RICHIE SAMBORA Is In Talks With BON JOVI About Reunion: 'We Have To Get Out There And Do It For The Fans'

Richie Sambora says that he is in talks to reunite with BON JOVI for a tour and possible new music.

After being unveiled as Jacket Potato on the celebrity show "The Masked Singer", which airs in the U.K. on ITV, Sambora dropped by Absolute Radio for a chat with host Leona Graham. Asked whether he plans to join forces with BON JOVI again following his performance with them at their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2018, Sambora said: "We're talking about it. I don't think there's any reason not to at this point."

He added: "Jon [Bon Jovi] was having a hard time with his voice a little bit there and he needed to take a little bit of a breather.

"I don't know when Jon's going to get his voice together and [when the BON JOVI reunion is] going to happen, but we have to get out there and do it for the fans, really. I feel a second obligation."

Asked by Leona if he will write new music with BON JOVI, Richie said: “Oh, if he doesn't let me, he's crazy. I'm on a tear.

"Actually, I did write that other [BON JOVI] stuff, too. It's a misnomer when people go just because his name [Jon Bon Jovi] is on [the band] that's the name. We just couldn't think of anything else really. People think that I just come up with the guitar parts and something like that. But songwriting is conceptual. You have to have a concept. It's a story. And it can sometimes just come from looking out the window and observing and a lot of times it comes from your own life and for the most part of BON JOVI, my life was a lot [more] colorful than everybody else's in the band."

Richie went on to say that he has remained on good terms with Jon in the decade since his departure, explaining: "You know what, there's no malice. I mean, we did something… there's not a lot of bands that did what we did. I mean, obviously, bands like THE ROLLING STONES, PINK FLOYD and U2 [have]."

Three years ago, Sambora opened up about his controversial decision to leave BON JOVI in 2013 in an interview with People magazine, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his daughter Ava, now 25.

"It wasn't a popular decision by any means, obviously, but there was really almost no choice about it. I had a lot of conscious work to do around [my personal life]," the guitarist said.

"We've been through a lot of things together. That was a time of psychological maintenance for the family. You know, I ain't no angel. But I realized, Ava needed me to be around at that point in time. Family had to come first, and that's what happened."

Sambora, who spent time in rehab in 2007 and 2011 for alcohol and prescription drug abuse, added that the rock and roll lifestyle eventually took its toll.

"My lord, when I look back and start to list the tours ... 18-and-a-half months of being on the road, 52 countries," he said. "It's like, Wow. It was really time for a break. We did that 14 times over a 31-year period."

Two months earlier, Sambora told U.K.'s Daily Mail that he wasn't opposed to one day rejoining BON JOVI, provided that the circumstances were right. "It would have to be a special situation for me to go back, but I'm certainly not counting it out," he said. "I have no malice toward that band."

Richie's comments came just a couple of weeks after Jon Bon Jovi told Germany's Rock Antenne that "there's not a day that goes by that I don't wish that Richie had his life together and was still in the band. And yet, in a weird way, it's because of his inability to get it together anymore that we went on and wrote 'This House Is Not For Sale'."

Addressing Jon's remarks directly, Richie told Daily Mail: "When people say I don't have my life together — are you kidding me? I'm the happiest dude on the block."

Sambora, who joined BON JOVI in 1983 and co-wrote most of the group's iconic hits over the following three decades, hasn't performed a full show with the band since he left the "Because We Can" tour 10 years ago. He later said he thought BON JOVI "should have made more strides to become a band" and not turn into "Jon being the front guy and nothing else." Jon, in turn, claimed Sambora's "choices" had "led him astray."

Sambora rejoined BON JOVI on stage in April 2018 at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, marking his first performance with the band in five years. Also appearing with the group was bassist Alec John Such, who hadn't played with BON JOVI since a one-off performance in 2001. They performed several crowd favorites, including "Livin' On A Prayer", "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "It's My Life".

BON JOVI's latest album, "2020", was released in October 2020 via Island Records.