A&E Biography

Don't read this if you don't want to know what was said!

It was a really good profile, but not as good as Bravo Profiles IMO. Richie, David, Tico, Obie, Tony, Matt, Mr. and Mrs. Bongiovi, Al Gore, Calista Flockhart, Elton John, Peter Travers, Scott Shannon, and some others I'm forgetting were interviewed. It was very interesting to hear what Jon's parents had to say and hear their perspective of his career. Richie said that he sees Jon has someone who will go on to win an Oscar and become President and he hopes Jon will ask him to be Vice President.

Very cool news: Jon's movies have been bought by "major studios" and will, he hopes, be made in the next year!

There were some inaccuracies in the report though, which was kind of annoying. You'd think A&E could get it right! Favorite sport=golf. GOLF? Hello! LOL

Becky

...and it always seems like everyone comes up with disfferent numbers of total albums.....they said 80 million......ive heard 90 million and even 100 million sometimes

Yeah, Becky, I agree with you. It was good but not as good as Bravo profiles. I also noticed that golf thing and wrong statistics.

P.S. Did you see their commercial for 15 sexiest? They showed an illegal picture of Jon.

Can you elaborate on that?? 'cos i am not from U.S of A and no clue as to what you are talking about

i was on here during the ads so i dont know......what illegal picture would it be

That famous Versace picture of Jon with only blanket wrapped around him. As far as I know it was stopped from press and public distribution. And now it's used for a TV program??

Just out of intrest, what did Elton say about him? And Calista?

Becky, can you tell us more of what was said, as here in the uk we dont get to see programs like this. ann

Sure, no problem. My phone was ringing off the hook last night and I didn't get a chance to write as much as I would have liked. Keep in mind I paraphrase things, I'm not giving you exact quotes.

Elton John said that Jon was one of the few people in the industry he considered a true friend. He said he enjoyed working on Blaze of Glory with Jon and that he was thrilled that Jon was so honoroed for that song/CD because he knew it was the first thing Jon had done outside the band.

Calista Flockhart said Jon was a very organic and natural actor, very giving, and the type that made you want to work harder.

Peter Travers who is a critic for Rolling Stone, well known for being cynical and hating everyone and everything, praised Jon's skill as an actor. He said there was both preparedness and a naturalness to his performances.

Al Gore said he was struck by how down to earth Jon was and how he was a family man and a community man and that if he ever ran again he'd get Jon to campaign for him in all 50 states.

His mother talked about how she knew he was special before he was born and that she told him she couldn't wait for him to arrive. She said she used to sing to him everything from Marilyn Monroe to Gene Autrey. She said they didn't have toys in their house, they had books and music. She said that the gruelling tours of the 80's left the five band members as "five little limp rag dolls." You could tell she still gets angry thinking of how they were shooting Jon up with steroids so he could keep going and how no one thought of him as anything more thana money machine. She said what she was most proud of was the kind of family man he was.

His father talked about how Jon used to fall asleep with a guitar in his arms and that he'd write lyrics on anything--including the wallpaper. He also mentioned how sick Jon was--that he had a fever and was throwing up, would go on stage and perform like a trooper and get off stage and go back to what he was doing before. He also talked about how odd it was to see kids emulating his son.

Matthew said his first memory of Jon performing was the high school battle of the bands and he thought Jon was a star then because the gym was full and kids were screaming. He told a story of how when Jon did become famous, Jon was getting his hair cut and he saved all the hair and told Jon and their dad that hair would be worth some money. He also talked about how sick Jon was on the NJ tour and how it was strange that he was loosing weight, but puffy, and looked like he'd been beaten.

Tony said Jon never got in trouble as a child--that was his job. Jon's fame happening when he was in high school made Tony more popular.

I'll post some more later about what Jon and the band members had to say.

Becky

Dave said that when Jon called him to join the band, he had just been accepted to Juliard. Dave said "I worked my @$$ off to get in." Dave also talked about the band being unsure of fans responses just before Crush was released. Since it had been a while since their last album and the music world had changed. Dave made some remarks about critics and he said the band's victory lap was Giants Stadium last year.

The critics also got another jab from a DJ that was interviewed, sorry I can't remember his name. It made me feel good. He basically said critics are jealous people and don't like artisits who write catchy lyrics or who have good looks.

Jon also talked about his "gray" period the summer of 1991. He went to a therapist and was late. He wanted to spill his guts and the therapist said his time was up he would have to come back the next week. Jon said that is when he decided he would figure himself out on his own. He also made this gesture by flipping his hand off his chin (So Italian, it was great!)