Michele Amabile Angermiller of The Hollywood Reporter reports:
In what seems to be the messiest divorce in rock, Bon Jovi has reportedly fired lead guitarist Richie Sambora from the band’s current tour.
According to the website RumorFix.com, Sambora’s departure is all about money. Sources say that Sambora was earning in $2 million a month and 20 percent of the profits from the tour, whereas fill-in guitarist Philip “Phil X” Xenidis was earning far less — about $10,000 a month while on tour.
Although Sambora will still collect songwriting royalties and profits from merchandise, the 30-year bandmember is not taking the news well.
“Richie wants to go back onstage — that’s his first love,” a source tells the site. “He’s really upset over the news.”
The 54-year-old musician departed the group in the spring citing a “personal matter,” but has since remained mum on the subject, opting to tweet pictures of himself hanging out with his daughter and talking about his most recent solo album, Aftermath of the Lowdown.
Earlier this month, the Woodbridge, N.J., native shared a new song, Come Back as Me, that seemed to be aimed at Jon Bon Jovi, but the guitarist took to his Twitter feed to dispel those rumors.
“This songs gettin’ some traction, so I would sincerely appreciate any help. BTW this has nothin’ to do with Jon…,” he wrote on August 4th.
A week ago, Bon Jovi pulled out of a booked appearance at the New York State Fair so that the band could play a fundraiser for Governor Andrew Cuomo instead. The cancellation angered local fans. As Binghamton radio host Lee Ann Taylor, of classic rock station 99.1, told The Hollywood Reporter, “The New York State Fair is struggling and Bon Jovi would have been a huge boost for them like Aerosmith a few years back. Choosing politics over the people is becoming a disturbing trend. … The musicians need to remember who put them in the position to go to perform at these fundraisers to begin with.”
additional source: billboard.com
32 Responses
I wouldn’t be surprised if they take a much needed break from each other, then reunite with the original bass player and do a huge final tour sometime down the road. I’m pretty sure Winger would approve of this. (Sorry, I just can’t let it go)
Never apologize for bringing up Winger T. Winger is like ‘aloha’, it just fits with everything in life.
Now back to Richie, $2M/month and 20% of proifts? Wha????????!!!!!!!!! That’s the greatest deal of all time. When your making Jack Russell money like that and then someone Wingers it away from you (see T?), that’s got to really suck. If I were Richie, I would ‘LA Guns’ Jon’s ‘Geoff Tate’s Queensryche’ all the way to the ‘Great White IV’ until he’s ‘Wingering’ me for mercy.
They’re not going to reunite with Alec John Such. He adds no value to a bill as no one misses him. These things are all about the money.
I’m just waiting for AJS to show up in Jack Russell’s Great White, or Geof Tate’s Queensryche….or Hookers n Blow.
“RICHIE SAMBORA REPORTEDLY RELEASED FROM BON JOVI’S TOUR DUE TO MONEY”
Now there’s a headline that truly deserves a NO SHIT!!!
$2 million a month?! What is he a hired gun? They should pay the touring bassist a fixed salary and the remaining four originals should split the remaining money equally. Managers,lawyers,record companies are always in the way planting the seeds of discord and,along with egos,they don’t mix.
Actually he is a hired gun. The whole band with the exception of John are hired guns. JBJ is the only one with a record deal. He pays the other three long time members.
And John could not care less…..
It always starts out that they are doing this for the love of music, now it’s all about the love of money. Gotta love the “music business”.
You’re dead on. It’s always about the money. The number of true “bands” out there is really dwindling. My guess is that most big-name bands these days consist of one or maybe a couple key members and the rest of the “band” are just guns for hire. It’s a band only in name, and the music is paying the price. An older friend of mine told me the true spirit of rock and roll actually died at Woodstock. That’s when the corporate sharks saw the potential market for rock and roll.
Woodstock was great. That’s were Richman and I met.