Jon Bon Jovi Watched Bowie and Freddie Record Their Classic Hit

 Jon Bon Jovi witnessed rock history being made. Jon claims that he saw Queen and David Bowie record the song “Under Pressure.” Bon Jovi claims he witnessed the moment while working at the Power Station recording studio in New York.

“It was literally the biggest recording studio in the world at the time,” he said. “One day, I looked through the control room door, and I watched David Bowie and Freddie Mercury sing ‘Under Pressure.’ I saw them sing that vocal.”

Queen was working at their studio in Montreux, Switzerland, where Bowie had a nearby residence, when he heard they were in town. “Since we already knew him a little, he popped in to say hello one day while we were recording,” Brian May later told the Mirror, adding that they “very quickly decided that the best way to get to know each other was to play together.”

Queen and Bowie jammed through covers and the occasional piece of original material, generally having some fun without any kind of clear direction. "I think the process was we were all drunk and in the studio and, just for fun, we were playing all sorts of old songs," drummer Roger Taylor would later admit.

Then Bowie made a suggestion: “David said, 'Look, hang on a minute. Why don't we write one of our own?" Taylor added. May said, “We all brought stuff to the table, but what we got excited about was a riff which [bassist John Deacon] began playing – six notes the same, then one note a fourth down,” he told the Mirror.

Jon Bon Jovi was 18, 19, 20 [years old],” Bon Jovi recalled. “It was the biggest recording studio in the world at the time. I was the gofer. I was the guy who would run out and get burgers and the beer. Whatever you needed.”

 I looked through the control room door and I watched David Bowie and Freddie Mercury sing ‘Under Pressure,’” he remembered. “I was there. I saw them sing that vocal.”

Aldo Nova, a friend of Jon Bon Jovi, collaborated on the demo for Bon Jovi's first hit, "Runaway," by playing guitar. This helped secure a major record deal and land on the band's debut album.

Years later, the two reunited, with Bon Jovi co-writing and co-producing Nova's 1991 album, Blood on the Bricks, which was released on Bon Jovi's own record label.