Richie Sambora Leaves Bon Jovi Tour for ‘Personal’ Reasons

Although Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora said Wednesday he is dropping out of the spring leg of the band’s Because We Can tour to take care of “personal issues,” a source told TMZ that the key problem is financial.

“It’s a classic Jagger/Richards blowup,” a source told the website, hinting that the 53-year-old guitarist is squabbling with frontman Jon Bon Jovi over money.

A statement released by the band on Wednesday read: “Due to personal issues, Richie Sambora will not be performing on this upcoming leg. All shows will go on as scheduled.” 

True to the group’s word, the musicians took to the stage in Calgary on April 2, with Jon Bon Jovi telling the crowd, “I had two choices: pack up and go home or give you everything I got … Richie Sambora won’t be performing for a while. If there’s ever a night I need you, it’s tonight, Calgary!”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in September, Sambora said that although the group had tensions in the past, things were well.

“Jon’s the leader, and there are no bones about that — and no hard feelings. Everyone has a specific role in the caste system of what this band is, and that’s why it has lasted for 30 years,” he said at the time.

He added, however, that his solo career was equally important. He was promoting his Dangerbird Records album, Aftermath of the Lowdown, which he said Bon Jovi supported. Sambora even said that he would perform a few songs on the tour with the lead singer’s blessing.

“Jon’s going to let me play a couple of songs, so I am going to continue promoting this record even when I’m out on the road with the band,” he told THR. “Richie Sambora needs to build his own brand, so no matter what I can go out and have an outlet to work and play and make my own albums and be an artist in my own right because that’s what I love to do. There is no way around that.”

Although Sambora had his stints in and out of rehab for alcohol and drug abuse, he assured fans on Twitter on Wednesday that he was “doing well.” Just the previous week, he spent time with his teenage daughter, Ava, in Hawaii.

“Thank you everyone for your concern,” Sambora tweeted. “I’m well, but had to stay in LA to take care of a personal matter. Love you all and see you very soon.”