, against all odds, a seemingly well-adjusted family man. In June 2007, Bon Jovi released Lost Highway, the group's first-ever country album. The album, coming on the heels of the band's No. 1 country hit "Who Says You Can't Go Home," was surprisingly well-received by critics.

On the side

Bon Jovi is a huge football fan and a founder and co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul team in the Arena Football League.

Personal

Unlike bandmate Richie Sambora—whose high-profile relationships with Cher, Heather Locklear, and Denise Richards have made him tabloid fodder—Bon Jovi has had a relatively low-key personal life. Although he dated starlets like Diane Lane early in his career, he's been happily married to high-school sweetheart Dorothea Hurley since 1989. The couple has four children, Stephanie (born 1993), Jesse (born 1995), Jacob (born 2002), and Romeo (born 2004).

Habitat

In March 2007, Bon Jovi dropped $26 million on a six-bedroom, six-bath, three-terrace, 7,400-square-foot duplex penthouse in SoHo's New Museum building. (Uber-broker Robby Browne repped him in the transaction.) He previously owned a four-bedroom condo in the Upper West Side's Millenium Tower, which he sold for $5.484 million in 2008. Other abodes include manses in Red Bank, NJ and East Hampton.

True story

When the band was preparing the mega-hit Slippery When Wet, they had songwriter Desmond Child write about 30 songs, then auditioned them for a group of New York-area teenagers. Bon Jovi based the final cuts and running order on the teens' reactions.

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