Throughout his career, he has released two solo albums and eleven studio albums with his band which have sold over 130 million albums worldwide. He was ranked 31st in the Hit Parader’s top Metal vocalists of All Time. in Perth Amboy, New Jersey the son of two former Marines, barber John Francis Bongiovi, Sr. He later transferred to Sayreville War Memorial High School in Parlin, New Jersey. It was not long before he hooked up with keyboardist David Bryan (real name: David Bryan Rashbaum), who played with him in a ten-piece rhythm and blues band called Atlantic City Expressway. in 1980, when Meco was there recording Christmas in the Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album, Bongiovi recommended Bon Jovi for the song “R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas.” This became his first professional recording (credited as John Bongiovi). He went to several record companies, including Atlantic Records and Mercury (PolyGram), but they all turned him down.
