Today, May the 4th, is commonly known as "Star Wars Day" to fans of the movie series around the world. This year it falls as Jon Bon Jovi has been making headlines with the docuseries on his namesake band, Thank You, Goodnight, now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
Believe it or not, the "Livin' on a Prayer" singer has a small place in the Star Wars universe, and Star Wars played an important part in his career.
Jon Bon Jovi, then known by his real name of John Bongiovi, made his recording debut on the 1980 album Christmas in the Stars singing the song "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Here's how it happened.
Christmas in the Stars was co-produced by Tony Bongiovi at his New York studio called the Power Station. Bongiovi's 18-year-old cousin and future rock star, John, worked at the studio sweeping the floors.
"I was stuck on this one song. I had three different people come in to sing it and I didn't like the way any of them sounded," explained the album's co-producer, Meco Monardo, in an interview with TheForce.Net. "Tony says to me, 'Why don't you try little Jon.' Well, all right, let's try him. And after just the first few notes out of his mouth I said, 'es! This is him. This is the one! This is the one who should sing it.' He had this cute little voice -- he was still a kid, and his voice really hadn't even come down in pitch yet. It was still a little high but he had a great feeling for it. And of course, we all know what this little kid went on to do - he became one of the biggest rock and roll stars of all time."
Monardo claims that at the time he saw the future star's potential. "It's interesting that after we finished recording and we were walking up the street together I said, 'What are your aspirations about music?' He said, 'Well, I don't really know.' I said, 'You don't know? You don't want to be a star of some sort? You don't want to sing?'
"Well maybe", he said.
I said, "I'll tell you what you need to do. You need to sing because you're going to be the biggest star you can possibly imagine if you ever decide to do this full time".
He says, "'Yeah right...' (laughs) And we all know he became just that."
During an appearance earlier this week on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius/XM, Stern quizzed Bon Jovi about his first-ever release. "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas," Bon Jovi answered correctly. Stern then played a snippet of the song before the "Wanted Dead or Alive" singer shared his recollections about the song.
"There was a guy making a Star Wars Christmas in the Stars record," Bon Jovi recalled. "That's how he made ends meet and he tried to sing the song and I guess he sounded too much like an adult. Then he said, 'Kid, can you really sing?' And I said, 'I think so.' And then he said, 'Get in there.' So, that was it."
Bon Jovi went on to reveal he was paid "183 bucks, I think, from RSO Records, Robert Stigwood['s label]."
While that recording is nothing more than a curiosity -- and a possible collector's item now - it did change the course of Bon Jovi's life and music history. May the force be with you!
