After a bidding war, the band signed with Mercury, and Bon Jovi recorded their 1984 eponymous debut and hit the road with ZZ Top. The band gained nationwide exposure with a re-recorded version of "Runaway," and their debut went gold. A 1985 follow-up, 7800 Fahrenheit, also went gold.

For their next album, the group hired professional songwriter Desmond Child and, in an unprecedented marketing move, recorded 30 new songs that were played for focus groups of New York teenagers, who voted for their favorites.

After the data was analyzed, 1986's Slippery When Wet, was sequenced, slickly packaged, and released to the general public, who snatched it up in record numbers. A momentous triumph, Slippery When Wet featured the No. 1 singles "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer," and went on to sell more than 10 million copies, making Bon Jovi the leading hair metal band of the '80s. Photogenic Jon Bon Jovi became a popular high-school locker pin-up.

making a cameo appearance in the 1990 western; the soundtrack sold more than three million copies and spawned the No. 1

In 1992 Bon Jovi regrouped at the height of the grunge revolution, nevertheless Bon Jovi's new album, Keep the Faith, still managed to sell more than two million copies. The group's 10th anniversary was marked with the release of a "greatest hits" collection, Crossroads, which went multi-platinum internationally.

After the departure of bassist Such, Bon Jovi pressed on with 1995's These Days, which had a more adult contemporary feel to it on tracks such as "Diamond Ring" and "Lie to Me."

Currently Jon Bon Jovi is pursuing an acting career and working on a solo career; his first album, Destination Anywhere, was released in 1997.