Jon Bon Jovi has credited Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy with inspiring him to pursue a career in music.
The singer made this admission, had revealed that he made a return visit to the statue of the late singer ahead of his appearance on tonight's Late Late Show, where he will speak to host Patrick Kielty, about how the famous Irish band impacted him when he was growing up in New Jersey.
This comes as Bon Jovi recently announced a show in Dublin's Croke Park next Summer, their first Irish since 2019. This show will be part of a huge world tour for the band, with tickets on sale now. More on this story here.
Hailing the impact of Thin Lizzy, Jon Bon Jovi had this to say.
"Thin Lizzy came up at a very influential time in my life because we were young teenage boys when Lizzy were doing The Boys Are Back in Town and Jailbreak and their version of Whiskey in the Jar . . . ", he said. "Those songs were breaking in America and they made storytelling fun".
When asked if Thin Lizzy's "stadium energy" had an impact on his band, Bon Jovi added this.
"Absolutely. I was thinking about how many times I’ve sung those songs over the years, how I learned to play those songs, which is why I write songs", he said. "Instead of a guitar teacher teaching you simple scales, my guitar teacher took out the sheet music to Boys Are Back in Town and said, 'play this.’ That was a magic potion".
Bon Jovi had recorded a version of Thin Lizzy hit, The Boys Are Back In Town for the deluxe edition of their 1988 album, New Jersey. They have also played the track live occasionally.
This week also saw Bon Jovi respond to rumours that this upcoming run of shows was a farewell tour. Find out more on this from Nova here.
