Meet Bon Jovi's Replacement for Richie Sambora

05/05/2011
. (Gibson) Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora's temporary replacement is Phil X, an Ontario-born session guitarist. The tour kicked off at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (on April 30) with Jon Bon Jovi announcing at the encore of "Livin' on a Prayer," "We'd like to send this out to our brother Richie."

Phil X was born in 1966 as Philip Xenidis. He's of Greek descent and the co-founder of the L.A. band Powder. He also has a second band, The Drills. He is used to standing-in: he replaced Rik Emmett in Canadian rockers Triumph for their Edge of Excess album (1993) and tour.

He's also played guitar for Tommy Lee, Rob Zombie, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Chris Cornell, Adam Lambert and many more. At Viva Cantina, a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, he's played with country music collective the Cody Bryant Experience. more on this story

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