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| Birth Name(s) : Richie Sambora |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Richie Sambora Biography
Richard Stephen Sambora (born on July 11th, 1959), is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter who is the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi. Along with frontman Jon Bon Jovi, he forms the primary songwriting unit of the band. He is also a solo artist, having released two solo albums; Stranger In This Town in 1991, and Undiscovered Soul in 1998.
Born to a Polish father, Adam C. Sambora (family originally from Kraków as stated by Sambora), and an Italian mother, Joan Sienila. Sambora grew up in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. He attended Woodbridge High School there. He began playing the guitar at the age of 14 following the death of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix in 1970. From his early days Sambora was strongly influenced by blues and 60s rock 'n' roll. His most important influences were Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter and Jimmy Page. He was also influenced by Spanish classical music and began a life long love of the Spanish guitar.
Sambora has occasionally taken over as lead vocalist on some Bon Jovi songs, most notably "I'll Be There for You" when played live on the Bounce and Have a Nice Day tours. He has also performed "Stranger In This Town" (from the album of the same title) at various Bon Jovi concerts (most notably on Keep the Faith and These Days tours). One of the live performances of "Stranger In This Town", recorded during the Keep the Faith tour, was released on Bon Jovi's CD single "Dry County" in 1994.
Sambora is one of many guitarists to make use of the talk box. He has cited Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton as the main influences in his use of the device:“When I was a teenager, Frampton Comes Alive was such a huge record. I liked that it was a live album and I loved to see bands live. Joe Walsh of The Eagles also used talkbox amazingly. Those were the main guys.”
In 1998 the model has been updated with a vintage-style tremolo, a set of Fender Hot Noiseless single-coils, no-load tone circuit and a 12dB active mid-boost with a push-button bypass selector.
In 2000, Taylor started the production of a Sambora signature model, a 6-string acoustic made of koa wood, called the RSSM. Only 100 were made, all in the year of 2000. However, apart from the new Taylor 6-string, Sambora acquired a custom doubleneck model, which featured both a 6-string and a 12-string. The Taylor doubleneck replaced the spot of the old Ovation doubleneck in a variety of live shows and has been used extensively until 2004/2005, when he decided to part ways with Taylor. All of his doubleneck acoustics have been know to feature 6-strings on top and 12-string below, which is the opposite of the manufacturing standard.
Since Sambora has been known to use his favourite Martin acoustic, among others, on a lot of recordings, Martin guitars put out two of Sambora's signature models in 2006, a 6-string and a 12-strings, based on his mentioned favourite 1930 Martin OM-45. He has also been seen using a Yamaha double neck acoustic at specific small live shows. This is again made in a Sambora style specification with the 12 string under the 6 string. It can be seen in this image http://www.ginabythesea.com/images/Jon__Richie_.JPG
Sambora also used Gibson and Guild acoustics, particularly a Guild F-50 12-string, which the song "Wanted Dead or Alive" was recorded with. He acquired it directly from the Guild factory due to the guitar having a finish flaw.
He used a floor MIDI controller for most of his career, while on the last few tours (since Crush) he has switched to a more simple pedal setup, featuring a Boss SD-1, a Framptone talkbox, and a few others pedals, including a Choral Flange, a Dunlop Crybaby or Vox wah pedal and an A/B switcher.
Sambora is also a self taught musician of other instruments including:
- Mandolin
- Sitar
- Ukulele
- Bass
- Banjo
- Piano
- Keyboards
- Drums
- Flute
- Trumpet
- Saxophone
- Accordion
- Bouzouki
Sambora was married to actress Heather Locklear in Paris in December 1994. They had a daughter Ava Elizabeth on October 4, 1997. In February 2006, Locklear filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences. The divorce was later finalized on April 11, 2007. Sambora briefly dated actress Denise Richards.
In March 2006, Sambora severely injured his left shoulder due to a fall and by all reports from both the media and fans, had to rework his guitar playing for shows in Japan, Europe and the UK during Bon Jovi's "Have A Nice Day" tour.
In May 2004, Richie Sambora was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Kean University where he attended the awards ceremony and gave a speech of acceptance, even though he had attended Kean University as a freshman, but then dropped out to pursue a career as a professional guitarist and session musician.
Tony Bongiovi | Bruce Fairbairn | Desmond Child | Bob Rock | Luke Ebbin | Andreas Carlsson | Patrick Leonard | John Shanks |
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