title: Seven Years' War

text: Great Britain lost Menorca in the Mediterranean to the French in 1756 but captured Fort Saint Louis, the centre of the French colonies in Senegal, in 1758. More importantly, the British defeated the French in its defence of New France in 1759, with the fall of Quebec. The buffer that French North America had provided to New Spain, the Spanish Empire's most important overseas holding, was now lost. Spain had entered the war after the Third Family Compact (15 August 1761) with France. The British Royal Navy took the French Caribbean sugar colonies of Guadeloupe in 1759 and Martinique in 1762 as well as the Spanish Empire's main port in the West Indies, Havana in Cuba, and its main Asian port of Manila in the Philippines, both major Spanish colonial cities. British attempts at expansion into the hinterlands of Cuba and the Philippines met with stiff resistance. In the Philippines, the British were confined to Manila until their agreed upon withdrawal at the war's end.


title: Seven Years' War

text: During the war, the Six Nations of The Iroquois Confederacy were allied with the British. Native Americans of the Laurentian valley—the Algonquin, the Abenaki, the Huron and others, were allied with the French. Although the Algonquin tribes living north of the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence River were not directly concerned with the fate of the Ohio River Valley tribes, they had been victims of the Iroquois Confederation which included the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora tribes of central New York. The Iroquois had encroached on Algonquin territory and pushed the Algonquins west beyond Lake Michigan and to the shore of the St. Lawrence. The Algonquin tribes were interested in fighting against the Iroquois. Throughout New England, New York and the north-west, Native American tribes formed differing alliances with the major belligerents.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In 1756 and 1757 the French captured forts Oswego and William Henry from the British. The latter victory was marred when France's native allies broke the terms of capitulation and attacked the retreating British column, which was under French guard, slaughtering and scalping soldiers and taking captive many men, women and children while the French refused to protect their captives. French naval deployments in 1757 also successfully defended the key Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island called Ile du Roi by the French, securing the seaward approaches to Quebec.


title: Seven Years' War

text: British Prime Minister William Pitt's focus on the colonies for the 1758 campaign paid off with the taking of Louisbourg after French reinforcements were blocked by British naval victory in the Battle of Cartagena and in the successful capture of Fort Duquesne and Fort Frontenac. The British also continued the process of deporting the Acadian population with a wave of major operations against Île Saint-Jean (present-day Prince Edward Island), and the St. John River and the Petitcodiac River valleys. The celebration of these successes was dampened by their embarrassing defeat in the Battle of Carillon (Ticonderoga), in which 4,000 French troops repulsed 16,000 British. When the British led by generals James Abercrombie and George Howe attacked, they believed that the French led by general Marquis de Montcalm were defended only by a small abatis which could be taken easily given the British force's significant numerical advantage. The British offensive which was supposed to advance in tight columns and overwhelm the French defenders fell into confusion and scattered, leaving large spaces in their ranks. When the French Chevalier de Levis sent 1,000 soldiers to reinforce Montcalm's struggling troops, the British were pinned down in the brush by intense French musket fire and they were forced to retreat.


title: Seven Years' War

text: All of Britain's campaigns against New France succeeded in 1759, part of what became known as an "Annus Mirabilis". Fort Niagara and Fort Carillon on 8 July 1759 fell to sizable British forces, cutting off French frontier forts further west. Starting in June 1759, the British under James Wolfe and James Murray set up camp on the Ile d'Orleans across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec, enabling them to commence the 3-month siege that ensued. The French under the Marquis de Montcalm anticipated a British assault to the east of Quebec so he ordered his soldiers to fortify the region of Beauport. On 31 July the British attacked with 4,000 soldiers but the French positioned high up on the cliffs overlooking the Montmorency Falls forced the British forces to withdraw to the Ile d'Orleans. While Wolfe and Murray planned a second offensive, British rangers raided French settlements along the St. Lawrence, destroying food supplies, ammunition and other goods in an attempt to vanquish the French through starvation.


title: Seven Years' War

text: On 13 September 1759, General James Wolfe led 5,000 troops up a goat path to the Plains of Abraham, 1 mile west of Quebec City.


title: Seven Years' War

text: He had positioned his army between Montcalm's forces an hour's march to the east and Bougainville's regiments to the west, which could be mobilised within 3 hours. Instead of waiting for a coordinated attack with Bougainville, Montcalm attacked immediately. When his 3,500 troops advanced, their lines became scattered in a disorderly formation. Many French soldiers fired before they were within range of striking the British. Wolfe organised his troops in two lines stretching 1 mile across the Plains of Abraham. They were ordered to load their Brown Bess muskets with two bullets to obtain maximum power and hold their fire until the French soldiers came within 40 paces of the British ranks. When Montcalm's army was within range of the British, their volley was powerful and nearly all bullets hit their targets, devastating the French ranks. The French fled the Plains of Abraham in a state of utter confusion while they were pursued by members of the Scottish Fraser regiment and other British forces. Despite being cut down by musket fire from the Canadians and their indigenous allies, the British vastly outnumbered these opponents and won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. General Wolfe was mortally wounded in the chest early in the battle so the command fell to James Murray, who would become the lieutenant governor of Quebec after the war. The Marquis de Montcalm was also severely wounded later in the battle and died the following day. The French abandoned the city and French Canadians led by the Chevalier de Levis staged a counteroffensive on the Plains of Abraham in the spring of 1760, with initial success at the Battle of Sainte-Foy. During the subsequent siege of Quebec, however, Lévis was unable to retake the city, largely because of British naval superiority following the Battle of Neuville and the Battle of Restigouche, which allowed the British to be resupplied but not the French. The French forces retreated to Montreal in the summer of 1760, and after a two-month campaign by overwhelming British forces, they surrendered on 8 September, essentially ending the French Empire in North America. As the Seven Years War was not yet over in Europe, the British put all of New France under a military regime while awaiting the results. This regime would last from 1760 to 1763.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Seeing French and Indian defeat, in 1760 the Six Nations of The Iroquois Confederacy resigned from the war and negotiated the Treaty of Kahnawake with the British. Among its conditions was their unrestricted travel between Canada and New York, as the nations had extensive trade between Montreal and Albany as well as populations living throughout the area.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In 1762, towards the end of the war, French forces attacked St. John's, Newfoundland. If successful, the expedition would have strengthened France's hand at the negotiating table. Although they took St. John's and raided nearby settlements, the French forces were eventually defeated by British troops at the Battle of Signal Hill. This was the final battle of the war in North America, and it forced the French to surrender to Lieutenant Colonel William Amherst. The victorious British now controlled all of eastern North America.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The history of the Seven Years' War in North America, particularly the expulsion of the Acadians, the siege of Quebec, the death of Wolfe, and the Battle of Fort William Henry generated a vast number of ballads, broadsides, images, and novels (see Longfellow's "Evangeline", Benjamin West's "The Death of General Wolfe", James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans"), maps and other printed materials, which testify to how this event held the imagination of the British and North American public long after Wolfe's death in 1759.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In South America (1763), the Portuguese conquered most of the Rio Negro valley, and repelled a Spanish attack on Mato Grosso (in the Guaporé River).


title: Seven Years' War

text: Between September 1762 and April 1763, Spanish forces led by don Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, Governor of Buenos Aires (and later first Viceroy of the Rio de la Plata) undertook a campaign against the Portuguese in the Banda Oriental, now Uruguay and south Brazil. The Spanish conquered the Portuguese settlement of Colonia do Sacramento and Rio Grande de São Pedro and forced the Portuguese to surrender and retreat.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Under the Treaty of Paris (1763), Spain had to return to Portugal the settlement of Colonia do Sacramento, while the vast and rich territory of the so-called "Continent of S. Peter" (the present-day Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul) would be retaken from the Spanish army during the undeclared Hispano-Portuguese war of 1763–1777.


title: Seven Years' War

text: As consequence of the war the Valdivian Fort System, a Spanish defensive complex in southern Chile, was updated and reinforced from 1764 onwards. Other vulnerable localities of colonial Chile such as Chiloé Archipelago, Concepción, Juan Fernández Islands and Valparaíso were also made ready for an eventual English attack. The war contributed also to a decision to improve communications between Buenos Aires and Lima resulting in the establishment of a series of mountain shelters in the high Andes called Casuchas del Rey.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In India, the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in Europe renewed the long running conflict between the French and the British trading companies for influence on the subcontinent. The French allied themselves with the Mughal Empire to resist British expansion. The war began in Southern India but spread into Bengal, where British forces under Robert Clive recaptured Calcutta from the Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, a French ally, and ousted him from his throne at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. In the same year, the British also captured Chandernagar, the French settlement in Bengal.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In the south, although the French captured Cuddalore, their siege of Madras failed, while the British commander Sir Eyre Coote decisively defeated the Comte de Lally at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 and overran the French territory of the Northern Circars. The French capital in India, Pondicherry, fell to the British in 1761; together with the fall of the lesser French settlements of Karikal and Mahé this effectively eliminated French power in India.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In 1758, at the urging of an American merchant, Thomas Cumming, Pitt dispatched an expedition to take the French settlement at Saint-Louis, Senegal. The British captured Senegal with ease in May 1758 and brought home large amounts of captured goods. This success convinced Pitt to launch two further expeditions to take the island of Gorée and the French trading post on the Gambia. The battles in West Africa were ultimately a series of British expeditions against wealthy French colonies. The British and French had been competing for influence in the Gambia region following the acquisition of James Island in 1664 by the English from the Dutch. The loss of these valuable colonies to the British further weakened the French economy.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Despite being one of the major European powers during this time, the Ottoman Empire was notably neutral during the Seven Years' War. Following their military stalemate with the Russian Empire and their subsequent victory over the Holy Roman Empire (and Austria to an extent), during the Austro-Russian-Turkish War (1735-1739), and the signing of the Treaty of Belgrade, the Ottoman Empire enjoyed a generation of peace due to Austria and Russia contending with the rise of Prussia in Eastern Europe. During the war, King Frederick II of Prussia, better known to history as Frederick the Great, had made diplomatic overtures with the Ottoman Sultan, Mustafa III for years, up to the outbreak of war, to bring the empire into the war on the side of Prussia, Great Britain, and their other allies but he was unsuccessful. However, the Sultan was persuaded by his court not to join the war, primarily by his Grand Vizier, Koca Ragıb Pasha, who was quoted as saying.


title: Seven Years' War

text: ""Our state looks like a majestic and mighty lion from afar. However, a closer look at this lion reveals that it has aged - its teeth have fallen out - its claws have fallen. So, let's leave this old lion to rest for a while.""


title: Seven Years' War

text: Therefore, the Ottoman Empire avoided the major wars that would follow, including the Seven Years' War. The Ottoman Empire, or more accurately its leaders, recognised its internal problems. The previous wars had cost the empire greatly, both in terms of resources and finance, they were facing rebellions from nationalistic uprisings, notably from the Beyliks, and Persia had been reunited under Karim Khan Zand. That said, the Ottoman Empire would launch an abortive invasion of Hungary with 100,000 troops in 1763, contributing to the end of the war.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Persia ended up under the rule of the Zand Dynasty during the period of the Seven Years War. Like the Ottoman Empire, they were also neutral during the war. They had more pressing matters to attend to. Karim Khan Zand, was busy playing politics and was in the process of legitimising his claim to the Persian throne by placing a puppet king on the throne, Ismail III, the grandson of last Safavid king, in 1757. However, by 1760, he had managed to eliminate all other potential claimants to the throne as well as Ismail III and had established himself as the head of his own dynasty, the aforementioned Zand Dynasty.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The Dutch Republic had played a central role in the wars against Louis XIV's France, in the late 1600s and early 1700s and that had proved to be very expensive. This motivated the Dutch to try to stay out of major 18th century European conflicts like the War of the Polish Succession and War of the Austrian Succession. Grand Pensionary Laurens van de Spiegel, in 1782, blamed the earlier generations for taking too heavy a burden on their descendants by waging wars on credit.


title: Seven Years' War

text: ""Every new war is a step closer to taking away from the descendants the means of defence they need.""


title: Seven Years' War

text: It was precisely for this reason that Pieter Steyn, Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1749 to 1772, wanted the Republic to align its foreign policy with the state of its finances. Specifically, this meant that Holland should do everything possible to ensure that the Republic did not become involved in the Franco-British dispute, despite animosity towards France and being a long-time ally of Britain. This was not going to be easy, because London was exerting great pressure on the States General to make troops available for the defence of Great Britain as soon as hostilities with France were to occur, and as the daughter of George II, it would be almost impossible for Princess Anne, regent in the Dutch Republic for William V of Orange, to refuse the requested help. However, the wealthy merchants of Amsterdam did not want to go to war for Britain's interests. Together with French assurances that King Louis XV did not want to multiply his enemies and that it were the Prussians who broke the peace, this made it possible for Steyn to declare the Republic neutral.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Despite British threats and various incidents, like when Dutch soldiers stationed in the Austrian Netherlands fired celebratory gunshots in support of the Prussians after the Battle of Breslau, the Dutch Republic managed to preserve its neutrality during the Seven Years' War. It owed it this to the memory of what it had been and what it could possibly become again, namely a land and naval power of the first rank. For the Prussian king, the Republic was an important ally with view of securing his scattered possessions along the Dutch eastern border, and for George II, the Dutch seaports provided the most secure link with Hanover. For their part, the British were concerned that their supremacy at sea would be jeopardised if the Republic were to lend its cooperation to a French plan for joint maritime action by the French, Spanish, Danish and Dutch fleets. In addition, the government in London had not yet given up hope to restore the disrupted relationship with the Dutch by including them in a military and political bloc formed by Britain, Hanover, Prussia and the Dutch Republic. When the States of Holland announced in the States General on 12 January 1759 that they had decided to equip 25 warships, at their own expense if need be, and Princess Anna also died that same evening, the British government realised that it should not let things get out of hand by inflicting too much damage on Dutch trade. It resigned itself to the fact that the Republic persisted in its neutral stance.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Unofficially, the Dutch East-India Company would try to undermine or even prevent British domination in India during the Third Carnatic War.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Denmark-Norway, was another neutral nation during the Seven Years War, although it could be argued that they were a belligerent nation due to close calls. They were very nearly dragged into the war on the side of France due to the actions of the Russian Empire. Tsar Peter III had desired on reclaiming his title of Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, whose lands were being overseen by the current king of Denmark-Norway, Frederick V, and was prepared to attack them to do this. However, luckily for Denmark-Norway, the Russian emperor was deposed by his wife, Catherine II, before war could break out.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The Anglo-French hostilities were ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, which involved a complex series of land exchanges, the most important being France's cession to Spain of Louisiana, and to Great Britain the rest of New France. Britain returned to France the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which had been ceded to Britain in 1714 under the Treaty of Utrecht, to assist with French fishing rights. Faced with the choice of regaining either New France or its Caribbean island colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique, France chose the latter to retain these lucrative sources of sugar, writing off New France as an unproductive, costly territory. France also returned Menorca to the British. Spain lost control of Florida to Great Britain, but it received from the French the Île d'Orléans and all of the former French holdings west of the Mississippi River. The exchanges suited the British as well, as their own West Indian islands already supplied ample sugar, and, with the acquisition of New France and Florida, they now controlled all of North America east of the Mississippi.


title: Seven Years' War

text: In India, the British retained the Northern Circars, but returned all the French trading ports. The treaty, however, required that the fortifications of these settlements be destroyed and never rebuilt, while only minimal garrisons could be maintained there, thus rendering them worthless as military bases. Combined with the loss of France's ally in Bengal and the defection of Hyderabad to the British as a result of the war, this effectively brought French power in India to an end, making way for British hegemony and eventual control of the subcontinent. France's navy was crippled by the war. Only after an ambitious rebuilding program in combination with Spain was France again able to challenge Britain's command of the sea.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Bute's settlement with France was mild compared with what Pitt's would have been. He had hoped for a lasting peace with France, and he was afraid that if he took too much, the whole of Europe would unite in envious hostility against Great Britain. Choiseul, however, had no intention of making a permanent peace, and, when France went to war with Great Britain during the American Revolution, the British found no support among the European powers. France's defeat caused the French to embark upon major military reforms, with particular attention being paid to the artillery. The origins of the famed French artillery that played a prominent role in the wars of the French Revolution and beyond can to be traced to military reforms that started in 1763.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The Treaty of Hubertusburg, between Austria, Prussia, and Saxony, was signed on 15 February 1763, at a hunting lodge between Dresden and Leipzig. Negotiations had started there on 31 December 1762. Frederick, who had considered ceding East Prussia to Russia if Peter III helped him secure Saxony, finally insisted on excluding Russia (in fact, no longer a belligerent) from the negotiations. At the same time, he refused to evacuate Saxony until its elector had renounced any claim to reparation. The Austrians wanted at least to retain Glatz, which they had in fact reconquered, but Frederick would not allow it. The treaty simply restored the status quo of 1748, with Silesia and Glatz reverting to Frederick and Saxony to its own elector. The only concession that Prussia made to Austria was to consent to the election of Archduke Joseph as Holy Roman emperor. Saxony emerged from the war weakened and bankrupt; despite losing no territory, Saxony had essentially been a battleground between Prussia and Austria throughout the conflict, with many of its towns and cities (including the capital of Dresden) damaged by bombardment and looting.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Austria was not able to retake Silesia or make any significant territorial gain. However, it did prevent Prussia from invading parts of Saxony. More significantly, its military performance proved far better than during the War of the Austrian Succession and seemed to vindicate Maria Theresa's administrative and military reforms. Hence, Austria's prestige was restored in great part and the empire secured its position as a major player in the European system. Also, by promising to vote for Joseph II in the Imperial elections, Frederick II accepted the Habsburg preeminence in the Holy Roman Empire. The survival of Prussia as a first-rate power and the enhanced prestige of its king and its army, however, was potentially damaging in the long run to Austria's influence in Germany.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Not only that, Austria now found herself estranged with the new developments within the empire itself. Beside the rise of Prussia, Augustus III, although ineffective, could muster an army not only from Saxony, but also Poland, since he was also the King of Poland as well as Elector of Saxony. Bavaria's growing power and independence was also apparent as it asserted more control on the deployment of its army, and managed to disengage from the war at its own will. Most importantly, with the now belligerent Hanover united personally under George III of Great Britain, It amassed a considerable power, and even brought Britain in on future conflicts. This power dynamic was important to the future and the latter conflicts of the "Reich". The war also proved that Maria Theresa's reforms were still insufficient to compete with Prussia: unlike its enemy, the Austrians were almost bankrupt at the end of war. Hence, she dedicated the next two decades to the consolidation of her administration.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Prussia emerged from the war as a great power whose importance could no longer be challenged. Frederick the Great's personal reputation was enormously enhanced, as his debt to fortune (Russia's volte-face after Elizabeth's death) and to British financial support were soon forgotten, while the memory of his energy and his military genius was strenuously kept alive. Though depicted as a key moment in Prussia's rise to greatness, the war weakened Prussia. Prussia's lands and population were devastated, though Frederick's extensive agrarian reforms and encouragement of immigration soon solved both these problems. Unfortunately for Prussia, its army had taken heavy losses (particularly the officer corps), and in the war's aftermath, Frederick could not afford to rebuild the Prussian Army to what it was before the war. In the War of the Bavarian Succession, the Prussians fought poorly despite being led by Frederick in person. During the war with France in 1792–95, the Prussian Army did not fare well against revolutionary France, and in 1806, the Prussians were annihilated by the French at the Battle of Jena. It was only after 1806 when Prussian government brought in reforms to recover from the disaster of Jena that Prussia's rise to greatness later in the 19th century was realized. However, none of this had happened yet, and after 1763, various nations all sent officers to Prussia to learn the secrets of Prussia's military power. After the Seven Years' War, Prussia become one of the most imitated powers in Europe.


title: Seven Years' War

text: Russia, on the other hand, made one great invisible gain from the war: the elimination of French influence in Poland. The First Partition of Poland (1772) was to be a Russo-Prussian transaction, with Austria only reluctantly involved and with France simply ignored. Though the war had ended in a draw, the performance of the Imperial Russian Army against Prussia had improved Russia's reputation as a factor in European politics, as many had not expected the Russians to hold their own against the Prussians in campaigns fought on Prussian soil. The American historian David Stone observed that Russian soldiers proved capable of going head-on against the Prussians, inflicting and taking one bloody volley after another "without flinching", and though the quality of Russian generalship was quite variable, the Russians were never decisively defeated once in the war. The Russians defeated the Prussians several times in the war, but the Russians lacked the necessary logistical capability to follow up their victories with lasting gains, and in this sense, the salvation of the House of Hohenzollern was due more to Russian weakness with respect to logistics than to Prussian strength on the battlefield. Still, the fact that the Russians proved capable of defeating in battle the army of a "first-rate" European power on its own soil despite the often indifferent quality of their generals improved Russia's standing in Europe. A lasting legacy of the war was that it awakened the Russians to their logistic weaknesses, and led to major reforms of the Imperial Russian Army's quartermaster department. The supply system that allowed the Russians to advance into the Balkans during the war with the Ottomans in 1787–92, Marshal Alexander Suvorov to campaign effectively in Italy and Switzerland in 1798–99, and for the Russians to fight across Germany and France in 1813–14 to take Paris was created directly in response to the logistic problems experienced by the Russians in the Seven Years' War.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The British government was close to bankruptcy, and Britain now faced the delicate task of pacifying its new French-Canadian subjects as well as the many American Indian tribes who had supported France. In 1763, Pontiac's War broke out as a group of Indian tribes in the Great Lakes region and the Northwest (the modern American Midwest) said to have been led by the Ottawa chief Pontiac (whose role as the leader of the confederation seems to have been exaggerated by the British), unhappy with the eclipse of French power, rebelled against British rule. The Indians had long established congenial and friendly relations with the French fur traders, and the Anglo-American fur traders who had replaced the French had engaged in business practices that enraged the Indians, who complained about being cheated when they sold their furs. Moreover, the Indians feared that with the coming of British rule might lead to white settlers displacing them off their land, whereas it was known that the French had only come as fur traders. Pontiac's War was a major conflict in which the British temporarily lost control of the Great Lakes-Northwest regions to the Indians. By the middle of 1763, the only forts the British held in the region were Fort Detroit (modern Detroit, Michigan), Fort Niagara (modern Youngstown, New York) and Fort Pitt (modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) with the rest all being lost to the Indians. It was only with the British victory at the Battle of Bushy Run that prevented a complete collapse of British power in the Great Lakes region. King George III's Proclamation of 1763, which forbade white settlement beyond the crest of the Appalachians, was intended to appease the Indians but led to considerable outrage in the Thirteen Colonies, whose inhabitants were eager to acquire native lands. The Quebec Act of 1774, similarly intended to win over the loyalty of French Canadians, also spurred resentment among American colonists. The Act protected Catholic religion and French language, which enraged the Americans, but the Québécois remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution and did not rebel.


title: Seven Years' War

text: The war also brought to an end the "Old System" of alliances in Europe, In the years after the war, under the direction of Lord Sandwich, the British attempted to re-establish this system. But after her surprising grand success against a coalition of great powers, European states such as Austria, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, Denmark-Norway, the Ottoman Empire and Russia, now saw Britain as a greater threat than France and did not join with it, while the Prussians were angered by what they considered a British betrayal in 1762. Consequently, when the American Revolutionary War turned into a global war between 1778 and 1783, Britain found itself opposed by a strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John Such quit the band in 1994, and longtime guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora left in 2013. The band has been credited with "[bridging] the gap between heavy metal and pop with style and ease".


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 1984 and 1985, Bon Jovi released their first two albums and their debut single "Runaway" managed to crack the Top 40. In 1986, the band achieved widespread success and global recognition with their third album, "Slippery When Wet", which sold over 20 million copies and included three Top 10 singles, two of which reached No. 1 ("You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer") Their fourth album, "New Jersey" (1988), was also very successful, selling over 10 million copies and featuring five Top 10 singles (a record for a glam metal album), two of which reached No. 1 ("Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You"). After the band toured and recorded extensively during the late 1980s, culminating in the 1988–1990 New Jersey Tour, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora released successful solo albums in 1990 and 1991, respectively.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 1992, the band returned with the double-platinum "Keep the Faith". This was followed by their biggest-selling and longest-charting single "Always" (1994) and the album "These Days" (1995), which proved to be a bigger success in Europe than in the United States, producing four Top Ten singles in the United Kingdom. Following a second hiatus, their 2000 album "Crush", particularly the lead single, "It's My Life", successfully introduced the band to a younger audience, and the band considered this their comeback album. The band followed up with "Bounce" in 2002. The platinum albums "Have a Nice Day" (2005) and "Lost Highway" (2007) saw the band incorporate elements of country music into some of the songs, including the 2006 single "Who Says You Can't Go Home", which won the band a Grammy Award and became the first single by a rock band to reach No. 1 on the country charts. "The Circle" (2009) marked a return to the band's rock sound. The band also enjoyed great success touring, with both the 2005–2006 Have a Nice Day Tour and 2007–2008 Lost Highway Tour ranking among the Top 20 highest-grossing concert tours of the 2000s. After recording and releasing "Because We Can" in 2013, lead guitarist Richie Sambora left the band just before an April concert during the supporting tour to spend more time with his family. The band released their first studio album without Sambora, "Burning Bridges", in 2015 and the follow-up album "This House Is Not For Sale" in 2016, the tour for which encompassed 2017–2019. Their most recent album "2020" (2020) was re-worked to include songs inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd protests; its supporting tour was delayed to 2022.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi has released 15 studio albums, five compilations and three live albums. They have sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling American rock bands, and performed more than 2,700 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans. Bon Jovi was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. The band received the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 2004, and Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Jon Bon Jovi began performing music live in 1975, at the age of 13, playing piano and guitar with his first band, Raze. At 16, Jon met David Bryan and formed a band called Atlantic City Expressway. Still in his teens, Bon Jovi played in the band John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones at clubs such as the Fast Lane and opening for local acts. By 1980, he had formed another band, the Rest, and opened up for New Jersey acts such as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Also in 1980, Jon recorded his first single, "Runaway" in his cousin's studio, backed up by studio musicians. The song was played by a local radio station on a compilation tape.


title: Bon Jovi

text: By mid-1982, out of school and working part-time at a women's shoe store, Jon Bon Jovi took a job at the Power Station Studios, a Manhattan recording facility where his cousin Tony Bongiovi was co-owner. Jon made several demos—including one produced by Billy Squier—and sent them to record companies, though failing to make an impact. His first professional recording was as lead vocals in "R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which was part of the "Christmas in the Stars" album which his cousin co-produced.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 1983, Jon visited a local radio station WAPP 103.5FM "The Apple" in Lake Success, New York, to write and sing the jingles for the station. He spoke with DJ Chip Hobart and to the promotion director, John Lassman, who suggested Jon let WAPP include the song "Runaway" on the station's compilation album of local homegrown talent. Jon was reluctant, but eventually gave them the song, which he had re-recorded in 1982 (following a rough early recording in 1981) with local studio musicians whom he designated The All Star Review—guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan, drummer Frankie LaRocka, and bassist Hugh McDonald.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The song began to get airplay in the New York area, then other sister stations in major markets picked up the song. In March 1983, Bon Jovi called David Bryan, who in turn called bassist Alec John Such and an experienced drummer named Tico Torres, both formerly of the band Phantom's Opera. Tapped to play lead guitar for a short tour supporting "Runaway" was Bon Jovi's friend and neighbor, Dave Sabo ("The Snake"), though he never officially joined the band. He and Jon promised each other that whoever made it first, would help out the other. Sabo later went on to form the group Skid Row. Jon saw and was impressed with hometown guitarist Richie Sambora who was recommended by fellow bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres. Sambora had toured with Joe Cocker, played with a group called Mercy and had been called up to audition for Kiss. He also played on the album "Lessons", originally intended for release in 1982 with the band Message for which Alec John Such was the bassist. Message was originally signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label, although the album was never officially released at the time. Meanwhile, WAPP, the station that had first played "Runaway" worked with WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in nearby Secaucus, NJ on a music video show, Rock 9 Videos, for a short time in 1984.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Tico Torres was also an experienced musician, having recorded and played live with Phantom's Opera, The Marvelettes, and Chuck Berry. He appeared on 26 records and had recently recorded with Franke and the Knockouts, a Jersey band with hit singles during the early 1980s.


title: Bon Jovi

text: David Bryan had quit the band that he and Bon Jovi had founded in order to study medicine. While in college, he realized that he wanted to pursue music full-time, and was accepted to Juilliard School, a New York music school. When Bon Jovi called his friend and said that he was putting together a band, and a record deal looked likely, Bryan followed Bon Jovi's lead and gave up his studies.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Once the band began playing showcases and opening for local talent, they caught the attention of record executive Derek Shulman, who signed them to Mercury Records and who was part of the PolyGram company. Because Jon Bon Jovi wanted a group name, Pamela Maher, a friend of Richard Fischer and an employee of Doc McGhee, suggested they call themselves Bon Jovi, following the example of the other famous two-word bands such as Van Halen. This name was chosen instead of the original idea of Johnny Electric. Pamela's suggestion of the name was met with little enthusiasm, but two years later they hit the charts under that name.


title: Bon Jovi

text: With the help of their new manager Doc McGhee they recorded the band's debut album, "Bon Jovi", which was released on January 21, 1984. The album included the band's first hit single, "Runaway", reaching the top forty on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album peaked at number forty-three on the "Billboard" 200 album chart. The group soon found itself opening for Scorpions in U.S. and for Kiss in Europe.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 1985, Bon Jovi's second album, "7800° Fahrenheit", was released. The band released three singles: "Only Lonely", "In and Out of Love" and the ballad "Silent Night". The album peaked at number thirty-seven on the "Billboard" 200 and was certified Gold by RIAA. While the album did not sell as well as the band had hoped, it allowed Bon Jovi to get out on the road touring again. In May 1985, Bon Jovi headlined venues in Japan and Europe. At the end of the European tour, the band began a six-month run of U.S. tour dates supporting Ratt. In the midst of that tour, they appeared at the Texas Jam and Castle Donington's Monsters of Rock concerts in England. The band also performed at the first Farm Aid in 1985.


title: Bon Jovi

text: After two moderately successful albums, the group changed its approach and hired professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator. Bruce Fairbairn was chosen to produce and, in early 1986, Bon Jovi moved to Vancouver, Canada to spend six months recording a third album. They named it "Slippery When Wet" after visiting a strip club in Vancouver. On August 16, 1986, "Slippery When Wet" was released and it spent eight weeks atop the "Billboard" 200. The first two singles from the album, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer", both hit number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Slippery When Wet" was named 1987's top-selling album by "Billboard", and "Livin' On A Prayer" won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance. The band won an award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band at the American Music Awards and an award for Favorite Rock Group at the People's Choice Awards. When "Slippery When Wet" was released in August 1986, Bon Jovi was the support act for 38 Special. By the end of 1986, Bon Jovi were well into six months of headline dates in arenas across America. In August 1987, they headlined England's Monsters of Rock festival. During their set, Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson and Paul Stanley guested to perform "We're an American Band". The band ended the year having headlined 130 shows in the "Tour Without End", grossing $28,400,000. Asked what this breakthrough to worldwide fame meant, Jon Bon Jovi said, "Everything is bigger, and it moves twice as fast. You're recognized twice as often. This is bigger, the whole world gets bigger. You have to sell more records, be huger. You get smarter and you understand the business a little more, so it's more responsibility. You understand it now, and you want to make sure everything goes right".


title: Bon Jovi

text: Determined to prove that the success of "Slippery When Wet" was not a fluke, Bon Jovi released their fourth effort, "New Jersey", in September 1988 which peaked at number one in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. The album produced five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Bon Jovi the record for the most Top 10 singles spawned by a hard rock album. Two of the hits, "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You", reached number one. The album's three other singles, "Born to Be My Baby", "Lay Your Hands on Me", and "Living in Sin", reached the top ten. Bon Jovi made the news when the video for "Living In Sin" was banned by MTV for sexual content; after the video was re-edited, MTV put it in heavy rotation. Bon Jovi mounted another huge worldwide tour that continued throughout 1989 and 1990. They visited more than 22 countries and performed more than 232 shows. On June 11, 1989, the band performed a homecoming concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey; the venue was sold out. In August 1989, the band headed to the Soviet Union for the Moscow Music Peace Festival. Bon Jovi were the first band officially sanctioned by the Soviet government to perform in the Soviet Union, and "New Jersey" became the first U.S. album released legally in the U.S.S.R.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The exhaustion of recording "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey" back to back and going on highly paced world tours took its toll. By the end of the "New Jersey" tour, the band had 16 months of concerts under its belt. The bandmates were exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. Following the final tour date in Mexico, and without any clear plans for their future, the members of the band simply went home. The band has since stated that there were few if any goodbyes between them. During the time they took off from the scene, members of the band retreated to their own projects and showed no desire to make another album.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Disillusioned with the music business and unhappy with the status quo, Jon Bon Jovi fired his management, business advisers, and agents (including long-time manager Doc McGhee) in 1991. Jon took on the management responsibilities himself by closing ranks and creating "Bon Jovi Management". In October 1991, the band went to a Caribbean island of St. Thomas to discuss plans for the future. They managed to resolve their differences by allowing each member to speak about his feelings without interruption from each other. Upon resolving their issues, they headed back into the Vancouver Little Mountain studios with Bob Rock to work on the band's fifth album in January 1992.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi's fifth studio album "Keep the Faith" was released in November 1992, representing "the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Bon Jovi" and marking a change in the band's sound and image. The album turned away from heavy drums and wild guitar solos, but instead introduced a more mature sound of Bon Jovi and contained more serious lyrics. The media focused considerable attention on Jon Bon Jovi's hair. When Jon Bon Jovi cut his hair he made headlines on CNN. To promote "Keep The Faith" they returned to their roots playing a few dates at the small New Jersey clubs where they had started their career. The band appeared on "MTV Unplugged" but that was different from the other episodes of MTV Unplugged series. The performance captures Bon Jovi in an intimate, "in the round" experience, performing acoustic and electric renditions of classic hits (Bon Jovi and non-Bon Jovi tracks) and new material from "Keep the Faith". The concert was released commercially in 1993 as "".


title: Bon Jovi

text: The album managed to reach Double Platinum status by the RIAA and produced the Top 10 hit "Bed of Roses" while the title track hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. Bon Jovi embarked on an extensive international world tour for the album, visiting countries the band had never seen before and headlining stadiums in South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. They visited 37 countries, performed 177 shows and seen them play to 2.5 million fans on the Keep the Faith Tour/I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Tour.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In October 1994, Bon Jovi released a greatest hits album titled "Cross Road", with two new tracks: "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". The first single from the album "Always" became Bon Jovi's highest selling single and stayed on top ten of the "Billboard" Hot 100 for six months. In the UK, "Cross Road" became the best-selling album of 1994. That year Bon Jovi won an award for "Best Selling Rock Band" at the World Music Awards.


title: Bon Jovi

text: That same year, bassist Alec John Such left the band, the first lineup change since Bon Jovi began. Hugh McDonald who was the bassist on "Runaway," unofficially replaced Such as bassist. Jon Bon Jovi said, regarding the departure of Such: "Of course it hurts. But I learned to accept and respect it. The fact that I'm a workaholic, studio in, studio out, stage on, stage off, want to be dealing with music day and night, doesn't mean everyone else has to adjust to that pace. Alec wanted to quit for a while now, so it didn't come as a complete surprise."


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi's sixth studio album, "These Days", was released in June 1995, during which time the band was on European tour. The album debuted at number one in UK and spent four consecutive weeks at the top position. The album also reached number one in Ireland, Germany, Australia, Japan and many other countries. The album's first single was the rhythm and blues influenced ballad "This Ain't a Love Song". With an exotic video filmed in Thailand, "This Ain't a Love Song" reached top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the only significant U.S. hit from the album, however, the album produced four UK top ten hits ("This Aint A Love Song", "Something for the Pain", "Lie to Me" and "These Days"). That year the band earned a BRIT Award for best international band and also won a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Rock. It was followed by These Days Tour. In June 1995, Bon Jovi sold out three-nights at London's historical "Wembley Stadium". The concerts were documented for "Bon Jovi: Live From London". Bon Jovi visited 43 countries and performed 126 shows on "These Days Tour".


title: Bon Jovi

text: Following the overwhelming success of the "These Days Tour", the members of Bon Jovi went their separate ways. But unlike the period following the New Jersey tour, tainted with uncertainty, this hiatus was a conscious group decision. The members of Bon Jovi agreed to a self-imposed two-year sabbatical from the band.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi reunited in 1999 to record the song "Real Life" for the movie "EdTV". David Bryan was recovering from an accident in which he nearly severed his finger.


title: Bon Jovi

text: After a nearly four-year hiatus, during which several band members worked on independent projects, Bon Jovi regrouped to begin work on their next studio album. In June 2000, "Crush" was released as the band's seventh studio album and constituted something of a comeback. The first single "It's My Life" was noted as one of the group's most successful releases in a decade and most importantly, becoming a symbol of the band's longevity as they prevailed through many different changes in the mainstream rock scene with admirable success. "It's My Life" helped introduce them to a new, younger fan base. The band received two Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album "Crush" and Best Rock Performance by Duo/Group "It's My Life". The video for "It's My Life" won the My VH1 Music Awards for "My Favorite Video".


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi played two sold-out concerts at London's historic Wembley Stadium on August 19–20, 2000, becoming the last concerts held at the legendary venue before its demolition. That year the band played to 1.1 million fans in 40 arena and stadium venues across North America, Europe and Japan. While on tour, Bon Jovi released a collection of live performances from throughout their career in an album titled "One Wild Night Live 1985–2001". This was Bon Jovi's first-ever live album. The songs were culled from archives of recorded material the band had been collecting from their earliest days on the road right through the current tour. The band sold out two homecoming concerts at New Jersey's Giants Stadium on July 27–28, 2001. The broadcast broke ratings records for the VH-1 network. At the end of the year Bon Jovi awarded for "Hottest Live Show" at the 2001 My VH1 Music Awards.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The members of the band had anticipated a brief vacation before work would begin on the band's 8th studio album but on September 11 the world changed. Within days of the terrorist attacks, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora had filmed Public Service Announcements for the Red Cross, recorded "America The Beautiful" for the NFL and performed as part of the historic "" live telethon. One month later, the band participated at two Monmouth County Alliance of Neighbors concerts in Red Bank, NJ to raise funds for the families close the band's hometowns, which were affected by the World Trade Center disaster. And on October 21, 2001, Bon Jovi performed at the monumental "Concert For New York" at Madison Square Garden, raising relief funds and honoring those who worked to save lives during the attack.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In spring 2002, the group entered the studio to begin recording their eighth studio album. "Bounce" was influenced by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, released on October 8, 2002. The album debuted at number two in both the U.S. and UK, but was the first album to sell less than 6 million units since their 1985 record "7800° Fahrenheit". The band went on the Bounce Tour for the album, during which they made history as the last band to play at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia before it was torn down.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Following the end of the Bounce Tour in August 2003, Bon Jovi embarked on a side project; originally intending to produce an album consisting of live acoustic performances, the band ended up rewriting, re-recording and reinventing 12 of their biggest hits in a new and much different light. Bon Jovi's compilation album "This Left Feels Right" was released in November 2003.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The following year, the band released a box set titled "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong", the title being a homage to Elvis Presley's "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong". The set consisted of four CDs packed with 38 unreleased and 12 rare tracks, as well as a DVD. The box set marked the sales of 100 million Bon Jovi albums and also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the release of the band's first record in 1984. In November 2004, Bon Jovi was honored with the Award for Merit at the American Music Awards.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The band's ninth studio album, "Have a Nice Day", was released in September 2005. The album debuted at number two in both the U.S. and UK, reaching number one in fifteen countries. The title track was an international hit, reaching the top ten in the UK, Europe, Australia and Canada. The second single, "Who Says You Can't Go Home", was released in early 2006. The song reached top forty on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. A duet version of "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with country singer Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland, peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Bon Jovi became the first rock band to have a number one single on Billboard's Country Chart. On February 11, 2007, Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles won the Grammy Award, for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" for "Who Says You Can't Go Home". The band also won an award for Favorite Rock Song at the People's Choice Awards with "Who Says You Can't Go Home".


title: Bon Jovi

text: Soon after the release of "Have A Nice Day", the band started gearing up for the new 2005–2006 worldwide Have A Nice Day Tour. This tour, took the band to numerous stages and stadiums throughout the world. The tour was a significant commercial success, as the group played to 2,002,000 fans, and the tour grossed a total $191 million. The tour was the third-highest-grossing tour of 2006 taking in just over $131 million, just behind The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang World Tour and Madonna's Confessions Tour. On November 14, 2006, Bon Jovi were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame alongside James Brown and Led Zeppelin.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In June 2007, Bon Jovi released their tenth studio album, "Lost Highway". The album influences the band's rock sound with that of country music following the success of a country version of the band's 2006 single "Who Says You Can't Go Home". To promote the new album, Bon Jovi made several television appearances, including the 6th annual CMT Awards in Nashville, "American Idol", and MTV Unplugged, as well as playing at the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium. They also performed ten promotional gigs in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Japan. As part of the 'tour', Bon Jovi were the first group to perform at London's new O Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome) when it opened to the public on June 24, 2007. The 23,000-seater stadium sold out within 30 minutes of tickets being released.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The album, described by Jon Bon Jovi as a "Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville", topped the charts in U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. The album's third single "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore" features LeAnn Rimes and won the CMT Music Award for the Collaborative Video of the Year in 2008. The song was also nominated for the Academy of Country Music Award for Vocal Event of the Year.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In October 2007 the band announced the Lost Highway Tour. Starting with the 10 shows to open the brand new, Newark, New Jersey Prudential Center, the band toured Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and then Europe, finishing in the summer of 2008. The tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2008 in Billboard's rankings, with ticket sales of $210.6 million, reported from November 14, 2007, through Nov.11, 2008. In all, 2,157,675 tickets were sold during 2008. Combined with $16.4 million in 2007 from the Newark shows, making a combined gross of $227 million in ticket sales. In Pollstar's calculus for North America, the Lost Highway Tour had the highest gross for 2008 at $70.4 million.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In April 2009, Phil Griffin's documentary on the band, "When We Were Beautiful", debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, chronicling Bon Jovi's ups and downs over 25 years and following the band on their latest Lost Highway tour.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In June 2009, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame. That month they also recorded a cover of the song "Stand By Me" with Iranian singer Andy Madadian, to show solidarity for those affected by political unrest in Iran. Parts of the song were sung in Persian.


title: Bon Jovi

text: On November 10, 2009, the band released their eleventh studio album, titled "The Circle". The Circle is a return to rock n' roll after their Nashville-influenced album, "Lost Highway". The album debuted at number one in the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan. Bon Jovi headed out on the road once again on February 19, 2010, embarking on The Circle Tour. Bon Jovi kicked off the stadium leg of the Circle Tour by making history. They played the first ever show at the brand new New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The three sold-out shows on May 26, 27 and 29, 2010 were a huge success. Bon Jovi's 12 night run at London's O2 Arena grossed $18,178,036 and seen them play to 187,696 fans. The Circle Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour of 2010 according to Billboard's annual Top 25 concert tours. So far the tour has played to 1,909,234 fans and has grossed $201.1 million from more than 80 venues reported to Pollstar. For the second time in three years, Bon Jovi ranked as Billboard's & Pollstar's Top Touring Act of the Year. Bon Jovi was also ranked second on "Forbes" magazine's list of the world's highest paid musicians, earning an approximate $125 million income that year.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi released a "Greatest Hits" with four new songs in October 2010. The album debuted at number one in Canada, Ireland, Europe, Australia and made the top five in twenty countries. At the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards, Bon Jovi received the Global Icon Award. In October 2010, Bon Jovi released the concert film, "The Circle Tour Live From Jersey" in U.S. theaters. At the same time, the band announced their upcoming tour. At the conclusion of 2011, the tour placed second on Billboard's annual, "Top 25 Tour", earning more than £790 million dollars.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In January 2012, Jon Bon Jovi stated that they were working on a twelfth studio album, and in a live show in August 2012, Jon Bon Jovi played an acoustic version of a song that was announced to be on the upcoming album. The album, "What About Now", was released on March 12, 2013, and reached number one in the U.S., Canada, Austria, Sweden, and Australia. On February 13, Bon Jovi launched Because We Can, a new world tour for 2013 in support of "What About Now", and visited North America, Europe, Africa, the Far East, Australia and Latin America.


title: Bon Jovi

text: On November 27, 2012, Bon Jovi released a new live video album, called "Inside Out", made up of content from shows at the O2 Arena, MetLife Stadium, and Madison Square Garden. The album was first shown at movie theaters, with screenings preceded by a question-and-answer session with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan and Tico Torres streamed live from a theater in New York, and was subsequently made available for purchase on iTunes.


title: Bon Jovi

text: On March 14, 2013, Bon Jovi appeared on the results show of "American Idol" and played one song, "Because We Can", from "What About Now".


title: Bon Jovi

text: On April 2, 2013, Sambora departed the band's ongoing tour for unspecified "personal reasons"; Session guitarist Phil X filled in after previously replacing him for several 2011 dates. This time he stayed on for the remainder of the tour, amidst rumors that Sambora had been fired. Both Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi later denied the claim. Torres was also sidelined briefly due to emergency gallbladder surgery; he was replaced by Rich Scannella from Bon Jovi's solo band, the Kings of Suburbia, from September 20 to October 6.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 2014, to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, the band's album "New Jersey" was reissued with an additional CD with the "Sons of Beaches" demos on it.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In November 2014, Jon Bon Jovi told a reporter that Sambora had officially left the band, saying "He's quit. He's gone. No hard feelings." That November, he also revealed that he was finishing writing songs for the band's next studio album, their first without Sambora, who was unofficially replaced by touring guitarist Phil X. Sambora has since stated that "There's no bad blood with me any more. I love Jon, and I still see the possibility of a return."


title: Bon Jovi

text: On July 31, 2015, Bon Jovi released twin lead singles "We Don't Run" and "Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning" for the compilation album "Burning Bridges". "Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning" had its premiere at the Austrian Radio Ö3 Hitradio on July 17, 2015, and "We Don't Run" premiered at the Brazilian radio Radio Rock on July 20, 2015. "Burning Bridges" was released August 21, 2015. According to Jon Bon Jovi, the album serves as a "fan record" to tie in with an accompanying international tour: "It's songs that weren't finished, that were finished, a couple of new ones like the one we released as a single 'We Don't Run' ".


title: Bon Jovi

text: A Bon Jovi consultant confirmed that a new studio album was planned to be released in 2016 followed by a world tour. On September 30, 2015, Jon Bon Jovi announced during a press conference that the title of their upcoming album will be "This House Is Not for Sale". In the article, he said the following "The record is about our integrity. Integrity matters and we're at a place in our career where we don't have anything left to prove."


title: Bon Jovi

text: The album's lead single, "This House Is Not for Sale" featuring a music video, was released August 12, 2016, which also featured the promotion of unofficial members Hugh McDonald and Phil X to full-time band members. On November 4, 2016, the band officially released their 13th studio album, "This House Is Not for Sale" which debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with 129,000 album-equivalent units, of which 128,000 were pure album sales. The album was followed by their third live album, "This House Is Not for Sale – Live from the London Palladium", released on December 16, 2016.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In November 2016, Island Records and Universal Music Enterprises released Bon Jovi's studio albums in remastered versions on vinyl, spanning their 32-year career from "Bon Jovi" (1984) up until "What About Now" (2013). On February 10, 2017, a 25-LP box set titled "Bon Jovi: The Albums" was released. It consists of Bon Jovi's 13 studio albums, the compilation "Burning Bridges" (2015), the two Jon Bon Jovi solo albums ("Blaze of Glory" and "Destination Anywhere"), and an exclusive "Extras" album featuring "international rarities".


title: Bon Jovi

text: On December 13, 2017, it was announced that Bon Jovi will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, after winning the 2017 fan ballot with over 1.1 million votes. Jon Bon Jovi has invited Sambora and Such to appear with the band at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In later February 2018, it was confirmed that Such and Sambora would perform with the band at the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.


title: Bon Jovi

text: On April 29, 2018, the band performed at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the last ticketed event at the venue before the start of demolition in the summer of 2018.


title: Bon Jovi

text: On March 9, 2019, Jon Bon Jovi announced via social media that the band is back in the studio recording its fifteenth studio album, which was to be released in early 2020. In August 2019, he announced that the album would be called "2020". The release date was scheduled for May 15, 2020, but Jovi announced in an interview with Howard Stern that the album and its accompanying tour, Bon Jovi 2020 Tour, had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 20, 2020, Bon Jovi announced that the Bon Jovi 2020 Tour had been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The album ended up being released in October. On January 7, 2022, the band announced a tour in April.


title: Bon Jovi

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a viral video appeared where residents in Odesa, Ukraine, prepared for a Russian attack while a drummer played to the Bon Jovi hit "It's My Life". Bon Jovi supported this video and shared it with their followers, with the comment "This is for the ones who stood their ground... Odessa, Ukraine. #SlavaUkraini".


title: Bon Jovi

text: The death of founding member Alec John Such was announced by the band on June 5, 2022. It was later revealed that he had died of a heart attack.


title: Bon Jovi

text: During the band's first sabbatical between 1990 and 1991 Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, "Blaze of Glory", a soundtrack to the movie "Young Guns II". Released in 1990, the title track, "Blaze of Glory" peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In 1991 "Blaze of Glory" won an award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single at the American Music Awards and awarded a Golden Globe, as well. The song also earned Jon Bon Jovi an Academy Award nomination and a Grammy nomination.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Richie Sambora, with the help of Tico Torres and David Bryan, released a solo album titled "Stranger in This Town", in 1991. The album featured Eric Clapton on the song "Mr. Bluesman". David Bryan recorded a soundtrack for the horror movie "The Netherworld", which was the brighter part of that year after he was hospitalized with an illness caused by a South American parasite. Alec John Such fell off his motorcycle, injuring his bass-playing hand and forcing him to develop a whole new way to hold and play his instrument.


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 1997, Jon Bon Jovi landed lead roles in several movies. While he was free between filming movies, Jon wrote what would become his second solo album, 1997's "Destination Anywhere". A short movie of the same name was recorded around the record's release, based entirely on the songs from the record and starring Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Whoopi Goldberg.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Torres used the opportunity to further pursue his painting while Bryan started writing and composing various musicals. In 1998, Sambora released his second solo outing titled "Undiscovered Soul".


title: Bon Jovi

text: In 2012, the band members embarked on solo projects once again while recording "What About Now." Returning to film composing for the first time since "Blaze of Glory", Jon Bon Jovi wrote and recorded two songs for the Al Pacino film "Stand Up Guys", while Sambora recorded and released his third studio album, "Aftermath of the Lowdown", and supported it with a short world tour in October 2012. Torres focused on playing golf, taking part in several tournaments, while Bryan made a short performance at Fantiscritti, Carrara on May 26, 2012.


title: Bon Jovi

text: Bon Jovi's musical style has generally been characterized as glam metal, hard rock, arena rock pop rock, and heavy metal.


title: Bon Jovi

text: The band's first two albums blended glam metal and hard rock. Their follow up albums, "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey," featured a more commercialized glam metal sound. They made a "more serious interpretation" of their pop-metal sound on, "Keep the Faith". Their sixth album, "These Days", "established [them] as an adult contemporary act". "Crush" was characterized as "far enough into pop/rock to actually stand a chance of getting airplay", while "Bounce" was described as "heavy, serious rock." "Have a Nice Day" was also characterized as being heavier than "Crush".


title: Bon Jovi

text: The band altered their sound dramatically in their next release, "Lost Highway", blending influences from country music and country rock, a sound Jon Bon Jovi described as "a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville." Bon Jovi returned to a more typical rock sound on "The Circle", which was described by Allmusic as "conjured by echoed, delayed guitars, shimmering keyboards, and spacious rhythms."


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Adam Paul Scott (born April 3, 1973) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and podcaster. He is known for his role as Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation" for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also appeared as Derek Huff in the film "Step Brothers", Johnny Meyer in "The Aviator", Henry Pollard in the Starz sitcom "Party Down", Ed Mackenzie in the HBO series "Big Little Lies", and Trevor in the NBC series "The Good Place". In 2022, he began starring in the Apple TV+ psychological drama series "Severance", for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott was born in Santa Cruz, California, to Anne ( Quartararo) and Simon Dougald Scott, both of whom are retired teachers. He is of one quarter Sicilian descent, on his mother's side. He has two older siblings, Shannon and David. He graduated from Harbor High School and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott has appeared in several feature films, including "" (1996), "" (1996), "The Lesser Evil" (1998), "High Crimes" (2002), "The Aviator" (2004), "Torque" (2004), "Monster-in-Law" (2005), "Who Loves the Sun" (2006), "Knocked Up" (2007), "Step Brothers" (2008), "August" (2008), "Piranha 3D" (2010), and "Leap Year" (2010).


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott's name appears next to Jon Hamm's name in the film "" in one of the broadcast's credits. In an appearance on G4's "Attack of the Show!" program on April 21, 2011, he confirmed that this was due to his and Hamm's friendship with producer Shauna Robertson, who put their names in the credits as an Easter egg. He played Ted Hendricks, Walter Mitty's detestable corporate boss, in the 2013 remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott appeared in the films "Our Idiot Brother" (2011) as Jeremy and "Bachelorette". He also starred as Jason Fryman in "Friends with Kids" (2012). He starred as Caleb Sinclaire in the 2010 film "The Vicious Kind", a more dramatic role than his previous comedic endeavors, for which Scott was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. The film itself received positive reviews, and he won two individual awards at two separate film festivals. He starred in the film "Passenger Side", released on DVD on October 26, 2010.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott's film "A.C.O.D." premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2015, he worked as executive producer on, and portrayed Alex in, the comedy film "The Overnight", and also co-starred in the Christmas comedy slasher film "Krampus".


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: On television, he appeared as Griff Hawkins in the series "Boy Meets World" and Josh on "Party of Five", as well as David's love interest, Ben Cooper, on "Six Feet Under". He played Palek on the HBO drama "Tell Me You Love Me" (2007). Scott played a cocaine-addicted, delirious baseball front office representative in the first and second seasons of the HBO series "Eastbound & Down". From 2009 to 2010, he appeared on the Starz network show "Party Down". His role in "Party Down" earned him an "Entertainment Weekly" Ewwy nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: In 2010, Scott joined the cast of NBC's acclaimed comedy series "Parks and Recreation", in which he played Ben Wyatt, a state auditor who arrives in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana to evaluate the town's funds. He appeared as a guest star along with Rob Lowe in the second season before becoming a main character for the remainder of the series. The show's seventh and final season concluded in February 2015.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott has appeared in the Adult Swim comedy "Childrens Hospital". He was also on the show "", in the episode "The Risky Business of Being Alone in Your Home", and the annual Adult Swim special "The Greatest Event in Television History", which he also created and produced. Scott has also appeared in the Comedy Central television show "Nick Swardson's Pretend Time", as a newscaster in the episode "Relapse into Refreshment". He has appeared in a series of commercials for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: In 2017, Scott appeared in HBO's "Big Little Lies" as Ed Mackenzie, the husband of main character Madeline Mackenzie, played by Reese Witherspoon. Scott co-starred with Craig Robinson in the sitcom "Ghosted", which premiered on October 1, 2017, on Fox, lasting just one season.


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: With Scott Aukerman, Scott is the co-host and co-creator of the Earwolf podcast "U Talkin' U2 To Me", launched in February 2014. The series is introduced at the outset of each episode as "the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things U2," but it generally uses discussion of the band as a jumping off point for improv and absurdist humor. In February 2018 Scott and Scott launched another podcast in the same format, this time covering the career and work of the band R.E.M., titled "R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me?". A third podcast, "R U Talkin' RHCP Re: Me?", debuted in July 2020, in which Scott and Scott discuss the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the podcast's format was almost immediately abandoned in favor of discussing Talking Heads and, as of the second episode, was renamed "U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head".


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott has also been a guest on numerous podcasts, including "Comedy Bang! Bang!", "How Did This Get Made?", "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard", and "Kevin Pollak's Chat Show".


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: Scott is a "die-hard" fan of the band R.E.M. In 1992, he appeared as an extra in the music video to their song "Drive".


title: Adam Scott (actor)

text: During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", Scott revealed he invited actor Mark Hamill to one of his childhood birthday parties. Guest host Kristen Bell surprised Scott with the guest appearance of Hamill wielding a lightsaber in observance of Star Wars Day.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: Kathryn Marie Hahn (born July 23, 1973) is an American actress and comedian. She began her career on television, starring as grief counselor Lily Lebowski in the NBC crime drama series "Crossing Jordan" (2001–2007). Hahn gained prominence appearing as a supporting actress in a number of comedy films, including "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (2003), "" (2004), "Step Brothers" (2008), "" (2009), "Our Idiot Brother" (2011), "We're the Millers", and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (both 2013).


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: As a lead actress in film, Hahn starred in Joey Soloway's comedy-drama "Afternoon Delight" (2013), the comedy film "Bad Moms" (2016), and its 2017 sequel, and the Tamara Jenkins drama "Private Life" (2018). For the latter, she received critical acclaim and a Gotham Award nomination for Best Actress. She has appeared in various dramatic films, including "Revolutionary Road" (2008), "This Is Where I Leave You" (2014), "Tomorrowland" (2015), "The Visit" (2015), and "Captain Fantastic" (2016), for which she received her first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. She voiced Ericka Van Helsing in the "Hotel Transylvania" franchise and Doctor Octopus in the Academy Award winning animated film "" (2018).


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In television, Hahn was featured in a recurring guest role on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation" (2012–2015), for which she received a Critics' Choice nomination for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, she starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy-drama series "Transparent" (2014–2019), for which she received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Hahn also starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy series "I Love Dick" (2016–2017), the HBO comedy miniseries "Mrs. Fletcher" (2019), and the HBO drama miniseries "I Know This Much Is True" (2020). Since 2020, Hahn has voiced Paige Hunter in the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy series "Central Park".


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: She starred as Agatha Harkness in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries "WandaVision" (2021), for which she received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: She grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and was raised Catholic, attending St. Ann's Catholic school in Cleveland Heights and Beaumont School. Hahn attended Northwestern University, where she obtained a BA in theater. Afterward, she earned her MFA in drama from Yale University.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: Hahn's first appearance on any television program was "Hickory Hideout," a local puppet show for children for then-NBC owned-and-operated station WKYC in Cleveland. (By the time of its cancellation, "Hickory Hideout" was airing across all of NBC's O&O stations.) While attending a festival, she was introduced to creator/producer Tim Kring. Hahn impressed Kring so favorably that he created the character of Lily Lebowski in "Crossing Jordan" specifically for her. The series aired from 2001 to 2007. Hahn has said of meeting Kring, "NBC and Tim Kring took a huge leap of faith in casting me. To be worked into a show that was in production and on the schedule is an amazing stroke of luck." On October 21, 2008, "TV Guide" reported that Hahn had signed a talent holding deal with Fox.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2003, Hahn appeared in a supporting role alongside Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in the romantic comedy film "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." The following year she appeared in "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!", "", "Around the Bend", and "." She later had more supporting roles in films, including the 2005 romantic comedy-drama "A Lot like Love" starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet; "The Holiday" (2006) with Cameron Diaz; the science fiction adventure drama "The Last Mimzy" (2007) alongside Rainn Wilson; "Step Brothers" (2008); "Revolutionary Road" (2008) starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; and "" (2009), "How Do You Know" (2010), "Our Idiot Brother" (2011), and "Wanderlust" (2012).


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2008, she made her Broadway theatre debut in the revival of the comedy "Boeing-Boeing" starring opposite Mark Rylance. She starred as Gloria, an American fiancée and airline stewardess.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: On television, Hahn starred alongside Hank Azaria in the short-lived NBC comedy series "Free Agents," a 2011 remake of the British series of the same name. She had recurring roles on HBO shows "Hung" and "Girls." From 2012 to 2015, she received praise for her recurring role on the NBC comedy series "Parks and Recreation" as Jennifer Barkley, the campaign manager of Leslie Knope's (Amy Poehler) opponent Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd). (She had previously costarred with Rudd in "Our Idiot Brother", "How Do You Know," and "Wanderlust".)


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: She received a 2012 Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series for her performance in "Parks and Recreation."


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2013 Hahn played her first leading role, in the comedy-drama film "Afternoon Delight," which was written and directed by Joey Soloway. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. For her role, she was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor. Later that year Hahn appeared opposite Jennifer Aniston (her co-star in "Wanderlust") in the box-office hit "We're the Millers" and co-starred alongside Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In 2014 she starred in the comedy film "Bad Words" alongside Jason Bateman, the ensemble comedy-drama "This Is Where I Leave You", and Peter Bogdanovich's "She's Funny That Way" alongside Owen Wilson.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2014 Hahn was cast as Rabbi Raquel Fein in the Amazon Studios critically acclaimed dark comedy-drama "Transparent," whose creator, Joey Soloway, had directed her in "Afternoon Delight". She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2017) as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination along with the cast. In 2015 she starred alongside Steve Coogan in the Showtime comedy-drama "Happyish," but the show was canceled after a single season. That year Hahn co-starred alongside George Clooney and Hugh Laurie in the science-fiction adventure film "Tomorrowland," and starred in the box-office horror hit "The Visit."


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2016 Hahn appeared alongside Viggo Mortensen in the drama film "Captain Fantastic," and starred alongside Mila Kunis, Christina Applegate, Kristen Bell and Jada Pinkett Smith in the comedy film "Bad Moms." IndieWire's Kate Erbland gave the film a B−, noting that it "boasts some good jokes but Hahn's revelatory performance is the big draw." The film went on to earn more than $183.9 million with a budget of $20 million. She next appeared in the Amazon comedy series "I Love Dick," based on the novel by the same name by Chris Kraus and directed by Joey Soloway. It premiered on August 19, 2016.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: Following the financial success from "Bad Moms", STX Entertainment greenlit a sequel titled "A Bad Moms Christmas". The sequel earned more than $130 million with a budget of $28 million.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2018, Hahn starred in the drama film "Private Life", directed by Tamara Jenkins. She received critical acclaim for her performance. She also began appearing in television commercials for Chrysler.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: The same year, Hahn had voice roles in two animated films from Sony Pictures Animation. First, Hahn provided the voice of character Ericka Van Helsing in the comedy "." Second, Hahn had a voice role in the film "", as a female version of Doctor Octopus, named Olivia Octavius.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2019, Hahn starred in and produced the HBO comedy miniseries "Mrs. Fletcher". Hahn's performance as protagonist Eve Fletcher received critical praise.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2020, Hahn starred in the HBO drama miniseries "I Know This Much Is True", based on the novel of the same name by Wally Lamb opposite Mark Ruffalo. That same year, Hahn began voicing Paige Hunter in the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy series "Central Park". Apple Inc. had given a two-season order to "Central Park", with each season set to consist of thirteen episodes.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: In 2021, Hahn joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe by starring in the Disney+ limited series "WandaVision" as Agnes, a mysterious "nosy neighbor", later revealed to be Agatha Harkness. Her next miniseries "The Shrink Next Door" premiered on Apple TV+ on November 12, 2021. She played Jo Polniaczek in "The Facts of Life" segment of the third edition of "Live in Front of a Studio Audience" on December 7, 2021. She is set to star in to the 2019 mystery film "Knives Out" and the "WandaVision" spinoff focused on Harkness, "Agatha: House of Harkness". When the series was first reported a month earlier, it was also stated Hahn signed an overall deal with Marvel Studios. In July 2022, the project was retitled "Agatha: Coven of Chaos". During the Summer of 2022, Hahn was featured in a series of "Back to School" commercials for Amazon.


title: Kathryn Hahn

text: Hahn is married to actor Ethan Sandler, who she met at Northwestern University. The couple resides in Los Angeles and have two children: Leonard and Mae.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi is the second of five men to achieve the career Grand Slam in the Open Era and the fifth of eight overall to make the achievement. He is also the first of two men to achieve the career Golden Slam (career Grand Slam and Olympic gold medal), as well as the only man to win a career Super Slam (career Grand Slam, plus the Olympic gold medal and the year-end championships).


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi was the first man to win all four singles majors on three different surfaces (hard, clay and grass), and remains the most recent American man to win the French Open (in 1999) and the Australian Open (in 2003). He also won 17 Masters titles and was part of the winning Davis Cup teams in 1990, 1992 and 1995. Agassi reached the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in 1995, but was troubled by personal issues during the mid-to-late 1990s and sank to No. 141 in 1997, prompting many to believe that his career was over. Agassi returned to No. 1 in 1999 and enjoyed the most successful run of his career over the next four years. During his 20-plus year tour career, Agassi was known by the nickname "The Punisher".


title: Andre Agassi

text: After suffering from sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement) and a bone spur that interfered with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the US Open. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, the Foundation opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K–12 public charter school for at-risk children. He has been married to fellow tennis player Steffi Graf since 2001.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi (Aghassian), a former Olympic boxer from Iran and American Elizabeth "Betty" Agassi (née Dudley). His father is of Armenian and Assyrian heritage. Andre Agassi's mother, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor. He has three older siblings – Rita (last wife of former number one Pancho Gonzales), Philip and Tami. Andre was given the middle name Kirk after Kirk Kerkorian, an Armenian American billionaire. Emmanuel Agassi, then a waiter at Tropicana Las Vegas, had met Kerkorian in 1963.


title: Andre Agassi

text: At the age of 12, Agassi and his good friend and doubles partner, Roddy Parks, won the 1982 National Indoor Boys 14s Doubles Championship in Chicago. Agassi describes memorable experiences and juvenile pranks with Roddy in his book "Open".


title: Andre Agassi

text: When he was 13, Agassi was sent to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He was meant to stay for only three months, because that was all his father could afford. After thirty minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri, deeply impressed by his talent, called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free." Agassi then dropped out of school in the ninth grade to pursue a full-time tennis career.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi turned professional at the age of 16 and competed in his first tournament at La Quinta, California. He won his first match against John Austin, but then lost his second match to Mats Wilander. By the end of 1986, Agassi was ranked No. 91. He won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at the Sul American Open in Itaparica and ended the year ranked No. 25. He won six additional tournaments in 1988 (Memphis, U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Forest Hills WCT, Stuttgart Outdoor, Volvo International and Livingston Open), and, by December of that year, he had surpassed US$1 million in career prize money after playing in just 43 tournaments—the fastest anyone in history had reached that level. During 1988, he also set the open-era record for most consecutive victories by a male teenager (a record that stood for 17 years until Rafael Nadal broke it in 2005). His year-end ranking was No. 3, behind second-ranked Ivan Lendl and top-ranked Mats Wilander. Both the Association of Tennis Professionals and "Tennis" magazine named Agassi the Most Improved Player of the Year for 1988.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In addition to not playing the Australian Open (which later became his best Grand Slam event) for the first eight years of his career, Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon from 1988 through 1990 and publicly stated that he did not wish to play there because of the event's traditionalism, particularly its "predominantly white" dress code to which players at the event are required to conform.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassi was quickly tipped as a future Grand Slam champion. While still a teenager, he reached the semi-finals of both the French Open and the US Open in 1988 and made the US Open semi-finals in 1989. He began the 1990s with a series of near-misses. He reached his first Grand Slam final in 1990 at the French Open, where he was favored before losing in four sets to Andrés Gómez, which he later attributed in his book to worrying about his wig falling off during the match. He reached his second Grand Slam final of the year at the US Open, defeating defending champion Boris Becker in the semi-finals. His opponent in the final was Pete Sampras; a year earlier, Agassi had crushed Sampras, after which time he told his coach that he felt bad for Sampras because he was never going to make it as a pro. Agassi lost the US Open final to Sampras in three sets. The Agassi-Sampras rivalry became the biggest one in tennis over the rest of the decade. Agassi ended 1990 on a high note as he helped the United States win its first Davis Cup in 8 years and won his only Tennis Masters Cup, beating reigning Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg in the final.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In 1991, Agassi reached his second consecutive French Open final, where he faced fellow Bollettieri Academy alumnus Jim Courier. Courier emerged the victor in a five-set final. Agassi decided to play at Wimbledon in 1991, leading to weeks of speculation in the media about the clothes he would wear. He eventually emerged for the first round in a completely white outfit. He reached the quarterfinals on that occasion, losing in five sets to David Wheaton.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came at Wimbledon, not at the French Open or the US Open, where he had previously enjoyed success. In 1992, he defeated Goran Ivanišević in a five-set final. Along the way, Agassi overcame two former Wimbledon champions: Boris Becker and John McEnroe. No other baseliner would triumph at Wimbledon until Lleyton Hewitt ten years later. Agassi was named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year in 1992. Agassi once again played on the United States' Davis Cup winning team in 1992. It was their second Davis cup title in three years. Agassi famously played the game wearing Oakley brand sunglasses, and a photo of him from the day appeared on the cover of "Tennis" magazine. In his memoir, he wrote that he was covering up bloodshot eyes from a hangover and claimed that the founder of Oakley, Jim Jannard, had sent him a Dodge Viper to thank him for the inadvertent publicity.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In 1993, Agassi won the only doubles title of his career, at the Cincinnati Masters, partnered with Petr Korda. He missed much of the early part of that year due to injuries. Although he made the quarterfinals in his Wimbledon title defense, he lost to eventual champion and No. 1 Pete Sampras in five sets. Agassi lost in the first round at the US Open to Thomas Enqvist and required wrist surgery late in the year.


title: Andre Agassi

text: With new coach Brad Gilbert on board, Agassi began to employ more of a tactical, consistent approach, which fueled his resurgence. He started slowly in 1994, losing in the first week at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nevertheless, he emerged during the hard-court season, winning the Canadian Open. His comeback culminated at the 1994 US Open with a five-set fourth-round victory against Michael Chang. He then became the first man to capture the US Open as an unseeded player, beating Michael Stich in the final. Along the way, he beat 5 seeded players.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In 1995, Agassi shaved his balding head, breaking with his old "image is everything" style. He competed in the 1995 Australian Open (his first appearance at the event) and won, beating defending champion Sampras in a four-set final. Agassi and Sampras met in five tournament finals in 1995, all on hardcourt, with Agassi winning three. Agassi won three Masters Series events in 1995 (Cincinnati, Key Biscayne, and the Canadian Open) and seven titles total. He compiled a career-best 26-match winning streak during the summer hard-court circuit, with the last victory being in an intense late-night four-set semi-final of the US Open against Boris Becker. The streak ended the next day when Agassi lost the final to Sampras. Agassi admitted this loss, which gave Sampras a 9–8 lead in their head-to-head meetings, took two years for him to get over it mentally.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi reached the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in April 1995. He held that ranking until November, for a total of 30 weeks. Agassi skipped most of the fall indoor season which allowed Sampras to surpass him and finish ranked No. 1 at the year-end ranking. In terms of win–loss record, 1995 was Agassi's best year. He won 73 and lost 9 matches, and was also once again a key player on the United States' Davis Cup winning team—the third and final Davis Cup title of his career.


title: Andre Agassi

text: 1996 was a less successful year for Agassi, as he failed to reach any Grand Slam final. He suffered two early-round losses to Chris Woodruff and Doug Flach at the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively, and lost to Chang in straight sets in the Australian and US Open semi-finals. At the time, Agassi blamed the Australian Open loss on the windy conditions, but later said in his biography that he had lost the match on purpose, as he did not want to play Boris Becker, whom he would have faced in that final. The high point for Agassi was winning the men's singles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, beating Sergi Bruguera of Spain in the final. Agassi also successfully defended his singles titles in Cincinnati and Key Biscayne.


title: Andre Agassi

text: 1997 was the low point of Agassi's career. His wrist injury resurfaced, and he played only 24 matches during the year. He later confessed that he started using crystal methamphetamine at that time, allegedly on the urging of a friend. He failed an ATP drug test, but wrote a letter claiming the same friend had spiked a drink. The ATP dropped the failed drug test as a warning. In his autobiography, Agassi admitted that the letter was a lie. He quit the drug soon after. At this time Agassi was also in a failing marriage with actress, model, and socialite Brooke Shields and had lost interest in the game. He won no top-level titles, and his ranking sank to No. 141 on November 10, 1997, prompting many to believe that his run as one of the sport's premier competitors was over and he would never again win any significant championships.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In 1998, Agassi began a rigorous conditioning program and worked his way back up the rankings by playing in Challenger Series tournaments, a circuit for pro players ranked outside the world's top 50. After returning to top physical and mental shape, Agassi recorded the most successful period of his tennis career and also played classic matches in that period against Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter.


title: Andre Agassi

text: In 1998, Agassi won five titles and leapt from No. 110 to No. 6, the highest jump into the top 10 made by any player during a calendar year. At Wimbledon, he had an early loss in the second round to Tommy Haas. He won five titles in ten finals and was runner-up at the Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, losing to Marcelo Ríos, who became No. 1 as a result. At the year end he was awarded the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year for the second time in his career (the first being 10 years earlier in 1988).


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he came back from two sets to love down to beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Open final, becoming, at the time, only the fifth male player (joining Rod Laver, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson and Don Budge—these have since been joined by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic) to win all four Grand Slam singles titles during his career. Only Laver, Agassi, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have achieved this feat during the Open Era. This win also made him the first (of only four, the next being Federer, Nadal and Djokovic respectively) male player in history to have won all four Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). Agassi also became the only male player to win the Career Super Slam, consisting of all four Grand Slam tournaments plus an Olympic gold medal in singles and a Year-end championship.


title: Andre Agassi

text: Agassi followed his 1999 French Open victory by reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Sampras in straight sets. He rebounded from his Wimbledon defeat by winning the US Open, beating Todd Martin in five sets (rallying from a two sets to one deficit) in the final. Overall during the year Agassi won 5 titles including two majors and the ATP Masters Series in Paris, where he beat Marat Safin. Agassi ended 1999 as the No. 1, ending Sampras's record of six consecutive year-ending top rankings (1993–98). This was the only time Agassi ended the year at No. 1. Agassi was runner-up to Sampras at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup losing 1–6, 5–7, 4–6 despite beating Sampras in the round-robin 6–2, 6–2.