Bassist Alec John Such, a founding member of Bon Jovi’s rock band Bon Jovi, passed away at 70. The news was announced Sunday (June 5) via Jon Bon Jovi’s social media page. A cause of death has not been released.

John Such was the bassist for Bon Jovi from 1983 until 1994. “He was an original,” said the Bon Jovi Twitter post. “As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band.”

Born in Yonkers, NY (November 14, 1951), John Such was a booking agent at the Hunka Bunka Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ, when he booked the band Jon Bon Jovi & the Wild Ones before joining them. At the time, he was in a band with Richie Sambora called The Message. With John Such bringing guitarist Richie Sambora and drummer Tico Torres into a bar and Jon Bon Jovi getting in his childhood friend, keyboardist David Bryan – Bon Jovi was born.

John Such was with the band when Slippery When Wet was released (1986), selling over 28 million copies and catapulting the band into the fame stratosphere, achieving worldwide recognition. The album went to No. 1 in Australia, Canada, and the US. The boys from Jersey had “made it.” The follow-up album, New Jersey (1988), achieved similar success with five Top 10 singles hitting the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including the hits “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There For You.”

John Such left the band in 1994 and was replaced by bassist Hugh McDonald. In an interview with The Asbury Park in 2000, John Such said that at the age of 43, he “started to get burned out” and “It felt work and I didn’t want to work.”

John Such reunited with his bandmates for their 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction and did so with grace saying, “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, and I am happy to have been a part of that vision.”

He continued, “These guys are the best. Love them to death and always will.” The feeling is mutual as Bon Jovi tweeted this montage in tribute to their friend and longtime bandmate. RIP.

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