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Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style as well as his grandiose songwriting and performance style. His lyrics frequently include social and political themes, and religious imagery inspired by his
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
faith. Born and raised in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Ireland, he attended
Mount Temple Comprehensive School Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under the patronage of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and has, as a primary objective, the provision of state-funded second ...
where in 1976 he began dating his future wife,
Alison Stewart Alison Stewart (born July 4, 1966) is an American journalist and author. Stewart first gained widespread visibility as a political correspondent for MTV News in the 1990s. She is the host of WNYC's midday show, ''All of It with Alison Stewart'' ...
, as well as forming, with schoolmates, the band that became U2.; ; During U2's early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to the group's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members. As a member of U2, Bono has received 22
Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
and has been inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
. Aside from his music, Bono is an activist for social justice causes, both through U2 and as an individual. He is particularly active in campaigning to fight
extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...
and
HIV/AIDS in Africa HIV/AIDS originated in the early 20th century and remains a significant public health challenge, particularly in Africa. Although Africa constitutes about 17% of the world's population, it bears a disproportionate burden of the epidemic. In 20 ...
, for which he co-founded DATA,
EDUN EDUN is a fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono in 2005 to promote trade in Africa by sourcing production throughout the continent. In 2009 EDUN became part of the LVMH group. In June 2018, LVMH sold their shares back to the founders. ...
, the
ONE Campaign ONE Campaign (styled as ONE) is an international, non-partisan, non-profit organization advocating for the investments needed to create economic opportunities and healthier lives in Africa. The campaigning organization uses data, grassroots ac ...
, and Product Red. In pursuit of these causes, he has participated in benefit concerts and lobbied politicians and heads of state for relief. Bono has received numerous honours for his philanthropic efforts, including being named one of the ''Time'' Persons of the Year in 2005, being granted an honorary
knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
by
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
of the United Kingdom in 2007, being made a of the French (Order of Arts and Letters) in 2013, and receiving the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
in the United States in 2025. Bono has also attracted criticism for bypassing African businesses in his activist efforts and for tax avoidance in his personal finances. Outside the band, he has recorded with numerous artists. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate
the Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...
on several projects, including: songs for
Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...
,
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...
, and
Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...
; and the soundtracks to the musical '' Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' and a London stage adaptation of ''
A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
''. In business, he invested in the refurbishment of the
Clarence Hotel The Clarence Hotel is a four-star 51-room hotel located at 6–8 Wellington Quay, Dublin, Ireland. It is in the Temple Bar neighbourhood, on the River Liffey. It first opened in 1852, and bought by U2 lead singer Bono and lead guitarist The ...
in Dublin, and was managing director and a managing partner of the
private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...
firm
Elevation Partners Elevation Partners was an American private equity firm that invested in intellectual property, technology and media companies. The firm had $1.9 billion of assets under management. The firm was founded in 2004 and was headquartered in New York ...
, which invested in several companies.


Early life

Paul David Hewson was born in the
Rotunda Hospital The Rotunda Hospital (; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The Rotunda entertainment buildings in Parnell Square are no ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
on 10 May 1960, the second child of Iris (née Rankin) and Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, then living in
Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also and previously or ), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains many housing estates, shops and oth ...
on Dublin's Southside. His brother, Norman, is eight years older than he is. Bono's family moved to a new house on Cedarwood Road, between the
Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, EngIand * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vince ...
suburbs of
Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway (Ireland), M50 motorway, and the N2 road (Ireland), N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Du ...
and
Ballymun Ballymun () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the city's Northside. Ballymun has several sub-districts, such as Sillogue, Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree, and is close to Dublin Airport. A metro stop on a city-to-airpo ...
when he was six weeks old, and he grew up there. The Hewson brothers grew up in an interdenominational Christian household; their mother was a member of the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
, and their father was a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. Both parents initially agreed that the first child would be raised
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
and the second Catholic. Although Bono was the second child, he also attended Church of Ireland services with his mother and brother, while his father also sometimes brought him to Mass at the nearby Catholic church, St Canice's. In 2000, Bono learned that Scott Rankin, a relative he thought to be his cousin, was actually his half-brother; Rankin was the offspring of an affair that Bob Hewson had with his wife's sister Barbara. Bono attended a Protestant primary school, Glasnevin National School, rather than the local Catholic-managed primary school in Ballymun. His teenage musical idols were
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
,
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
, and
Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...
of T. Rex. After attending St. Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School for a year, Bono moved to
Mount Temple Comprehensive School Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under the patronage of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and has, as a primary objective, the provision of state-funded second ...
, a multi-denominational school in Clontarf. Bono's mother died on 10 September 1974, three days after suffering a ruptured
cerebral aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a Cerebrovascular disease, cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These a ...
at her father's funeral. Many U2 songs, including "
I Will Follow "I Will Follow" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It is the opening track from their debut album, ''Boy (album), Boy'', and it was released as the album's second single (music), single in October 1980. Lead singer Bono wrote the lyrics ...
", " Mofo", " Out of Control", "
Lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
" and " Tomorrow", focus on the loss of his mother. He said "because of the way I grew up in Finglas -- sleeping on a couch, or because my mother died when I was a kid, I was in the house on my own a lot of the time, so I'd knock on the door of the Hanveys at teatime, or the Rowens at lunchtime." During his childhood and adolescence, Bono and his friends were part of a
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
street gang called "Lypton Village". Two of his closest childhood friends, the artist
Guggi Guggi (born Derek Rowen) is an Irish artist and musician who was once a member of the post-punk band Virgin Prunes. Early life Derek Rowen was born in Dublin in 1959. He is one of 10 children. He grew up with and remains best friends with U2's ...
and the musician
Gavin Friday Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes. Early life Fionan Hanvey was born in Dublin an ...
, lived on the same street; Guggi was also in Lypton Village. The gang had a ritual of giving nicknames. Bono had several names: first, he was known as "Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbang", then just "Huyseman", followed by "Houseman", "Bon Murray", "Bono Vox of O'Connell Street", and finally just "Bono". "Bono Vox" is a modified form of ''Bonavox'', which is the name of a hearing aid shop just off Dublin's principal street, O'Connell Street. The name derives from the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
phrase for "good voice". The nickname was given by Guggi; Bono initially disliked it but after learning of its translation, he accepted it. Hewson has been known as "Bono" since the age of 14 or 15. In addition to it being his stage name, close family, friends and fellow band members also refer to him as Bono. After Bono left school, his father told him he could live at home for one year, but if he was not able to pay his own way, he would have to leave the house.


Musical career


U2

On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother
Dik Evans Richard G. "Dik" Evans (born 1957) is a British-Irish musician. He is a co-founder and guitarist of the band Virgin Prunes, and a co-founder and early guitarist of the band that later became U2. He is the older brother of U2 guitarist The Edge ...
, and
Adam Clayton Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock music, rock band U2. Born in Oxfordshire, England, he lived in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland after his family moved to ...
responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student
Larry Mullen Jr. Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr. (; born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2. A member of the band since its inception, he has recorded 15 studio albums with U2. Mullen's distinctive ...
seeking people interested in forming a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play
the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
and
Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...
songs. The band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the
Virgin Prunes Virgin Prunes were an Irish post-punk/gothic rock band formed in 1977 in Dublin. They disbanded in 1986 after the departure of singer Gavin Friday. The other members continued under the name The Prunes until they split up in 1991. History The ...
, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially, Bono sang, played guitar and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it. When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting. On 13 July 1985, U2 performed at the
Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
benefit concert at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
before a crowd of 72,000 fans and a worldwide television audience of 1.5 billion people.McGee (2008), pp. 88–89 During a 12-minute performance of "
Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...
", Bono climbed down from the stage to embrace and dance with a female fan he had picked out of the crowd, showing television viewers the personal connection that he could make with audiences. Bono's impromptu departure from the stage extended the length of "Bad", cutting into their allotted time and forcing them to drop "
Pride (In the Name of Love) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the second track on the band's 1984 album, ''The Unforgettable Fire'', and was released as its lead single in September 1984. The song was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel ...
", their biggest hit at the time, from their setlist. The group initially regarded the concert as a missed opportunity, but many journalists called their performance one of the show's highlights; ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' cited Live Aid as the event that made stars of U2 and their performance as one of 50 key events in rock history. Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which often have social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "
Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins ...
" from the band's album ''
October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after Januar ...
'' and "
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album '' The Joshua Tree'' and was released as the album's second single in May 1987. The song was a hit, becoming the band ...
" from ''
The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 by Island Records. In contrast to the ambient music, ambient experimentati ...
''.Stockman (2005) During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's ''
War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
'', ''The Joshua Tree'', and ''
Rattle and Hum ''Rattle and Hum'' is a hybrid live/studio album by Irish rock band U2, and a companion rockumentary film directed by Phil Joanou. The album was produced by Jimmy Iovine and was released on 10 October 1988, while the film was distributed by ...
'' eras. Following the
Enniskillen bombing The Remembrance Day bombing (also known as the Enniskillen bombing or Poppy Day massacre) took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded near the town's ...
that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the
Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Enniskillen bombing during a live performance of "
Sunday Bloody Sunday "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album '' War'' and was released as the album's third single on 21 March 1983 in the Netherlands and West Germany. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted ...
". Bono had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the ''Rattle and Hum'' film, but it was left in. The film also contains footage of the band's 11 November 1987 free "Save the Yuppies" concert at
Justin Herman Plaza Embarcadero Plaza, previously known as Justin Herman Plaza from its opening in 1972 until 2017, is a plaza near the intersection of Market and Embarcadero in San Francisco's Financial District, in the U.S. state of California. It is owned by Bost ...
in San Francisco, during which Bono spray-painted "Rock N Roll Stops the Traffic" on the
Vaillancourt Fountain ''Vaillancourt Fountain'', sometimes called ', is a large fountain in Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, designed by the Québécois artist Armand Vaillancourt in collaboration with the plaza's landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin, and com ...
sculpture. Bono was criticised by Mayor
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
and faced a misdemeanour for defacing public property. He apologised in a written statement to local officials, and the band's promoter Bill Graham agreed to pay to clean up the graffiti. With the band feeling a sense of musical stagnation towards the end of the
Lovetown Tour The Lovetown Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in late 1989 and early 1990 following the release of ''Rattle and Hum''. It was documented by noted rock film director Richard Lowenstein in the "LoveTown" doc ...
, Bono hinted at changes to come during a 30 December 1989 concert; before a hometown crowd in Dublin, he said on stage that it was "the end of something for U2", and that "we have to go away and ... dream it all up again". U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, ''
Achtung Baby ''Achtung Baby'' ( ) is the seventh studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 by Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 documentary film and ...
''. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's 1992–1993
Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. Staged primarily to support their 1991 album ''Achtung Baby'' and later their 1993 album ''Zooropa'', the tour visited ...
, Bono assumed a number of costumed stage personae in an attempt to be more lighthearted and escape the group's reputation of being overly serious and self-righteous. Bono said: "All through the Eighties we tried to be ourselves and failed when the lights were on. Which is what set us up for Zoo TV. We decided to have some fun being other people, or at least other versions of ourselves." Bono's primary persona during the tour was "the Fly", which originated from him wearing an oversized pair of
blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
sunglasses, given to him by wardrobe manager Fintan Fitzgerald, to lighten the mood in the studio.McGee (2008), pp. 134–135McCormick (2006), pp. 224–225, 227, 232 He developed the persona into a leather-clad egomaniac, and described his outfit as having
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...
's glasses,
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
's jacket, and
Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...
's leather trousers. To match the character's dark fashion, Bono dyed his naturally-brown hair black. In contrast to his earnest stage demeanour of the 1980s, as the Fly, Bono strutted around the stage with "swagger and style", exhibiting mannerisms of an egotistical rock star. He often stayed in character as the Fly away from the stage, including for public appearances and when staying in hotels. For his "Mirror Ball Man" stage character, Bono dressed in a shining silver lamé suit with matching shoes and cowboy hat.Flanagan (1996), p. 62 The character was meant to parody greedy American
televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...
s, showmen, and car salesman, and was inspired by
Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter, protest song, protest singer (or, as he preferred, "topical singer"), and Political Activist, political activist. Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic h ...
' Elvis persona from his 1970 tour. Bono said that the character represented "a kind of showman America. He had the confidence and charm to pick up a mirror and look at himself and give the glass a big kiss. He loved cash and in his mind success was God's blessing." Mirror Ball Man appeared during encores of concerts in 1992 and made
prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call, a hoax call, or a goof call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call and can be illegal under certain circumsta ...
s from the stage, often to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
in an attempt to reach U.S. President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
. Bono portrayed this alter ego on the first three legs of the tour, but replaced him with "MacPhisto" in 1993. MacPhisto was created to parody the
devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...
and was named after
Mephistopheles Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...
of the
Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
legend.Flanagan (1996), pp. 228–231 As MacPhisto, Bono wore a gold lamé suit with gold platform shoes, pale makeup, lipstick, and devil's horns on his head.McGee (2008), pp. 160–161 As the character, Bono spoke with an exaggerated upper-class English accent, similar to that of a down-on-his-luck character actor. According to him, "We came up with a sort of old English Devil, a pop star long past his prime returning regularly from sessions on The Strip in Vegas and regaling anyone who would listen to him at cocktail hour with stories from the good old, bad old days."McCormick (2006), p. 248 As MacPhisto, Bono continued his routine of making in-concert prank calls, targeting local politicians and mocking them by engaging them in character as the devil;Flanagan (1996), p. 245 he said, "When you're dressed as the Devil, your conversation is immediately loaded, so if you tell somebody you really like what they're doing, you know it's not a compliment." During performances, Bono attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible. He is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. In 2005, during U2's
Vertigo Tour The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2004 album '' How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'', the tour visited arenas and stadiums between March 2005 and December 2006. The Vertigo To ...
stop in Chicago, he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song " An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band. While accepting the 2003 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "
The Hands That Built America "The Hands That Built America" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was released on the Gangs of New York: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture, soundtrack to the film ''Gangs of New York'', and was one of two new songs on the group's ...
", Bono called the award "really, really fucking brilliant!" during the live television broadcast. In response, the
Parents Television Council The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by Conservatism in the United States, conservative political pundit L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which ...
condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the
FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...
. Although Bono's use of "fuck" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning. In apparent reaction to the refusal, a group of congressmen introduced
House Resolution 3687 The seven dirty words are seven English language profanity words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. The words, in the order Carlin listed them, are: "shit", "p ...
, the "Clean Airwaves Act", on 8 December 2003,H.R. 3687 (108th)
GovTrack GovTrack.us is a website developed by then-student Joshua Tauberer. It is based in Washington, D.C., and was launched as a hobby. It enables its users to track the bills and members of the United States Congress. Users can add trackers to certain ...
aiming to amend section 1464 of title 18 of the United States Code to provide an explicit list of profane words and phrases and remove ambiguity that could enable certain uses of the phrases to be allowed. The bill was not enacted. The incident has had a long-term impact on the handling of profanity on live broadcasts. U2 were criticised in 2007 for moving part of their multimillion-euro song catalogue from Ireland to
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2 manager
Paul McGuinness Paul McGuinness (born 16 June 1951) is an Irish talent manager. He was the founder of Principle Management Limited, a popular music act management company based in Dublin, Ireland. He was the manager of the rock band U2 from 1978 to 2013. Ea ...
stated that the arrangement was legal and customary and businesses often sought to minimise their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several wealthy figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity
Christian Aid Christian Aid is a relief and development charity of 41 Christian (Protestant and Orthodox) churches in Great Britain and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster rel ...
in 2008.


Solo

In November 2022, Bono embarked on a 14-date
book tour A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
across North America and Europe called "Stories of Surrender" to promote his memoir ''Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story''. For the shows, he recited and acted out passages from his book and performed U2 songs in stripped-down arrangements. Though described as a "
one-man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show, one-woman show, or one-person show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieti ...
", the performances were aided by musicians Kate Ellis (cello, keyboards, vocals), Gemma Doherty (harp, keyboards, vocals), and U2 producer
Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Direc ...
("musical director" – keyboards, percussion). Bono continued the tour with a
residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...
of 11 shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City from April to May 2023, which grossed $6.8 million. The shows were filmed for a documentary film, '' Bono: Stories of Surrender'', which was released on
Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
on 30 May 2025. It was also made available as an Apple Immersive Video for the
Apple Vision Pro The Apple Vision Pro is a mixed reality, mixed-reality headset developed by Apple Inc., Apple. It was announced on June 5, 2023, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and was released first in the US, then in global territories thr ...
headset, making it the first feature-length film to be released in the format. Bono also released an EP of the same name with live performances of three songs to coincide with the film's release.


Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, Bono has received co-writing or singing credits on 80 solo and collaborative works. He has worked with artists that include
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
,Simon, S. (Host). (13 November 1993). ''Weekend Edition Saturday''. Washington, DC: National Public Radio.
Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
,
Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,U2. (1998). Slow Dancing. On ''If God Will Send His Angels'' D-Single New York: Island Records.
Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
,Louie, R. (6 February 1996). Short Takes. ''Buffalo News''. Retrieved 3 May 2007, fro
Opera man Luciano Pavarotti wants to be hip
.
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
,
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
,
Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...
,
Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...
,Orbison, R. (1989). "
She's a Mystery to Me "She's a Mystery to Me" is a song by Roy Orbison, written by Bono and the Edge of U2. It was released on Orbison's final (posthumous) album, ''Mystery Girl'' (also inspiring the album title), and as the album's second single in March 1989. The s ...
". On ''
Mystery Girl ''Mystery Girl'' is the twenty-second album by American singer Roy Orbison. It was his last album recorded during his lifetime, completed in November 1988, a month before his death at age 52. Released posthumously by Virgin Records on January 3 ...
'' D London: Virgin Records.
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,Bono (10 August 1984). BONO, BOB AND VAN. ''Hot Press''.
Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...
,
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...
,Various Artists. (1995). Goldeneye. On ''Goldeneye: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' D New York: Virgin Records.
B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
,
Zucchero Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), known professionally as Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his primary school teacher used to ...
,U2. (1988). When Love Comes to Town. On ''Rattle and Hum'' D New York: Island Records.
Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
,U2 Wanderer. (Unknown last update)
''U2 Discography—Q's Jook Joint''
Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...
,
Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...
,Kirk Franklin. (1998). Lean on me. On ''The Nu Nation Project'' D-Album Inglewood: GospoCentric Records.
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...
,Stanley, A. (19 May 2007)
"Bruce Springsteen: The Rising Tour 2003-2003 Final Tour Statistics"
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...
,TonyBennett.net. (Unknown last update)
''Tony Bennett, Columbia Records''
Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Clannad Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...
,U2tour.de. (Unknown last update)
''In A Lifetime (Clannad & Bono)''
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
the Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band consisting of siblings Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, keyboards, v ...
,Cashmere, P. (14 April 2004). The Corrs Record Another Bono Song. ''Undercover Media''. Retrieved 4 July 2007, fro
undercover.com.au
.
Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
,U2Wanderer.org. (Unknown last update)
''U2 Discography—New Day Single''
Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...
,
Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...
, and
Herbert Grönemeyer Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Peter ...
. On
Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal Robertson (July 5, 1943 – August 9, 2023) was a Canadian musician of Indigenous and Jewish ancestry. He was the lead guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band in the mid-late 1960s and early-mid 1970s. Robertson was also the ...
's 1987 eponymous album, he played bass guitar on one track, and sang on another.Robbie Robertson. (1987). Sweet Fire of Love. On ''Robbie Robertson'' D-Album Santa Monica: Geffen Records. For
Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 ...
's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono and producer
Andy Gill Andrew James Dalrymple Gill (1 January 1956 – 1 February 2020) was an English musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the rock band Gang of Four, which he co-founded in 1976. Gill was known for his angular, jagged style of ...
completed the unfinished song "Slide Away" by writing an additional verse and recording vocals by Bono. In 2015, he collaborated with African stars
D'banj Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo (born 9 June 1980), known professionally as D'banj ( ), is a Nigerians, Nigerian singer, rapper, music executive, event host and television personality. He signed with American rapper Kanye West's record label GOOD Music ...
,
Waje Aituaje Aina Vivian Ebele Iruobe (born 1 September 1981), known professionally as Waje (an acronym for "Words Aren't Just Enough"), is a Nigerian singer. She first gained recognition after being featured on the remake of P-Square’s "Omoge Mi" ...
and
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde Omotola Jalade Ekeinde , ( ; born Omotola Jalade, 7 February 1978) is a Nigerian actress, singer, philanthropist and former model. Since her Nollywood film debut in 1995, Ekeinde has appeared in over 300 films, selling millions of copies. Omo ...
for a women's empowerment song entitled "Strong Girl". Bono and the Edge have written and recorded several songs together outside of U2. They wrote the musical score for the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
's London stage adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'', which opened in 1990. The duo also wrote the eponymous theme song of the 1995
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
film ''
GoldenEye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond (lit ...
'', which was performed by
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...
. Bono and the Edge ventured into theatre again when they composed the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical '' Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark''; they were featured on the soundtrack's single " Rise Above 1" with
Reeve Carney Reeve Jefferson Carney (born April 18, 1983) is an American actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for originating the role of Orpheus in the original Broadway cast of the Tony Award–winning musical '' Hadestown''. He also ...
in 2011. The duo collaborated with
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
and
Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...
for the 2010 song " Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", which benefitted the '' Hope for Haiti Now'' relief telethon for the
2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...
. Bono and the Edge were featured on the song " We Are the People" by Dutch DJ
Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...
, which served as the official song of the
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...
tournament and was released on 14 May 2021. On 17 March 2020, Bono performed a new song, "Let Your Love Be Known", via livestream to fans during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. On 24 March, the song was released on YouTube, retitled "#SING4LIFE", as a collaboration with
will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...
,
Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, producer, and talk show host. Having received List of awards and nominations received by Jennifer Hudson, numerous accolades for ...
, and
Yoshiki Yoshiki is a masculine Japanese given name. Written forms Yoshiki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義樹, "justice, tree" *義基, "justice, foundation" *義機, "justice, opportuni ...
. Bono has worked with numerous hip-hop artists, including DMX on his 2021 song "Skyscrapers" and
Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...
on his 2025 song "The Days". For Halsey's 2025 For My Last Trick: The Tour, Bono voiced the Rabbit character during a series of ''
Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
''-themed interstitial videos between songs.


Musical style


Vocals

Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style, often delivered in a high
register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...
through open-throated belting. Bono has been classified as a
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
, and according to him has a three-
octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...
; one analysis found it to span from C to G on studio recordings over the course of his career. He frequently employs " whoa-oh-oh" vocalisations in his singing. Rock musician
Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician and actor. He is best known for being the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is als ...
of
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
said: "He's a physical singer, like the leader of a gospel choir, and he gets lost in the melodic moment. He goes to a place outside himself, especially in front of an audience, when he hits those high notes." He added that Bono is "not afraid to go beyond what he's capable of". In the early days of U2, Bono unintentionally developed an English vocal accent as a result of him mimicking his musical influences such as
Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...
. He said: "I still think that I sing like Siouxsie from The Banshees on the first two U2 albums. But I found my voice through
Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and founding member of the punk rock band Ramones, with Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone. His ...
at that gig in Dublin. I stood there and heard him singing. He sang a bit like a girl too. It was all going to be OK after all. That was my way in." His vocal style evolved during the band's exploration of roots music for ''The Joshua Tree''; ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
'' said that he learned to command "the full whisper-to-shout range of blues mannerisms". Bono attributed this maturation to "loosening up", "discover ngother voices", and employing more restraint in his singing. For "
Where the Streets Have No Name "Where the Streets Have No Name" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1987 album ''The Joshua Tree'' and was released as the album's third single in August 1987. The song's hook is a repeating guitar arpeggio us ...
", Bono varied the
timbre In music, timbre (), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes sounds according to their source, such as choir voices and musical instrument ...
of his voice extensively and used
rubato ; , , ;) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rubato is an expressive shaping of music that is a p ...
to vary its timing, while author Susan Fast found "
With or Without You "With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album, ''The Joshua Tree'' (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most succes ...
" to be the first track on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way". Bono continued to explore a lower range in the 1990s, using what Fast described as "breathy and subdued colors" for ''Achtung Baby''.Fast (2000), pp. 45–48 One technique used on the album is
octave doubling In music theory, voicing refers to two closely related concepts: # How a musician or group distributes, or spaces, notes and chords on one or more instruments # The simultaneous vertical placement of notes in relation to each other; this rela ...
, in which his vocals are sung in two different octaves, either simultaneously or alternating between verses and choruses. According to Fast, this technique introduces "a contrasting lyrical idea and vocal character to deliver it", leading to both literal and ironic interpretations of Bono's vocals. On tracks such as " Zoo Station" and " The Fly", his vocals were highly processed, giving them a different emotional feel from his previous work.Stokes (2005), p. 96 Bono said that lowering his voice helped him find a new vocal vocabulary, as he previously felt limited to "certain words and tones" by his tenor voice. His singing on ''
Zooropa ''Zooropa'' is the eighth studio album by Irish rock music, rock band U2. Produced by Flood (producer), Flood, Brian Eno, and the Edge, it was released on 5 July 1993 on Island Records. Inspired by the band's experiences on the Zoo TV Tour, ''Z ...
'' was an even further departure from U2's previous style; throughout the record, Bono "underplay dhis lung power", according to
Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...
he calls the "Fat Lady" voice on the tracks "
Lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
" and " Numb".McCormick (2006), p. 248 As he has aged, Bono has continued to evolve his singing, relying more on "the
croon A crooner is a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by better microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to acce ...
than the belt", according to ''Rolling Stone''s Joe Gross.


Equipment

In the early years of U2, Bono used a black Fender Lead 2 guitar connected to a
Roland Bolt amplifier The Roland Bolt 30/60/100 was the only line of tube guitar amplifiers produced by Roland. The Bolt amplifier series was released in 1979. The Bolt amplifiers used an hybrid circuit, with a Mosfet-based solid state preamp section and an all Tube p ...
model Bolt 60. He has used a Shure SM58 Premier S2 radio microphone in live performances; this was replaced by the Shure UHF-R series and he now uses a B58 capsule instead of the SM58 capsule. He is known to record in the studio with a standard Shure SM58 microphone.


Activism and philanthropy

Bono has been involved in philanthropy and activism for
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
and
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
causes, both as a member of U2 and as an individual. He explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the '' Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows, staged by
Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...
member
John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...
and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organisation
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
in 1979.Boyd, B. (20 October 2006)
"A secret history of the old Ball game"
''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
''. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Bono stated, "I saw ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...". In 1984, musician
Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...
enlisted Bono to participate in the Band Aid charity single "
Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...
"; Bono reprised his singing role for the 2004
Band Aid 20 Band Aid 20 was the 2004 incarnation of the charity supergroup Band Aid. The group, which included Daniel Bedingfield, Dido, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Bono of U2 ...
and 2014 Band Aid 30 singles of the same name. In July 1985, U2 performed at the
Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
charity concert, which was organised by Geldof to benefit the Ethiopian famine; he and Bono later collaborated to organise the 20th anniversary
Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...
concerts in 2005, at which U2 also performed.p From September to October 1985, Bono and his wife Ali Hewson made a humanitarian visit to Africa, spending a month working at a feeding centre in Ajibar, Ethiopia.McGee (2008), pp. 89–91 Along with other volunteers, they developed an educational programme consisting of songs and one-act plays to teach Ethiopian children important information about issues such as health and hygiene.McCormick (2006), pp. 167–169 During the trip, he also became aware of the corruption, trade agreements, and debts that were all claimed to be contributing factors to the famine and poverty in Africa. The trip was cited as fueling Bono's passion for African issues that would come to characterise his future philanthropic and activist efforts. In 1986, Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope Tour of benefit concerts in the United States, alongside musicians such as
Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...
and
Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...
. Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved with raising awareness of the plight of Africa and campaigning on its behalf. From 1999 to 2000, Bono was involved with the
Jubilee 2000 Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. ...
coalition, working as an activist on its
Drop the Debt Drop the Debt is the slogan of the late 1990s campaign for international debt cancellation led by the organisation Jubilee 2000. The phrase was coined by filmmaker Mike Christie. He and Jubilee 2000's Jamie Drummond set out to create a mainstrea ...
campaign. He met with U.S. Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as the director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as presiden ...
, and with U.S. Republican politicians such as
Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the Conservatism in the United States, conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the ...
,
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...
, Orrin Hatch, J. Dennis Hastert, and Dick Armey in an effort to secure bipartisan support for the U.S. forgiving the debt of developing countries. He has met with several influential politicians, including former U.S. President George W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.Denny, C., & Black, I. (15 March 2002)
US and Europe boost aid to poorest countries
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
During a March 2002 visit to the White House, Bono lobbied Bush to provide financial assistance to developing countries. The following year, Bush signed legislation authorising the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, which has been credited with saving 17 million lives over its lifetime. Bush told Bono that the initiative "never would have made it out of United States Congress, Congress had [Bono] not been engaged". The advocacy non-government organisation (NGO) DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from Drop the Debt. The organisation was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, George Soros, and Edward W. Scott. In 2004, Bono and Shriver co-founded the One Campaign, with the aim of eliminating
extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...
and disease in Africa by building citizen support. The organisation received a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2006, Bono and Shriver collaborated again to found (Red), an organization that licenses the Product Red brand to partner companies to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo, and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products benefit the Global Fund. Partner companies include American Express, Apple Inc., Apple, Converse (company), Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, Gap (clothing retailer), The Gap, Giorgio Armani S.p.A., Giorgio Armani,Persuaders, LLC. (2007)
''What RED Is, How RED Works''
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Persuaders, LLC. (2007)
''Products''
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Nike, Inc., Nike, and Starbucks; Bono was involved with securing most of Red's corporate partners. In October 2007, it was announced that DATA and One Campaign would merge in the United States and that the new organization would be known simply as One. Red currently operates as a sister organisation of One. As of December 2018, One has 10 million members, 3 million of whom are in Africa. As of December 2020, Red has generated $650 million to support HIV/AIDS grants. In 2023, Bono announced he would leave the board of directors of the One Campaign at the end of the year. In 2005, Bono recorded a version of "Don't Give Up (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song), Don't Give Up" with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive. Bono has spoken at numerous events on behalf of his activist efforts. He spoke at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast on 2 February 2006, encouraging the care of the socially and economically depressed and calling for an extra one per cent tithe of the United States' national budget.Bono. (February 2006). ''Remarks at the The Family (Christian political organization), National Prayer Breakfast.'' Speech presented at Washington Hilton, Hilton Washington Hotel at Washington, DC. He has made multiple appearances at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'' magazine, named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power". It featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists, each showcasing their contributions to humanitarian relief in Africa. In 2021, Bono lent his voice to One's animated series ''Pandemica'', which was created to raise awareness of the importance of vaccines in ending the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the Health equity, inequalities in worldwide vaccine availability. In 2022, Bono supported Ukraine's resistance to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, being invaded by Russia. A poem written by Bono about Saint Patrick and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was recited by Nancy Pelosi at a White House event for Saint Patrick's Day, on 17 March 2022. The poem was widely derided by the public. In early April, Bono and the Edge recorded an acoustic rendition of "Walk On (U2 song), Walk On" for Global Citizen (organization), Global Citizen's Stand Up for Ukraine livestream, which was organised to urge world leaders to raise funds for 2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis, Ukrainian refugees. On 8 May 2022, as a show of solidarity for Ukrainians and at the invitation of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Bono and the Edge performed in a Kyiv metro station that was being used as a makeshift bomb shelter.


Efficacy and analysis

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers and was named the most politically effective celebrity of all time by the ''National Journal''. He has been dubbed "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organisations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise. On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in ''The New York Times'' called "The Rock Star's Burden" (cf. Rudyard Kipling, Kipling's "The White Man's Burden") that criticised stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and White savior, can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." In February 2006, Bono responded to his critics by calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn't know what to do if they were on the field. They're the party who will always be in opposition so they'll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they'll never be able to implement them." In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O'Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine ... Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funnelled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimise taxes." Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organisations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts.


Other creative endeavours


Art

Bono sketches and paints as a hobby. He developed his art style by drawing and painting on photographs, which he learned from his father who used to add colour to black-and-white instant film photographs of his wife. Describing Bono's interest in visual artwork, ''The Atlantic''s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said, "He just walks around with an iPad and sketches everything." Bono and his daughters Jordan and Eve provided original paintings for a 2003 book adaptation of ''Peter and the Wolf'', which accompanied a musical release by Bono's friend Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer. A CD-book package was released in November 2003. Bono's paintings, which were inspired by the 2001 death of his father, were auctioned at Christie's in New York. Proceeds from the sales of the paintings and CD-book package benefitted the Irish Hospice Foundation. Bono's drawings of his musical influences were featured in a December 2022 issue of ''The Atlantic'' in an article profiling him. The following year, Goldberg commissioned him to illustrate the cover of ''The Atlantic''s June 2023 issue for a story about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Bono's artwork, a line-drawing sketched portrait of Zelenskyy in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, was inspired by protest art and political posters. U2 also sold merchandise featuring the portrait, including T-shirts, posters, and hoodies, with all proceeds benefiting United24 to purchase ambulances for Ukraine.


Film

Bono was an executive producer of Bill Carter's 1995 documentary film ''Miss Sarajevo''. Carter had previously enlisted U2's help in bringing attention to the Siege of Sarajevo during their 1993 concerts on the Zoo TV Tour. Bono was also executive producer of the 2000 film ''The Million Dollar Hotel'', which was developed from a story by himself and Nicholas Klein. It starred Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, and Mel Gibson. In the 2007 musical film ''Across the Universe (film), Across the Universe'', Bono made a cameo appearance during a psychedelic sequence, portraying the character "Dr. Robert" and singing the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus". Bono served as an executive producer of the 2018 film ''Waiting for the Miracle to Come''. Bono participated in the 2019 documentary ''Pavarotti (film), Pavarotti'', in which he expressed his admiration for the titular Italian tenor
Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
. Bono voiced a character in the 2021 animated musical film ''Sing 2'', the lion rock legend Clay Calloway. In April 2023, Max (streaming service), Max and Cartoon Network greenlit a short animated film adaption of ''Peter & the Wolf'' with artwork based on Bono's original illustrations for his 2003 book. The project features narration and music by Friday.


Writings

Bono's memoir, ''Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story'', was released on 1 November 2022, and was promoted with a
book tour A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
called "Stories of Surrender". The book debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York Times'' nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending 5 November 2022. For his work narrating the audiobook version of ''Surrender'', Bono won the Audiobook of the Year honour at the 2024 Audie Awards. An abridged and updated version of the book with a new introduction was released in paperback under the title ''Bono: Stories of Surrender'', as a tie-in to the Apple TV+ film of the same name released in May 2025.


Business ventures

In 1992, Bono, along with the Edge, bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom
Clarence Hotel The Clarence Hotel is a four-star 51-room hotel located at 6–8 Wellington Quay, Dublin, Ireland. It is in the Temple Bar neighbourhood, on the River Liffey. It first opened in 1852, and bought by U2 lead singer Bono and lead guitarist The ...
, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.The Clarence Hotel. (Unknown last update)
''At the Clarence''
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
In 2019, they sold the hotel leasehold, and four years later, they sold the property. Bono and McKillen are also co-owners of Clós Nua Ltd., a company that owns the Tramyard site in Dalkey and plans to redevelop it. In 2005, Bono, Ali Hewson, and designer Rogan Gregory co-founded the
EDUN EDUN is a fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono in 2005 to promote trade in Africa by sourcing production throughout the continent. In 2009 EDUN became part of the LVMH group. In June 2018, LVMH sold their shares back to the founders. ...
fashion label ("nude" spelled backwards, to suggest both "natural" and the Garden of Eden). It was intended to help bring about positive change in Africa through a fair trade-based relationship rather than by direct aid. Bono was a board member of the
Elevation Partners Elevation Partners was an American private equity firm that invested in intellectual property, technology and media companies. The firm had $1.9 billion of assets under management. The firm was founded in 2004 and was headquartered in New York ...
private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and subsequently invested in other entertainment businesses.Elevation Partners. (2007)
''Introduction to Elevation Partners''
. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Fahey, R. (22 April 2005)
Elevation Partners withdraws its offer for Eidos
''gi''. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
Bono was an investor in the Forbes Media group in the U.S. through Elevation Partners; his firm took a minority stake in Forbes Media, which encompassed the 89-year-old business that includes ''Forbes'' magazine, the Forbes.com website, and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250 million). Elevation Partners also owned a 1.5 per cent stake in social networking site Facebook, originally purchased for $210 million. Although it was reported that Bono's stake was valued at approximately US$1 billion in February 2012, a 2015 article in ''Forbes'' stated that this estimate was based on an incorrect attribution of shares. In 2016, Bono invested in and joined the board of directors of the "Rise Fund", a new $2 billion impact investment fund founded by TPG Capital, TPG. Rise's investments fell across seven sectors, including agriculture, education, and healthcare, and were made into companies making "a measurable positive social and/or environmental impact". In 2019, Bono and TPG announced the creation of Y Analytics, a company intended to measure the social and environmental impacts of investments. Bono was among those named in the 2017 Paradise Papers after he was identified as an investor in Nude Estates, which bought a shopping mall in Lithuania in 2007 and transferred ownership to Nude Estates 1 in Guernsey, in an apparent attempt to avoid tax. Bono welcomed the subsequent investigation by the Lithuanian tax authority, saying that transparency was necessary and he had personally campaigned for it. Nude Estates paid €53,000 in taxes and fines after the investigation was completed and Bono severed ties with the company. In September 2019, Bono joined the board of directors of Zipline (drone delivery), Zipline.


Awards and recognition

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy Awards and two Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song (for "
The Hands That Built America "The Hands That Built America" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was released on the Gangs of New York: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture, soundtrack to the film ''Gangs of New York'', and was one of two new songs on the group's ...
" in 60th Golden Globe Awards, 2003 and "Ordinary Love (U2 song), Ordinary Love" in 71st Golden Globe Awards, 2014). In 2005, Bono was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
as a member of U2, in the group's first year of eligibility.
Bono has been recognised by music critics on several rankings of greatest singers and frontmen. Among singers, ''Q (magazine), Q'' ranked him the 26th-greatest, ''Consequence of Sound'' ranked him the 32nd-greatest, and ''Mojo (magazine), Mojo'' ranked him 57th-greatest. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him the 32nd-greatest singer in 2008, and the 140th-greatest in 2023. Among frontmen, ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' ranked him the 9th-greatest lead singer in rock history, ''Gigwise'' ranked him the 45th-greatest frontman, and Steven Hyden of ''Uproxx'' ranked him the 16th-greatest lead singer. In 2015, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Bono and the Edge at number 35 on its list of the Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. In 2003, Bono received the Legion of Honour from the French government, and the MusiCares Person of the Year award. The following year he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. ''Time'' included Bono on its annual Time 100, ''Time'' 100 list of the most influential people in 2004 and 2006. In 2005, the magazine named him, Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates the Time Person of the Year, Persons of the Year. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner a "wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the One Campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic, and school in Ethiopia could be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organised a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007. In 2004, Bono was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007, Bono received several honours. At the 38th NAACP Image Awards, he won the Chairman's Award. He was named in the UK's British Honours System, New Year Honours List as an List of honorary British knights and dames#Professional, humanitarian and exploration, honorary Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire."Honorary knighthood for U2's Bono"
''BBC News''. (23 December 2006). Retrieved 14 January 2007
[Unknown Author] (23 December 2006). Bono gets honorary knighthood. ''RTÉ News''. Retrieved 14 January 2007, fro
RTE
He was formally granted honorary knighthood on 29 March in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.[Unknown Author], (29 March 2007)
Don't call him 'sir': U2's Bono knighted
. ''Associated Press''. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
On 27 September, Bono and DATA received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal for their humanitarian efforts. While accepting the honour, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to DATA; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the prize on the organisation's behalf. On 11 December 2008, Bono received the annual Man of Peace prize, which is awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France. ''Time'' ranked Bono 8th on its list of the "Most Influential Celebrities" in 2013; he was the only person from the music industry in the Top 10. In July 2013, he was honoured by the French government as a , the country's highest cultural honour. In 2016, ''Glamour (magazine), Glamour'' named him "Man of the Year", breaking the 26-year tradition that saw the "Woman of the Year" accolade reserved only for women. Bono was recognized for establishing a campaign called "Poverty is Sexist", which is "specifically aimed at helping the world's poorest women". In 2018, he was the first recipient of the George W. Bush Medal for Distinguished Leadership, which was awarded by George W. Bush Presidential Center, Bush's Presidential Center; the honour was in recognition of Bono's humanitarian work against poverty and HIV/AIDS. On 1 April 2022, Bono received the 2021 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding from the Fulbright Program, Fulbright Association in recognition of his activist efforts. In January 2025, Bono was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
, the highest civilian honour in the United States, by President Joe Biden. A statement on whitehouse.gov called Bono a "pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty" and credited him with creating bipartisan support for the U.S. PEPFAR program for AIDS relief.


Personal life


Family life

At the age of thirteen, Bono met Ali Hewson, Alison "Ali" Stewart, who was one year below him at Mount Temple Comprehensive School.Kootnikoff, David (2012), ''Bono: A Biography'', Santa Barbara, California, pp. 7–9. After the September 1974 death of his mother left him emotionally adrift and in conflict with his father and brother, Stewart began taking care of him. In 1976, Bono and Stewart began dating. The pair split up briefly but reunited. Their relationship became more serious as she accompanied him in his efforts to break through in the music industry, and by 1979 they were discussing marriage, conditional upon his career becoming established. Stewart and Bono married on 31 August 1982 in a
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny, All Saints Church in her home area, Raheny. The ceremony combined rituals of both conventional Protestantism and the Shalom Friendship Christian group that Bono and other U2 members had belonged to. U2 was in debt to their record label Island Records so the couple could not afford a honeymoon, but the label's founder Chris Blackwell gave them use of the Goldeneye (estate), Goldeneye estate he owned in Jamaica. After returning to Ireland, the couple moved to a small mews house in Howth, which they shared with the rest of U2. The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (born 10 May 1989) and Eve Hewson, Eve (born 7 July 1991) and sons Elijah Hewson, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (born 17 August 1999) and John Abraham (born 20 May 2001).. Retrieved 19 November 2010. Elijah is the lead vocalist and guitarist in the rock band Inhaler (band), Inhaler, while Eve is an established actress.


Residences

After leaving the Howth peninsula, Bono and Ali bought a Martello tower in Bray, County Wicklow, Bray in northern County Wicklow, south of Dublin. Since the 1980s, they have maintained a primary home on Vico Road, in the affluent Dublin suburb of Killiney. The house, Temple Hill, is located on the slopes of Killiney Hill and has views of Killiney Bay. Bono's childhood friend
Gavin Friday Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes. Early life Fionan Hanvey was born in Dublin an ...
lives next door. Some years after the original purchase, the Hewsons bought one neighbouring house, Curlews, and shortly after, a second, the castellated Lios Beag. Bono and Ali also own residences in the south of France and New York. In the late 1980s or early 1990s, Bono bought a top-floor duplex apartment in Manhattan's The San Remo, San Remo apartment building from Steve Jobs for $15 million. Jobs had renovated it for his own use, but never moved in. In 1993, Bono and the Edge co-purchased a seafront house in Èze-sur-Mer in the south of France.


Faith

In 2013, when discussing his faith in Jesus, Jesus Christ, Bono said that Christ was either who he claimed he was or he was "a complete and utter nutcase". As early as 2005, Bono was invoking this argument, identified as the "Lewis's trilemma, Lewis trilemma".


Health and safety

Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses, as he has had glaucoma since the 1990s; this also makes him sensitive to flash photography. During a ''Rolling Stone'' interview, he stated: In January 1996, Bono was aboard a Grumman HU-16 aeroplane flown by musician Jimmy Buffett named ''Hemisphere Dancer'' that was shot at by Jamaican police, who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana. The aircraft, which sustained minimal damage, was also carrying Ali Hewson, her and Bono's two daughters, Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized. In May 2010, while rehearsing for a North American leg of the U2 360° Tour, Bono suffered a Spinal disc herniation, herniated disk and severe compression of the sciatic nerve, and he was taken to a clinic in Munich for emergency neurosurgery. The North American tour was postponed and rescheduled for 2011. On 16 November 2014, Bono was involved in a "high energy bicycle accident" when he attempted to avoid another rider in New York City, New York's Central Park. Bono was rushed to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical Center's Emergency Department and underwent "multiple X-rays and CAT scans" followed by five hours of surgery. Bono sustained fractures of the shoulder blade, humerus, orbit and pinky finger. Orthopaedic trauma surgeon Dean Lorich, MD, stated that "[Bono] was taken urgently to the operating room... where the elbow was washed out and debrided, a nerve trapped in the break was moved and the bone was repaired with three metal plates and 18 screws." Bono posted to U2's official website, "As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again", as reported in ''Cycling Weekly''. In 2016, during the recording sessions for U2's album ''Songs of Experience (U2 album), Songs of Experience'', Bono had what the Edge called a "brush with mortality"; as a result of the episode, he decided to rework the album's lyrics. ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' reported that sometime in late 2016 between Christmas and New Year's Day, Bono had a near-death experience. At the time, he did not specify what had happened, but in his 2022 memoir ''Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story'', he revealed that he had undergone open-heart surgery due to a aortic aneurysm, "blister" that formed over time in his aorta as a result of having a bicuspid aortic valve. The eight-hour operation was performed by David H. Adams at Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan), Mount Sinai Hospital, and Bono made a full recovery.


Discography


Filmography

In addition to his acting credits, Bono has contributed music to films, as part of U2 and other collaborations.


Honours

* (Chev. L.H.) (Knight): ''Chevalier dans l'Ordre de la Légion d'honneur'' (Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honour), France (28 February 2003) * (OL): Oficial da Ordem da Liberdade (Officer of the Order of Liberty), Portugal (21 April 2005) * (KBE) Honorary Commander (order), Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, United Kingdom (20 January 2007) * ''Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters), France (16 July 2013) *
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
, United States (4 January 2025)


See also

* Timeline of U2 * List of peace activists * ''Aptostichus bonoi, A. bonoi'', a species of spider in the genus ''Aptostichus'' named after Bono


References

Footnotes Print sources * * * * * * * * * * Other notes


External links


U2.com
nbsp;– Official U2 website
ONE Campaign
nbsp;– Advocacy and campaigning organization cofounded by Bono
EDUN
nbsp;– Fashion label started by Bono and his wife Ali * * * * * {{Authority control Bono, 1960 births 20th-century Irish male singers 21st-century Irish male singers Alternative rock singers Irish anti-poverty advocates Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Golden Globe Award–winning musicians Grammy Award winners HIV/AIDS activists Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century Irish businesspeople Irish tenors 21st-century Irish philanthropists 21st-century Irish memoirists Irish political music artists Irish rock singers Irish male singer-songwriters Ivor Novello Award winners Living people Singers from Dublin (city) People educated at Mount Temple Comprehensive School People from Killiney Post-punk musicians Private equity and venture capital investors Knights of the Legion of Honour U2 members Singers with a three-octave vocal range People named in the Paradise Papers Pseudonyms Singers awarded knighthoods 20th-century Irish singer-songwriters 21st-century Irish singer-songwriters Kennedy Center honorees Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients 1970s in Irish music 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music