Bon Jovi "I'll Be There For You (Single & Video)"

"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American glam metal band Bon Jovi, released as the third single from their 1988 album New Jersey. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. The single ranked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Mainstream rock chart.

Originally released on the 1988 album New Jersey, it became the band's third single from the album when it was released as a single in 1989. As the band (and glam metal) was at its peak popularity at this time, the song quickly climbed to the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their fourth and final number one single. The song has remained as one of Bon Jovi's signature songs and a classic in the power ballad genre. The song was also a peek into a more mature sound heard on their following albums Keep the Faith and These Days.

In various Bon Jovi concert performances, this song was sometimes sung by Richie Sambora on lead vocals.

"I'll Be There for You" is reportedly derivative of two works: "The verses have an eerily and uncredited similarity (both musically and melodically) to John Lennon’s Beatles’ track ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ (recorded during the Get Back sessions), and the chorus was supposedly culled from an unreleased song by Joel Ellis of Cats in Boots and Heavy Bones. Joel Ellis has said that Lehua Reid (Richie Sambora’s ex-fiancée) regaled him with anecdotes regarding Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora ‘sitting at the piano for hours with a box full of tapes they got from people and going through the songs looking for stuff they could rip off and laughing about it, your [Ellis’] song was played over and over and over’."

The video for the song (directed by Wayne Isham) features the band performing on a dark stage with an almost monochromatic blue color due to the stage lighting, with close-ups of each member, most notably lead singer Jon Bon Jovi and lead guitarist Richie Sambora. However, it is persistent throughout the clip that Richie Sambora's face is constantly in shadow through the entire video. The video footage then switches midway to black-and-white footage from a Bon Jovi concert at the old Wembley Arena in London, England.