Watch Jon Bon Jovi Make His Latin Grammys Debut

There is nothing especially Latin about New Jersey hero John Francis Bongiovi Jr. If Wikipedia is anything to go on, the man known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi has Italian, Slovak, German, and Russian ancestry. But certain things are universal, and one of them is wanting to live while you’re alive. Jon Bon Jovi has seen a million faces and rocked them all, and last night, he rocked some of those faces at the 25th annual Latin Grammys.

At last night’s show in Miami, Jon Bon Jovi did double-duty as presenter and performer. Earlier this year, the Grammys — regular, not Latin — named Jon Bon Jovi the MusiCares Person Of The Year. He got a big tribute show before this year’s Grammys. Last night, JBJ appeared to introduce the Latin Grammys’ Person Of The Year, the veteran Colombian star Carlos Vives. I don’t speak Spanish, but it sure seems like Vives said some nice things about Bon Jovi in his acceptance speech.

La Persona del Año de @RecordingAcad, @jonbonjovi, fue el encargado de entregar el reconocimiento de #LatinGRAMMY a nuestra Persona del Año, @carlosvives #25AñosdeExcelencia pic.twitter.com/ayLLBo7JDy

— The Latin Recording Academy / Latin GRAMMYs (@LatinGRAMMYs) November 15, 2024

Later in the evening, Jon Bon Jovi joined a slate of performers that also included Luis Fonsi, Kali Uchis, Myke Towers, Eladio Carrión, Grupo Frontera, Anitta, and the aforementioned Carlos Vives. Jon Bon Jovi came out to join Pitbull for “Now Or Never,” the new single that’s built on a sample of Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life.” JBJ previously joined Pitbull to perform that song at a Long Island show in September, and those two guys also performed together at a big Jimmy Buffett tribute concert earlier this year. Here’s the performance from last night’s show.

Pitbull e Jon Bon Jovi performam no palco do #LatinGRAMMY pic.twitter.com/RjlyMTsYc9

— midiabr (@midiabr_) November 15, 2024

As for the actual competitive awards, the big winner was Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra 4.40, who took home Album Of The Year for Radio Güira and Record Of The Year for “Mambo 23.” Uraguay’s Jorge Drexler won Song Of The Year for “Derrumbe.” Colombian pop singer Ela Taubert, who performed with Joe Jonas on the show, was named Best New Artist.