Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora has said “music is the most evocative and international language” in response to the rock band’s music being played on the Poland-Ukraine border.
The musician, 63, who was recently unmasked as Jacket Potato on ITV’s The Masked Singer, was a guitarist and songwriter for Bon Jovi until 2013.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Sambora spoke about a video showing Bon Jovi’s hit track Livin’ On A Prayer being played on the Ukrainian border as the country prepared for war with Russia.
He said: “When I started to see it and I played all these countries, in the 80s, and they were westernised, a lot of people were speaking English, throngs of people obviously were coming to see us, and the songs were breaking through the language barrier.
'Music is the most evocative and international language there is.'@TheRealSambora gives his reaction after Ukrainians were seen listening to Bon Jovi while preparing for war. pic.twitter.com/FS3va0uZtd
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) February 13, 2023
“So I’m living proof that music is the most evocative and international language there ever is.”
Sambora also said he loved performing and spending time in Britain, telling GMB presenters Robert Rinder and Ranvir Singh: “You embraced us. It’s unbelievable. I went to the Brit awards the other night, and I walked into the O2 and I went ‘This feels like home’.
“I sold this place out for 20 nights, it was like a crazy, crazy thing.”
Sambora was part of the original Bon Jovi line-up after the band formed in New Jersey in 1983, and continued as the guitarist and songwriter, alongside lead singer and frontman Jon Bon Jovi, during the band’s most commercially successful period.
After making it to the semi-final of The Masked Singer on Saturday, Sambora was ultimately revealed to be Jacket Potato, following judge Davina McCall correctly guessing the character’s identity.
The CHIP has sailed! You've been amazing… WELL DONE #JacketPotato! See you TATER! 🥔 #MaskedSingerUK 🎭✨ pic.twitter.com/E47Pcbserd
— #MaskedSingerUK (@MaskedSingerUK) February 11, 2023
Sambora said: “I had such a good time on that show. I swear to God, it was the most paramilitary activity.
“Nobody knows who anybody is, you wear this sweatshirt that says ‘Please don’t speak to me’, and gloves.”
He said he would be watching the final to discover the identities of his fellow competitors.
Sambora also spoke about his extensive musical career, adding: “I love to sing, number one, and I’ve been singing since I was a kid.
“I’d been a lead singer in most of the bands I was in before Bon Jovi. And when you really think about it, the sound of the band was a real meld between Jon and I’s boldness, for sure.
“And writing those songs together and having the privilege of writing a song like Livin’ On A Prayer, that touched so many people around the world and continues to.”
Good Morning Britain airs every week day from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.