Behind the lens: Shooting Bon Jovi in the shower room in 1984
In May of 1984, I went out to photograph the Scorpions. I got there early and was sitting around backstage when the rep from Polygram came up to me and said “You should meet the opening act — they are going to be big someday!”
So I followed him down to a small dressing room and walked in to see five guys with a lot of hair and skintight striped pants. I was introduced to them — they were named after their singer — a guy named Jon Bon Jovi. Their dressing room was the visiting team’s locker room, so I told them all to go into the shower room for some picture taking. They thought that was pretty funny, and we became friends.
They did get big fairly quickly, and, unlike many bands in the business, they remembered me and always gave me access when they came to Chicago. It was always fun to photograph them.
They know how to put on a show for the fans. The last time I photographed them they played a solid three hours, right up to curfew. The band left the stage; Jon looked at his road manager and said, “How much will it cost to keep going?”
The road manager gave him a dollar figure for overtime, Jon looked at him and shrugged, and turned to the band and said, “C’mon lets give them more.”
That’s showbiz!
Editor’s note: Paul Natkin is a renowned entertainment photojournalist and storyteller, and we’re thrilled to represent his work at Getty Images. When he’s not contributing to the Getty Images blog, he writes a great one himself – http://blog.natkin.net/. Want to see more of Paul’s photos of Bon Jovi? Find them on gettyimages.com.
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