I'm so proud of Richie and so excited to talk about where he's been and where he is. And I mean he's just in great physical and mental shape, he's rebounded from, you know, the couple years that he wasn't doing so well. Uhm...and it's really evident on this record. But we are very, very close. We are like best friends and brothers and there's a lot of mutual admiration and trust and it's based on a real, honest to God friedship.

My admiration for Richie runs deep. His abilities as a player never suffered. Richie's talent is God-given. He's blessed."

A friend of mine, a friend of yours. My better half, Richard Stephen Sambora.

HEAVEN LOOKS A LOT LIKE NEW JERSEY. dec 19th 2011 6.00

Richie came to see one of my shows. Afterwards he made a point of meeting me and saying: "I'm the guy. I'm what you need." I thought he was a little crazy because he was so forward, but I liked him as a guy, so we just hung out for an afternoon and tried writing together. We wrote two songs. They weren't the best songs we've ever written, but from the start we could see that we were compatible. More importantly, we got on as friends. We had a similar upbringing and a similar focus on the future.

We went through a stupid phase: blowing money, crying over the money lost. I bought a house, and Richie bought a house too. Those were the days of going down to the Mercedes dealer and buying several cars at a time for people. But all that's done; you really get over it.