Richie Sambora
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| Richie Sambora | |
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| Born | July 11, 1959 Perth Amboy, New Jersey |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Bon Jovi |
| Notable guitars | Fender Stratocaster Twin-neck acoustic |
| Years active | 1983 - Present |
| Official site | None |
Richie Sambora (born Richard Stephen Sambora on July 11, 1959), is an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is the lead guitarist for the rock band Bon Jovi. Along with frontman Jon Bon Jovi he forms the primary songwriting unit for the band. He is also a solo artist, having released two solo albums; Stranger In This Town in 1991, and Undiscovered Soul in 1998.
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[edit] Background
Born to father of Italian origin and a Polish mother. Sambora attended Woodbridge High School, in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. 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 and his most important influences were Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Joe Kmiecik. He was also influenced by Spanish classical music and began a life long love of the Spanish guitar[citation needed].
[edit] 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. | ” |
Pinch harmonics are widely used within his playing style. Heavy use of palm muting can also be seen throughout his work.
[edit] Talkbox
Sambora is one of many guitarists to make use of the talkbox. 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 also used talkbox amazingly. Those were the main guys. | ” |
The talkbox can be heard clearly in "Livin' on a Prayer", "It's My Life", "Love Me Back To Life" and later on "I Want To Be Loved".
[edit] Other Instruments
Sambora is also a self taught musician of other instruments including:
[edit] Equipment
Sambora has been known to use a wide variety of guitars and amplifiers throughout his career. In the 80s, Sambora mostly played superstrats (Kramer, Charvel, Jackson, Hamer) as well as modified Les Paul models. In early-mid 1987, Kramer put out a Richie Sambora signature model, which quit production in 1989. Today it has been reissued by Kramer and is named "Jersey Star", no longer carrying Sambora's actual name. Sambora had also used several other Kramer models, including a variety of custom ones ("one-offs").
For a few years Sambora played various guitars, mostly vintage Fender and some Gibsons along with his Kramer signature model (which he used until the end of his Stranger In This Town tour. In 1991, Fender issued a Sambora signature model which featured a Floyd Rose tremolo system and a HSS pickup combination of a DiMarzio PAF pro and 2 Fender Texas Specials. In 1998, the model was changed and had a vintage style tremolo and a SSS pickup combination. The model ended production in 2002. Sambora still plays a variety of Fenders (mostly vintage and custom shop models, such as the Telecaster doubleneck.
Currently, Sambora plays custom guitars built by his guitar tech Chris "Lumpy" Hofschneider, Zemaitis Guitars, Floyd Rose guitars, vintage Gibsons and custom shop Fender models. 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, with HSS pickups.
Sambora used Ovation electric-acoustic guitars from the beginning of the 1980s until 1998. He played a custom made doubleneck (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 hasn't been publicly seen using a doubleneck acoustic since.
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 straight from the Guild factory due to the guitar having a finish flaw.
For most of the 80s and early-mid 90s, Sambora used Marshall amplifiers, particurarly the JCM800 model with 4x12" speaker cabinets and a variety of rack units (including effects). For his Stranger In This Town tour, Sambora added a Fender Bassman head. In 1995, Sambora started using Fender ToneMasters with Fender ToneMaster 4x12" speaker cabinets, following the These Days tour. For the studio sessions of his second solo album, Undiscovered Soul, Sambora also used a Fender Bassman 4x10" combo and a Vox AC30. On the tour, he used his Fender ToneMasters and a few HiWatts. In 2000, Sambora started using the Marshall JCM2000 DSL series (both on the tour and recording sessions of Crush). He has also used the DSL series on the Bounce tour. Since their Have a Nice Day album, Sambora has switched to Diezel and Divided by 13 amplification and uses custom made 4x12" speaker cabinets made by Divided by 13.
He used a floor MIDI controller for most of his career, while on the last few tours he has changed to a more simple pedal setup featuring a Boss SD-1, a Framptone talkbox, and a few others pedals, including a chorus, compressor, Crybaby or Vox wah and an A/B switcher.
He uses .009 strings in the studio and .010 strings live, with the action set relatively high.
[edit] 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[citation needed]. Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton played the solo for the track Mr Bluesman.
- "Undiscovered Soul" was Sambora's second solo album, released in 1998. The album was produced by Don Was.
- 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.
- 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.
[edit] Personal life
He lives in California and married actress Heather Locklear in Paris in 1994. They had a daughter Ava Elizabeth on October 4 1997. In February 2006, Locklear filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences. The couple are currently in the process of settling custody arrangements for their daughter. Sambora is now said to be dating actress Denise Richards.
[edit] Film and Television
He has appeared in several movie and TV cameos, notably playing Eric Clapton in the TV series American Dreams. The list continues with the film On The Line as 'The Mick', and the TV show Chris Isaak show as himself as well as appearing in 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 and The Banger Sisters.
[edit] Other Ventures and Honors
Recent ventures have seen him compose television theme tunes for both Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. He is a shareholder of 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, Doctor 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. In 2005, He had a guest starring role as a hippie type minister in the show with Jami Gertz, Still Standing.
In 2004, he appeared on American Dreams as a member of the New Yardbirds.
[edit] 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
with Shark Frenzy
- Shark Frenzy - 2004, Sanctuary
Solo
- Stranger In This Town- 1991, Jambco, Mercury, PolyGram
- Undiscovered Soul - 1998, Mercury
[edit] External links
www.Richie-Sambora.net Home of the King of Swing
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1959 births | Living people | American singer-songwriters | New Jersey musicians | Italian-American musicians | Polish-Americans | Bon Jovi members | American rock guitarists | People from Tarzana, California
