Jon Bon Jovi Answers Who's the Better Singer Between Prince William and Prince Harry
Rocker Jon Bon Jovi has sung with two princes — and remained royally diplomatic when deciding who was the best.
Bon Jovi, who finished recording a version of a song to aid veterans alongside Prince Harry on Friday, said both Harry and his brother Prince William — whom he met and sung with in 2013 — have great “pipes.”
“They both have a set of pipes,” he told PEOPLE with a smile outside the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London. The hitmaker recorded a special version of his song “Unbroken” with the Invictus Games Choir.
“It was great. He’s known the song — I sent it to him back in August,” Bon Jovi said of the collaboration. “It was good to catch up.
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Asked how Harry, who Bon Jovi joked nicknamed the “Artist Formerly Known as Prince” as he prepares to withdraw from his senior royal role, was doing, he replied, “He seems awesome.”
“He’s so involved in the lives of these soldiers and their stories and, of course, he can relate to them because he was one of them. They loved their time with him where they could be open and honest,” he added.
“They were talking to him like they were mates which I was surprised about. They felt like they were part of the same team.”
Harry isn’t the first prince the Grammy award-winning singer has performed alongside. In 2013, he joined Prince William, 37, (and Taylor Swift!) on stage at Kensington Palace for a royal version of the rockstar’s hit song “Livin’ on a Prayer” during a charity gala.
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The royal and the rock star even recreated the album cover for The Beatles’ Abbey Road with an Invictus athlete and a member of the choir. Bon Jovi took the second position (Ringo Starr’s spot in the famous photo), while Harry brought up the back (George Harrison’s position).
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Bon Jovi originally wrote “Unbroken” for a documentary about soldiers with PTSD and then had the idea of using the song for the Invictus Games.
“On a parallel course I thought I want to send it to Harry for the Invictus Games and to have real soldiers singing the song I thought would bring a lot of attention to the issue,” he said. “I wrote him a letter and I said ‘I’ve sung with your brother and met your father and so I said listen to it and let me know. And he said, ‘Absolutely.’ ”
He added, “His support, of course, made you all come. Our goal is the U.K. team will go out and sing the song at the games and I’m hoping the other 20 countries will let it snowball and it will bring attention to the plight of the service member who’s going through this.”
However, the question remains: Will we be able to hear the Duke of Sussex sing?
The official Sussex Royal Instagram uploaded a teaser video of Bon Jovi and Harry behind the studio booth, with the former equipped with his guitar, prepping to record a song.
I said I’ll give it a shot...[Sound On 🔊] • Stay tuned for more to come later... #WeAreInvictus
A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Feb 28, 2020 at 3:19am PST
“Alright, it’s going to be really easy, just pretend you’re singing in your bedroom, okay?” the singer told the prince in the video.
“In my bedroom?” Harry reiterates.
“Yeah, it’s easy. Breathe deep,” Bon Jovi replies, as Harry lets out a huge exhale, “Shout it out.”
The singer then begins strumming his guitar and counting to three. But the moment the duo is about to sing, the video stops.
The next Invictus Games, which Harry founded in 2014 for injured, wounded and sick armed forces members and veterans, take place in The Netherlands in May.
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Bon Jovi’s project for Harry was as an imagined text conversation between the two as they chatted about working together for the Invictus Games. In the post, Bon Jovi teased he’ll be bringing “some back up” to their recording session.
Harry returned to the U.K. this week for his final round of official royal engagements before he and wife Meghan Markle officially step down as senior working royals on March 31. Meghan is set to join Harry in London next week.
