He was fast asleep when the call came. The phone by Jon Bon Jovi’s bed ringing at 2am, bringing the kind of news every parent dreads.
His teenage daughter Stephanie was calling from hospital.
First she calmly insisted: “I’m all right”, but any relief was short-lived as she went on to tell her devastated rocker dad she had overdosed on heroin.
“It was horrible, a horrible moment,” he says. “It was my worst moment as a father.
“The first thing she said, I’m all right but then she said this is what happened. You wake up, you shake it off and put your shoes on and say OK, I am on the way home.”
Police were called in November to 19-year-old Stephanie’s dorm at her university, Hamilton College, and found her unconscious. A small amount of heroin was found in her room at the $55,000-a-year liberal arts institution in Kirkland, New York.
She recovered in hospital and later charges against her and companion Ian Grant, 21, were dropped due to a local law that prohibits prosecution of people who have had a drugs overdose.
It was a lucky escape for Stephanie but the 51-year-old singer says it is more common than people think.
Sitting in his hotel suite in Vienna on the last stop-off on Bon Jovi’s world tour, he says he had no idea about her drug use, but that it wasn’t because of his near-constant travelling.
He says: “We went through something that a lot of parents do, many more than I thought. Many more people who have been in my life that I had no idea they had been through it with their own children at one point or another.
“There’s a lot of pressure on this generation. They have a lot easier access to things than yours or my generation had.
“She was by no means sticking needles in her arms. But there’s a lot of synthetic stuff in the world and a lot of temptation and access and pressures that just a generation ago you and I didn’t know about.
“I wasn’t aware of it, not because I’m not home but because it is a different world. Our world is far more relatable to our parents’ world than the kids’ world.
“There’s many more pressures on kids – what is this college degree going to do for me, what am I going to be when I grow up, will I be able to accomplish things?
“I feel it was a terrible tragic lesson of life but I thank God every day because she is whole. It happened and it has gone. I know personally people whose sons and daughters, where it was a lot, lot worse. That could have been Stephanie.”
And despite living the life of a rock star, the singer says he has only the scantest knowledge of the drug world. “I never did a thing,” he says. “I didn’t even do anything that could open the cover of the book. I was never attracted to it.”
The band are halfway through their European stadium tour with a huge new show set to play at the Isle of Wight festival and London’s Hyde Park.
But one member is notable by his absence. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora started the tour in the States but last month committed the ultimate professional sin of not turning up to a gig.
Sambora has had spells in rehab and rumours circulated that he was drinking again. But the door remains open.
Sipping water in his suite, 24 hours before a sell-out gig, Jon says: “We were all in Calgary, Richie was going to turn up on show day but we went the night before because it’s a long flight.
“At 3.30pm on show day the phone rang and it was Paul the manager and he said guess what, and he didn’t even have to finish the sentence. I said, you’re kidding. We went on that night. I haven’t seen Richie since.
“Love him, spoken to him once. I talked to him once, once in six weeks and 18 shows. He’s not fired, we didn’t have a fight, it certainly isn’t about money.
“We go back 30 years. He can return when he is ready to die every night the way I walk on the stage. It’s different without Richie. No one’s mad, no one’s sad. But fortunately because we had been through it before we performed that night. We couldn’t let down the fans.”
Jon is looking toned and tanned as he prepares for his gig. The band’s new album What About Now reached the top five in a string of countries and the singer is far from resting on his laurels.
“I’m still happy we are making number one records because if it was a nostalgia tour, if I was sitting here with an open shirt and big belly... I wouldn’t do it, I’d walk away,” he says. “As long as we are doing it on this level I will continue.”
Bon Jovi celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. But mention Mick Jagger, and 50 years of the Rolling Stones, and Jon is awestruck.
“F****** mother******,” he laughs. “I watched a DVD of him in my dressing room and I used it as inspiration, he is my inspiration. The Stones, that’s the bar. They still play great, sing great, they are sloppy as f*** but that is half the fun.”
So will Jon be doing it in 20 years’ time? “I always say no... I don’t know why I would say yes,” he says slowly. “But I don’t know if I will hold up for another 20 years and I take crazy care of myself. I don’t think my bones could keep doing it.”
In a few weeks the relentless tour takes a break and Jon will fly home to wife of 24 years Dorothea, and their children, Stephanie, Jesse James, 18, Jacob, 11, and Romeo, nine. He is clearly devoted but admits there is temptation on the road. “I have a wife who I adore, without her the cards would crumble. Every day there’s temptation. I don’t go looking for it either. Am I perfect? No. But do I aspire to finding a mistress somewhere? I really don’t.”
But while life on the road has its perils, Jon relishes introducing new generations to the band’s music. And he is proud of the new album where the lifelong Democrat mixes social comment with the anthems.
“I still enjoy playing Living On A Prayer immensely. You can’t not play Wanted or Prayer or Bad Name every night. Both for you and for that audience, they want to hear it. They are bigger than the band.
“But could you imagine 60,000 people all 50 and over? I don’t want to do that. I’m pleased our audience is six to 60.”
He stops then bursts out laughing. “I am thinking of a chick flashing at 60, lifting up her T-shirt... noooo.”
Bon Jovi tour the UK from June 8 and play Hyde Park on July 5. New single What About Now is out now.
UK dates for "Bon Jovi Because We Can - The Tour” 2013
Click on the link below to buy tickets now:
16th - Isle of Wight Festival Weekend tickets or Sunday only (Bon Jovi) tickets