SamboraBlog

Rock and Roll Sound Check: Richie Sambora

Richard "Richie" Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959), is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, 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.

Sambora is a self taught musician of instruments including: mandolin, sitar, ukulele, bass, banjo, piano, keyboards, drums, flute, trumpet, saxophone, accordion, bouzouki, mandocello, and others.

Biography
Sambora began playing the guitar at age 12 following the death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970. From his early days, Sambora was influenced by blues and 60s rock 'n' roll. His most important influences were Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and Jimmy Page and Joe Perry.

Sambora played guitar for Joe Cocker and auditioned for Kiss.

Bon Jovi added Sambora to replace original lead guitarist Dave Sabo. Sambora has taken over as lead vocalist on some Bon Jovi songs, most notably "I'll Be There for You" and "These Days" when played live on the Bounce, Have a Nice Day and Lost Highway tours. He has also performed "Stranger In This Town".

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 featured on the track "Baby Rock Remix", from LL Cool J's upcoming album "Exit 13".

His first solo outing was Stranger in This Town in 1991, a blues-influenced album that was received well by critics. Eric Clapton played the lead guitar track on the song Mr Bluesman, backed by Sambora on acoustic guitars. He did a short US tour in support of the album, featuring Tony Levin, Dave Amato, Crystal Taliefero and Bon Jovi bandmates Tico Torres and Dave Bryan. Ballad of Youth was released in the UK in summer 1991.

Undiscovered Soul was Sambora's second solo album, released in 1998. The album was produced by Don Was. In support of Undiscovered Soul, Sambora toured Japan, Australia and Europe in the summer of 1998. The band featured Richie Supa, Ron Wikso, Kasim Sulton, Tommy Mandel, Everett Bradley , Gioia Bruno and Crystal Taliefero.

He made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing guitar on the tracks "Can I Walk You Home" and "Oops! Bo Diddley".

Sambora sings "Long Way Around" during the final scene in the 1997 Steven Seagal action movie Fire Down Below and is featured on the movie's soundtrack.

In 1999, Sambora appeared as a guest vocalist on the Stuart Smith album Stuart Smith's Heaven & Earth, performing a cover of the Deep Purple song "When a Blind Man Cries".

Sambora also recorded the song "One Last Goodbye" on the soundtrack for the movie The Banger Sisters. He covered Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" for the soundtrack of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, released in 1990.

His guitar work is featured on the track "Misery" on Pink's 2001 album M!ssundaztood with Steven Tyler.

In 2004, Sanctuary Records released a self-titled album which had been recorded in 1978 by Shark Frenzy, documenting Sambora's first recorded material. The mix tapes had been damaged in a flood and it had taken band member Bruce Foster to remaster them for them to be released so many years later.

Sambora co-wrote several tracks and played guitar on Australian rock/pop artist Shannon Noll's third album, called Turn It Up. It was released in Australia September 15, 2007.

© 2008 WKYC-TV/Wikipedia