Richie Sambora

Richie Sambora

Richard Stephen Sambora (born on July 11th, 1959), is an American rock guitarist, producer, singer and songwriter who is the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi. Along with frontman Jon Bon Jovi, he forms the primary songwriting unit of the band. He is also a solo artist, having released two solo albums; Stranger in This Town in 1991, and Undiscovered Soul in 1998.

Background

Born to a Polish father, Adam C. Sambora (family originally from Kraków as stated by Sambora), and an Italian mother, Joan Sienila. Sambora grew up in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. He attended Woodbridge High School there. He began playing the guitar at the age of 14 following the death of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix in 1970. From his early days Sambora was strongly influenced by blues and 60s rock 'n' roll. His most important influences were Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and Jimmy Page. He was also influenced by Spanish classical music and began a life long love of the Spanish guitar.

Sambora has occasionally taken over as lead vocalist on some Bon Jovi songs, most notably "I'll Be There for You" when played live on the Bounce and Have a Nice Day tours. He has also performed "Stranger In This Town" (from the album of the same title) at various Bon Jovi concerts (most notably on Keep the Faith and These Days tours). One of the live performances of "Stranger In This Town", recorded during the Keep the Faith tour, was released on Bon Jovi's CD single "Dry County" in 1994. So far on the Lost Highway Tour he has been singing lead vocals on the songs "These Days" , and occasionally "Stranger in this Town".

Technique

Sambora has generally eschewed the more obvious technical trademarks of the genre, instead crafting a more melodic approach.

With a lot of the stuff I played on the Bon Jovi hits, it wasn’t about developing solos, but to play stuff that was melodic and memorable. So the solos were more like melodic interludes. You can almost imagine them either played by another instrument or by an orchestra. So they are more melodic and melodically-oriented than solo-oriented.

[1]

I try to look at most of my solos as a musical piece within the song, not, say, showing off.

Talk box usage

Sambora is one of many guitarists to make use of the talk box. He has cited Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton as the main influences in his use of the device:

When I was a teenager, Frampton Comes Alive was such a huge record. I liked that it was a live album and I loved to see bands live. Joe Walsh of The Eagles also used talk box amazingly. Those were the main guys.

[2]

The talk box can be heard clearly in "Livin' on a Prayer","Bad Medicine","All I Want Is Everything", "It's My Life", "Love Me Back To Life", "Bounce", "Everyday" "I Want To Be Loved", "Complicated", "Put The Boy Back In Cowboy", "One Wild Night (2001 Version - Studio Track)" and " We Got It Going On "

Instruments and equipment

Sambora with his "Sambora" guitar, July 29th, 2006

Sambora has been known to use a wide variety of equipment throughout his career. He is also famous for his extensive guitar collection, featuring more than 120 instruments.

In the 80s, Sambora mostly played superstrats (Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, Hamer) as well as modified and custom Les Paul models, such as his Rod Schoepfer model. In early-mid 1987, Kramer put out a Richie Sambora signature model with three humbuckers, pointy drooped headstock, gold hardware, star-shaped fingerboard inlays and a Floyd Rose Original locking tremolo, which quit production in 1989. Today it has been reissued by Gibson (which purchased Kramer in 1997) and is named "Jersey Star", no longer carrying Sambora's actual name. He had also used several other Kramer models, including a variety of custom ones ("one-offs"). His two most notable guitars from the Slippery When Wet album/tour were his Kramer Richie Sambora signature and a custom white Jackson with a Floyd Rose tremolo and HSS pickups, and a reversed Strat-like headstock.

During the following years Sambora played various guitars, most notably a custom black Jackson, which featured only a humbucker pickup in the bridge position, Floyd Rose tremolo system and a maple neck and fretboard with a reversed Strat-like headstock, along with vintage Fenders and Gibsons.

In 1991, Fender issued a Richie Sambora signature Stratocaster model which featured an original Floyd Rose tremolo system and a combination of DiMarzio PAF Pro humbucking and 2 Fender Texas Special single-coil pickups.

This guitar came in two versions; American and later in 1996, Japanese. US-made Sambora model featured an alder body with ash veneers and was available in Cherry Sunburst and Olympic White, while the Japanese version had a basswood body with black paisley graphics. Other features included a one-piece maple neck/fingerboard with 22 frets and star-shaped position markers, as well as a 25dB active mid-boost circuit with TBX tone controls and an active/passive push-button switch.

In 1998 the model has been updated with a vintage-style tremolo, a set of Fender Hot Noiseless single-coils, no-load tone circuit and a 12dB active mid-boost with a push-button bypass selector.

There was also a Mexican-made standard version of the instrument, featuring a DiMarzio PAF humbucking pickup in the bridge position and two standard single-coils in the neck and middle positions. The guitar also sported a rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets and white dot inlays, as well as a Floyd Rose II locking bridge. Both the US and Mexican-made Sambora models were discontinued in 2002. He still plays a variety of Fenders (mostly vintage and custom shop models), such as the Telecaster doubleneck.

In the period of 2003-2006, he played a wide variety guitars on stage, including custom "Sambora" guitars built by his guitar tech Chris "Lumpy" Hofschneider, Zemaitis Guitars, Floyd Rose guitars, vintage and custom shop Gibson and Fender models, as well as guitars from his collection. One of the guitars built by his guitar tech features a fretboard made of both maple and rosewood, on an ash body with neck-through-body construction and custom humbucker/single/single pickups. Currently, he mostly plays the custom black "Sambora" guitar, different models of Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters (vintage, Deluxe, custom shop and other models).

Sambora used Ovation electric-acoustic guitars from the beginning of the 1980s until 1998. He played a custom made doubleneck designed by his longtime Guitar Tech Gary "Gaz" Douglas (seen on "Wanted Dead or Alive" and unplugged versions of some other Bon Jovi songs) and a variety of other Ovations, such as Adamas.

In 2000, Taylor started the production of a Sambora signature model, a 6-string acoustic made of koa wood, called the RSSM. Only 100 were made, all in the year of 2000. However, apart from the new Taylor 6-string, Sambora acquired a custom doubleneck model, which featured both a 6-string and a 12-string. The Taylor doubleneck replaced the spot of the old Ovation doubleneck in a variety of live shows and has been used extensively until 2004/2005, when he decided to part ways with Taylor. All of his doubleneck acoustics have been know to feature 6-strings on top and 12-string below, which is the opposite of the manufacturing standard.

Since Sambora has been known to use his favourite Martin acoustic, among others, on a lot of recordings, Martin guitars put out two of Sambora's signature models in 2006, a 6-string and a 12-strings, based on his mentioned favourite 1930 Martin OM-45. He has also been seen using a Yamaha double neck acoustic at specific live shows.

Sambora also used Gibson and Guild acoustics, particularly a Guild F-50 12-string, which the song "Wanted Dead or Alive" was recorded with. He acquired it directly from the Guild factory due to the guitar having a finish flaw.

For most of the 80s and early-mid 90s, he used Marshall amplifiers, particularly the JCM800 models with 4x12" speaker cabinets and a variety of rack and pedal units (including effects). During his Stranger in This Town tour, Sambora used 2 Marshall JCM800 2203 heads and a Fender amp head (model not specified), with 3 4x12" Marshall cabinets. In 1995, Sambora started using Fender ToneMasters with Fender ToneMaster 4x12" speaker cabinets, following the These Days Tour. On tour, he used up to 12 cabinets on stage. For the studio sessions of his second solo album, Undiscovered Soul, he also used a Fender Bassman 4x10" combo and a Vox AC30. On the tour, he used Fender ToneMasters, a Marshall amp head, a Vox amp head and a VHT Pitbull in combination with Fender ToneMaster 4x12" and 2x12" speaker cabinets. In 2000, Sambora started using the Marshall JCM2000 DSL series (both on the tour and recording sessions of Crush). The song "It's My Life" was also recorded with a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. He has also used the Marshall DSL series on the Bounce tour, as well as a Hughes & Kettner amp, occasionally. During their Have a Nice Day tour, Sambora used Diezel and Divided by 13 amplification and custom made 4x12" speaker cabinets. During the studio recording sessions of the Lost Highway album, he used Matchless, Bogner Ecstasy and Diezel Herbert amps. In 2007, he started appearing on stage with 2 halfstacks, again featuring Marshall JCM2000 DSL amplifiers and custom made 4x12" cabinets.

He used a floor MIDI controller for most of his career, while on the last few tours (since Crush) he has switched to a more simple pedal setup, featuring a Boss SD-1, a Framptone Talkbox, and a few others pedals, including a Choral Flange, a Dunlop Crybaby or Vox wah pedal and an A/B switcher.

Sambora uses gauge .009 strings in the studio and gauge .010 strings live (usually tuned half step down), with the action set relatively high.

In late 2007, Sambora became an endorsee of The ESP Guitar Company, and a new Richie Sambora signature model, the LTD SA-2, is being debuted at the 2008 Winter NAMM show.

Other instruments

Sambora playing in Dublin (2006)

Sambora is also a self taught musician of other instruments including:

• Mandolin
• Sitar
• Ukulele
• Bass
• Banjo
• Piano
• Keyboards
• Drums
• Flute
• Trumpet
• Saxophone
• Accordion
• Bouzouki

Solo work

• His first solo outing was "Stranger in This Town" in 1991, a blues-influenced album that was received well by many critics and fans . Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton played the lead guitar track on the song Mr Bluesman, backed by Sambora on acoustic guitars. He did a short US tour in support of the album, featuring Tony Levin (bass), Dave Amato (guitar), Crystal Taliefero (percussion) and Bon Jovi bandmates Tico Torres (drums) and Dave Bryan (keyboards).
• "Undiscovered Soul" was Sambora's second solo album, released in 1998. The album was produced by Don Was. In support of Undiscovered Soul, Sambora toured Japan, Australia and Europe in the summer of 1998. The band featured Richie Supa (guitar), Ron Wikso (drums), Kasim Sulton (bass), Tommy Mandel (keyboards), Everett Bradley (percussion - Japan only), Gioia Bruno (percussion - Australia only) and Crystal Taliefero (percussion - Europe only).
• In 1999, Sambora appeared as a guest vocalist on the Stuart Smith album "Stuart Smith's Heaven & Earth", performing a cover of the Deep Purple song "When a Blind Man Cries".
• Sambora played on a recently released album called Lessons from a band called "Message". The album was recorded in the early 1980s.
• Sambora sings "Long Way Around" (background audio) during the final scene in the 1997 Steven Seagal action movie "Fire Down Below" and is featured on the movie's soundtrack.
• His guitar work is also featured on the track Misery on Pink's 2001 album M!ssundaztood with Steven Tyler.
• In 2004, Sanctuary Records released a self-titled album which had been recorded in 1978 by Shark Frenzy, documenting Sambora's first recorded material. The mix tapes had been damaged in a flood and it had taken band member Bruce Foster to remaster them for them to be released so many years later.
• Sambora has co-written several tracks on Australian rock/pop artist Shannon Noll's third album Turn It Up to be released in Australia on September 15, 2007 and also plays guitar on a number of tracks.

Personal life

Sambora married actress Heather Locklear in Paris in December 1994. Daughter Ava Elizabeth was born October 4, 1997. Locklear filed for divorce in February of 2006 citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on April 11, 2007. Sambora briefly dated actress Denise Richards.

In March 2006, Sambora severely injured his left shoulder due to a fall and by all reports from both the media and fans, had to rework his guitar playing for shows in Japan, Europe and the UK during Bon Jovi's "Have A Nice Day" tour.

Film and television

Sambora has made appearances in movies and has done television cameos, notably playing the role of Eric Clapton in the TV series American Dreams in 2003 The list continues with the film On The Line as Mick Silver aka 'The Mick', the television show The Chris Isaak Show as himself, in 2005 in the television sitcom "Still Standing" as Reverend Roach and in the 1983 movie "Staying Alive" as the guitarist in the band at the beginning of the movie. He contributed songs to the soundtracks of "The Red Shoe Diaries", "On The Line", "Fire Down Below" and The Banger Sisters.

Other ventures and honors

Recent ventures have seen him compose television theme tunes for both Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. He is part of the Ownership Group of the Philadelphia Soul, an Arena Football League football team.

Over the years, Sambora has been an ardent fundraiser for many charities, such as Dream Street, the Steve Young Foundation and Michael J Fox's Parkinson's charity.

In May 2004, Richie Sambora was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Kean University where he attended the awards ceremony and gave a speech of acceptance, even though he had attended Kean University as a freshman, but then dropped out to pursue a career as a professional guitarist and session musician.

Sambora made a cameo appearance in The Sims Superstar.

One of Sambora's replica guitar was autographed and placed inside Hard Rock Cafe in London.

Discography

with Bon Jovi

• Bon Jovi - 1984, Mercury
• 7800°Fahrenheit - 1985, Mercury
• Slippery When Wet - 1986, Mercury
• New Jersey - 1988, Mercury
• Keep the Faith - 1992, Mercury
• Cross Road - 1994, Mercury
• These Days - 1995, Mercury
• Crush - 2000, Island
• One Wild Night Live 1985-2001 - 2001, Island
• Bounce - 2002, Island
• This Left Feels Right - 2003, Island
• 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong - 2004, Island
• Have a Nice Day - 2005, Island
• Lost Highway - 2007, Lost Highway Records

with Shark Frenzy

• Shark Frenzy - 2004, Sanctuary

Solo

• Stranger in This Town - 1991, Jambco, Mercury, PolyGram
• Undiscovered Soul - 1998, Mercury