Jon Bon Jovi Responds to Death Rumors

Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey.

David Bergman/DavidBergman.net

Well, now Jon Bon Jovi knows for certain: he's wanted dead or alive.

Yesterday, rumors abounded on Twitter and Facebook about the Bon Jovi frontman's sudden death from cardiac arrest, apparently sourced from a blog post that reappropriated text from the Los Angeles Times' 2009 obituary of Michael Jackson. Bon Jovi debunked the false news with good humor, posting a merry photo on his official Facebook that read: "Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey" with the day's date. The photo was captioned, "Rest assured that Jon is alive and well! This photo was just taken."

Bon Jovi was clearly amused by the morbid gossip, referencing it often during his band's Monday night concert in New Jersey and pretending to take calls from concerned friends to verify his quite-alive status.

The singer's death hoax rounds out a year full of false celebrity death rumors. In February, Mick Jagger found himself the target of similar Twitter hysteria, with #RIPMickJagger trending for a day. Charlie Sheen faced several rounds of death reports this year, and Justin Beiber was rumored to have been killed in a car accident during the summer.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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