Jon Bon Jovi has called for Lzzy Hale to become Skid Row’s permanent new singer.
Speaking to Rock Sound, Bon Jovi – who grew up with Skid Row guitarist Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo and helped the latter band get their record deal in the late 80s – threw his weight behind the idea of Halestorm frontwoman Hale taking the Skid Row job permanently.
"She should please join Skid Row," Bon Jovi said unprompted, when Hale‘s name came up. “Please, Lzzy Hale join Skid Row. Put the two bands together, if you need to. But this is the best thing that happened to Snake since he met me."
Hale played four shows with Skid Row in late May and early June. She had stepped in as a temporary replacement for previous vocalist Erik Grönwall, who announced his departure from the band in April 2024 to focus on his health (Grönwall was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2021, though he was later given the all-clear).
Hale’s short stint as Skid Row frontwoman was rapturously received, but despite that – and Jon Bon Jovi’s endorsement – both she and the band insist that she won’t be filling the position full-time.
After saying that she was “overflowing with gratitude” at being given the opportunity to sing with the band, Hale added that “this particular time in my life prevents me from committing to a permanent role in Skid Row.”
Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan also suggested that the band were looking for other singers to replace Grönwall. “We have [been talking to singers] no one, really, with a name,” Bolan told Detroit radio station WRIF.
One person who is unlikely to be on the shortlist for the vacant vocal position is original Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, who acrimoniously left the band in 1996.
Bach has repeatedly insisted that he and his former bandmates should put aside their differences and reunite.
“I can definitely see that happening considering they play the same songs I play,” Bach recently told Metal Hammer. “When I get a substantial royalty check for an album I did with musicians that I haven’t been in the same room with since 1996, I feel like a piece of shit. Because we should be giving something back to the fans that have made this great life possible.”
However Skid Row guitarist Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo has ruled out a reunion with Bach.
“Well, the answer has been the same for – I don’t know – 20,000 years now,” the guitarist told The Hook Rocks. “It’s not gonna happen. And I say the same thing every time. I’m thankful that people have such an interest in wanting to see that happen, but I also have to reiterate that this is about being happy in the situation that you’re in.”
Sabo later added that, although Skid Row have previously been offered “a good amount of money” to reunite with Bach, “it’s just never been about the money, man”.
“I choose my happiness, my willingness to continue to be a really good friend to my best friends and a really good husband and a really good dad and bandmate and person. And I don’t wanna endanger that in any way.
“So the people that we choose to play with, those choices are made in order to keep those particular things in line for all of us.”
