John Bongiovi

Jon Bon Jovi in the Netherlands

Our hero is John Francis Bongiovi, also known as Jon Bon Jovi.

He was born on March 2, 1962, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He was raised nearby Sayreville. His mother, Carol Sharkey, was a U.S. Marine as well as a Playboy Bunny. His father, born Gian Buongiovanni, also a Marine, was a barber of Italian ancestry."

John Bongiovi adopted the stage name Jon Bon Jovi because the record company he signed with asked him to. He plays the guitar and harmonica, but he is best known as the lead singer of his band Bon Jovi.

His career was assisted by his cousin, who was a record producer. He was the owner of the Power Station recording studio. Jon worked there as a janitor. Later he recorded his own album, with a little help of his uncle. One of his albums is John Bongiovo: The Power Station Years, which was released in 1999.

John Bongiovi is our hero because he does a lot of charity. For example, the Bon Jovi band donated $1,000,000 to Oprah Winfrey for her Angel Network foundation. This is the highest amount donated by any single celebrity on the show. John Bongiovi has been named the first Founding Ambassador of the Habitat for Humanity Ambassador program as part of the international-nonprofit organisation’s new advocacy outreach initiative. He has been raising money with Habitat for Humanity since 2005, when he built six homes in Philadelphia. He did a 1 million dollar donation to build 28 houses in Louisiana for people who have lost their homes.

In 2006, he established the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation (formerly the Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation) to combat the issues that force families into economic despair. You can read more about the great work the foundation does here.