Jon Bon Jovi opens up about his health and more ahead of extended 'Forever Tour'
Jon Bon Jovi is getting ready to play more shows.
Following Bon Jovi's 2026 Forever Tour, the band recently announced new stadium shows spanning Australia, the United Kingdom and North America.
The tour, which kicked off in July at Madison Square Garden in New York City, marked the first time Jon Bon Jovi performed since he lost his voice due to a vocal injury and subsequent voice-saving medialization surgery in 2022 and spending two years training to get his voice back.
"I knew that it was my heart's desire, more than my responsibility, professionally, to be as good as I could be," Jon Bon Jovi told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Michael Strahan in an interview that aired Monday on "GMA."
The singer said returning to the stage felt like a "second chance to experience everything for the first time."
"This is the greatest gift ever," he said.
"My greatest aspiration through this recovery route was to be able to pick anything off of any album and know I can do it. That's where I'm at," he said. "I am giddy right now because I'm picking songs that the band are gonna go, I haven't played that song in 20 years. I'm gonna say, go home and learn it because I am singing it."
Surprisingly, Jon Bon Jovi said that he didn't make any special changes prior to the tour for his voice.
"We were just shy of three hours by, you know, the end of the little run. And I'm bouncing up and down in the dressing room, afterwards," he said. "No. I truly walked on there, just so ready, physically, mentally and psychologically."
When he's not on stage, Jon Bon Jovi said he is enjoying a different role: grandpa.
The singer became a grandfather for the third time when his son Jake Bongiovi and his daughter-in-law Millie Bobby Brown announced that they adopted a baby boy in September.
Jon Bon Jovi said he loves his role as Papa Jon, which is what his grandchildren call him.
"Nowadays, I can see, through my kids' eyes, their kids," he said.
As he gets ready for the extended tour, which kicks off in March at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, he said that his health is what matters the most these days.
"Health is the only thing that matters. I've come to realize that you know losing my mom," he said, referring to his mom, Carol Bongiovi, who died in 2024. "My dad is doing well, but he had a stroke and he fights it ... And then going through this with my throat. If you realize the sun is always going to shine again so that everything else we could figure out, but you got to have your health."
He added, "I truly do wanna do these shows and know that it's just gonna be that joyful, resonant feeling when I look around and feel that vibration with that band and that in turn with the audience. That's heaven."
