The Star Wars Christmas Song That Features Jon Bon Jovi’s First Professional Singing
Listen to Jon Bon Jovi sing a Star Wars Christmas song.
The Star Wars universe is vast and seemingly never-ending, with spinoff after spinoff coming out over the last few years. While many of these projects began to pick up speed following the prequel trilogy of the early aughts, George Lucas and his team ventured into plenty of uncharted territory back in the 1980s. One of those offshoots was a holiday album titled Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album, which featured a song sung by Jon Bon Jovi before he got his big break as the celebrated recording artist that we all now know him as.
Produced by RSO Records, the album came out just months after the release of the fan-favorite film, The Empire Strikes Back. Like the movies from the beloved franchise, the Star Wars Christmas collection featured its very own plot in which C-3PO, R2-D2, and a choir of performers sing about making toys at a droid factory for Santa Claus.
While Jon Bon Jovi’s voice can be heard as a member of the chorus, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer has a featured part in the song “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” which you can hear via the YouTube link above.
At the time of the Star Wars Christmas recording, Jon Bon Jovi was going by his birth name of John Bongiovi and working janitorial duties at the recording studio which his cousin, Tony Bongiovi, owned.
A co-producer on the project, Tony Bongiovi was able to give his relative a one-up on the rest of the talent brought in and helped him land his first big feature. This would begin the singer’s career as his first professionally produced album.
As for the album itself, it quickly soared off shelves as Star Wars obsession was in high effect, with RSO Records dropping the project on LP and Cassette just in time for the holiday season. It would even nab a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the song “What Can You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb).”
Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of the choir (which also included singing and narration by C3-PO himself, Anthony Daniels) were so successful that the record was set for a second pressing which, unfortunately, never came to fruition as the company was closed down following a devastating lawsuit.
It would be three years after his Star Wars Christmas album appearance that Jon Bon Jovi (whose son just so happens to be marrying Millie Bobby Brown) would go on to form the now-infamous rock band, Bon Jovi, in 1983. After coming out with their debut album in 1984 and a follow-up in 1985, the band quickly made a name for themselves in the world of rock n’ roll, continuing to be a force to be reckoned with almost 30 years later.
Having not only a knack for songwriting and performing, the frontman would carry his acting talents onto both the big and small screen in productions including Moonlight and Valentino, The West Wing, Sex and the City, and Ally McBeal. And to think, it all began alongside two robots and their love of Christmas.
