Rock band frontman Jon Bon Jovi is back in form after vocal chord surgery that required years of rehabilitation to be able to sing live again, comparing his recovery to that of a footballer with a broken leg.
The analogy may have been inspired by the rocker's encounter with Australia's national rugby league team.
Bon Jovi was giving a press conference about an upcoming tour at London's Wembley Stadium on Friday — the same day the Kangaroo players were on the ground preparing for this weekend's Ashes Test match.
"I'm excited. I'm also grateful and humble," Bon Jovi told Reuters about the idea of performing live again.
"[It] has taken a lot of rehabilitation.
"It's sort of like an athlete… because you're retraining… [like] a leg break for a footballer on this field.
"You have to slowly walk until he can run."
As well as talking to the press about his upcoming tour, Bon Jovi met Kangaroos players, who were on the grounds for their pre-match Captain's Run — a training session and photo opportunity that turned into a celebrity meet-and-greet.
Here are a few snippets of video from the encounter posted to social media by the Kangaroos's official Instagram account:
What happened to Jon Bon Jovi?
The 63-year-old had an atrophying vocal cord — which meant one chord was weaker than the other.
The issue came to a head after the band's 2022 tour, with critics remarking on how the singer was not able to hit the notes the way he used to.
"It felt like he had forgotten how to sing," a reviewer from Pioneer Press said.
The singer looked into holistic options before eventually seeing a doctor who said one of his vocal cords was atrophying.
"This was unique," he told Associated Press last year.
"It wasn't a nodule.
"The strong [vocal cord] was pushing the weak one around, and suddenly, my inabilities were just exacerbated."
The symptoms of vocal chord atrophy most commonly include a reduced vocal volume, a higher-pitched voice and a breathy "thin" sound, US university Johns Hopkins Medicine's website explains.
What kind of surgery did Jon Bon Jovi have?
An atrophying vocal chord meant surgery, he told the Pollstar Live! conference in 2024.
"I found a doctor in Philadelphia who did something called a medialization," he said in entertainment website Blabbermouth's reporting from the conference.
"So they put a plastic implant in it for the last ... almost two years now."
A vocal chord medialization involves positioning the weaker chord closer to the centre of the larynx, US medical centre Mount Sinai's website explains.
The implant is positioned between the cartilage of the larynx and the vocal chord.
Bon Jovi's appearance at the 2024 conference came around the time of the release of a four-part documentary series about the band, called Thank You, Goodnight.
The singer said there was a lot of "rehab" that came after the surgery and spoke about wanting to be able to perform a few nights a week before touring again.
"If I can't be great, I'm out," he said.
"We'll determine what happens there."
Bon Jovi announces new tour
The band announced its Forever Tour earlier this week.
"I'm deeply grateful that the fans and the brotherhood of this band have been patient and allowed me the time needed to get healthy and prepare for touring," he said in an Instagram post.
The tour — which does not have any Australian dates — starts off in New York in July.
The band will play in Scotland and Ireland before wrapping the tour at Wembley Stadium in September — hence Friday's press conference there.
"The inspiration was not to get back on the stage," Bon Jovi said of his decision to tour again.
"The inspiration when you write a song and you feel that resonance between the sound waves of that music and the band and that resonance between you and the band and the audience."
