Who was Alec John Such? Bon Jovi’s founding member dies at 70

The hard rock band, led by Jon Bon Jovi, said in a statement that the band had "found our way to each other thru him”.

Image: Bon Jovi/Instagram

The popular hard rock band ‘Bon Jovi’ lost one of its founding members on Sunday. Bon Jovi’s former bassist, Alec John Such, passed away at the age of 70. Such was one of the founding members of the New Jersey band who played with the group in their 1980s heyday. The news about Such’s passing away was shared by the rock band's frontman on Sunday.

Bon Jovi was known to pack arenas in the 1980s on their marathon, pyrotechnic-fueled tours with a string of quickly memorable hits such as “You Give Love a Bad Name", and "Livin' on a Prayer” and "Wanted Dead or Alive."

The hard rock band’s namesake, Jon Bon Jovi, led the New Jersey-based band over the years. Taking to Instagram, the band, on Sunday, wrote that the band had found their “way to each other thru him”.

“We are heartbroken to hear the news of the passing away of our dear friend Alec John Such. He was an original. As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band. To be honest, we found our way to each other thru him – He was a childhood friend of Tico and brought Richie to see us perform. Alec was always wild and full of life. Today, those special memories bring a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. We’ll miss him dearly,” said a post shared by Bon Jovi on their official Instagram handle. The message was originally written by Jon Bon Jovi on his Twitter handle.

Alec John Such was a childhood friend of Bon Jovi’s drummer Tico Torres. He was also the one who had brought Richie Sambora to see the band perform; Sambora later joined Bon Jovi as their lead guitarist.

The rock band, Bon Jovi, also shared a tribute video for Alec John Sure, featuring some old photos of him with the band from their archives, with ‘Blood On Blood’, being played in the background.

Meanwhile, Alec John Such’s cause of death was not announced. Such played with the group from 1983 to 1994. "When Jon Bon Jovi called me up and asked me to be in his band many years ago, I soon realized how serious he was and he had a vision that he wanted to bring us to," he said at the induction ceremony.