A Vocal Coach about Jon's Voice Decline

A Facebook page called ''spain Bon Jovi'' talked to a Vocal Coach and he said some interesting things about Jon's Vocal Problems
(sorry for the bad transation...the original article was in Spanish)

Arthur Ibáñez, vocal coach: "the state of mind of jbj these three years could affect him vocally"

Since Spain Bon Jovi we have tried to do a research paper, and we got in touch with Arthur Ibáñez, singing teacher in Barcelona, for us to try to explain a bit what may happen to Jon Bon Jovi vocally in this new tour and get some diagnosis Approximate their problem, with the opinion of someone an expert in the field.

After providing several videos of the same song (always in almost all the stages of the race of Bon Jovi) and review them, Arthur makes his analysis of approximately what you think could happen:

" the first thing I notice is that, as the years pass, the singers are often lower tone the songs, and for which show the videos, Jon continues to do so at the same tone, which is admirable. As the years pass I've seen him suffer anymore, although just defending her as the teacher who is. May be due to a bad posture or bellows that may weaken, thanks to having insecurity (depression that the own Jon confirmed suffer after the departure of Richie) or other factors that can affect you emotionally."

Professor, furthermore, he claims to be sure that the reason that Jon is suffering more this year to sing is not due to a dysphonia: " I assure you that the voice of Jon isn't hoarse, if you have any pathology, deceives us very Okay. Vocal Level I doubt he has any serious pathology. Now, if he's been through a depression recently may have weak voice as a result and not have so much strength. But not out of tune anything despite this. The only feeling is that it costs more and more. The mood is very important for any singer, so a depression can be a good enough excuse for not being able to sing ".

Arthur gives us more details that may contribute to the state of Jon at present, as this may be due to your lack of mobility and spend so many parts of the concert and stuck to the microphone, " another problem that may have, and that I've found in students, it is That all life may have been singing well without problems, but that doesn't mean what they were doing well at a technical level. When you're young, they use some vocal resources which they work, but they don't have to be correct. But at some point, if the musculature. Stop being so strong, those resources that were not entirely correct, stop working because they don't hold on a solid foundation. From What I see in the videos, he's very aware of grabbing the video, it really keeps the position, almost without breaking a sweat. Maybe she's learning vocal technique from zero, to compensate for those problems that now happen and not happened before. In the videos he looks very aware of the technique and it lets go less than before. It's like I'm padding for the voice because you don't know if i will respond."

The Professor tells us that it is impossible to know what happens for sure, but what I do dares to rule out is that this is serious problems of vocal cords, " the exact pathology or the exact problem it may seem if you take it out I had in front in a consultation and diagnosed the problem. Its exact problem will only be able to know his vocal coach and the people closest to them. What I would is suffering from some serious problem of vocal cords. Looks more like a problem of insecurity and weakness than anything else. The feeling is that the problem is mental, that as a result affects him vocally, but not a problem or vocal pathology is beyond redemption ".

Many thanks to professor Arthur Ibáñez for their predisposition and for helping us to understand that it may be happening to the leader of bon jovi in this new tour, and reassure us that suffer some serious pathology. Let's hope he recovers as soon as possible.

I could see that... He started the 2013 tour with Richie much better than the way he ended it with Phil... Knowing Richie was there for him vocally, gave him more confidence as a singer...

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Interesting observation, thanks for sharing this!

"The professor" clearly knows this stuff better than I do, but I find it hard to believe it's mostly psychological. If that was the case, you'd think Jon would start the tour shaky and then gain confidence. Especially after what was by today's standards a relatively strong showing in Greenville, where he even sounded decent on Always (which was a three-year goal of his). But the opposite was the case - as soon as they hit that 3 shows in 4 days span, his voice went down the toilet. I think the opposite is the case - he worked as hard as he could and gave his absolute best effort to start the tour, but the highest level of effort is never sustainable in anything and so his vocal chords (or other body parts responsible for his voice) started failing dramatically. So my money is still on physical reasons, not mental, but what do I know I'm no singer, just a dude who analyzes things...

Also, if he's only basing his analysis on Always performances, that may not be the best idea. Always has always been THE difficult song in the catalogue where Jon goes balls-out with 120% effort, even when his voice was much better in 2008-2011 it was still a struggle for him and now the struggle has increased, but it's not the best representation. I would personally suggest that he or any expert should compare simpler stuff like Bad Name or Bad Medicine, which Jon sings with "normal" (or ~95%) level of effort and used to nail it rather effortlessly, but now is simply unlistenable.


When Richie went to rehab in 2011, Jon's voice was fine. No sign of decline whatsoever. So again, I don't see how that can be the case.

1. Richie's rehab was a very short window of time

2. Jon knew Richie was returning so it's a different type of stress level

3. Do I think it's the main factor? Absolutely Not! Do I think it could be a contributing factor? Sure!

I do agree Richie going to rehab to get better is a much different feeling of confidence than Richie abandoning the band and not coming back. BUT I just don't....I don't know. His voice has been declining the last decade and a half so to say he's sad about Richie leaving and now he can't sing...if it's a contributing factor sure but I just don't see it being any more than 20 percent of his vocal issues.

It may well be partly psychological, but I think some of the physical techniques Jon uses to try to hit notes are actually causing more strain.

1. I've just been listening so some recordings of 3/1/2017, where I don't think Jon sounds much worse than in the Greenville show. Yes, there were some shows were I though "OMG, he's gonna have to cancel the rest of the tour" (not that he'd ever actually do that ), but as someone noted, he and Phil looked not too healthy, so maybe he had a cold or something, which contributed to the problem... Actually I believe he has indeed been improving lately, for example in THINFS, which would add up to the theory. And he has admitted himself that he's "not quite there yet, but getting there"...

2. Richie going to rehab is an entirely different thing than Richie bailing on him and the band, not even calling personally or giving any reason (if Jon is to be believed). If it really was that way and broke his heart the way he said it did, then I can totally understand how that can cause some kind of depression or related suffering.

3. Yes, there's been constant decline since the late nineties, but the emphasis here is on "constant". Even in early 2013, he sounded just fine. A little darker voice, and he couldn't hit all the notes he could 10 years before, but more than fine. After Richie leaving, it went more and more downhill (in the summer it was still ok and then it got way worse).

4. If it were indeed psychological (as Jon himself has at least hinted himself), that would at least explain why (besides the "normal" decline I've covered in 3.) he can still hit out notes where you'd think he wouldn't be able to (in Wanted, LOAP (the backing track part before the solo excluded of course), Blood On Blood, and so on), and then fail on the easy parts like the verses of Bad Medicine or Born To Be My Baby. I can hear there's different techniques being applied by him there, but the question is why? If it's insecurity, it can be fixed, if it's not then he must be fully aware that he can't hit the high notes any other way and just go for it, no matter the cost. And that would make things worse, perspectively...

As for someone who's "replaceable", Richie's absence seems to have a bigger impact on Jon than most would have thought...

Hehe, nice one

Do you have a link for this post? I would like to see the original. Thanks!