Born Paul David Hewson, Bono, has been the lead singer of the rock band U2 since 1976. U2 has won 22 Grammy Awards to date, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Lauded by fans and critics as an outstanding performer and songwriter, Bono has also been praised by world leaders as an accomplished activist due to his powers of persuasion and knowledge of the issues. He travels extensively to give speeches and lobby politicians.
Bono's career as a socially conscious musician has been shaped by childhood experiences in Ireland as well as volunteer work in Africa and South America. He married his childhood sweetheart Ali Hewson in 1982. An accomplished activist in her own right, Ali Hewson once declined an invitation to run for President of Ireland because her husband "would not move to a smaller house". They live in Dublin with their four children: Jordan, Memphis Eve, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q and John Abraham.
Bono was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in
2003 for his successful efforts to relieve third world debt and promote
AIDS awareness in Africa. He received the rank of Chevalier dans
I'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight in the Order of the Legion of
Honor) from French President Jacques Chirac on February 28, 2003. - IMDb Mini Biography By:
Anonymous
Bono's career as a socially conscious musician has been shaped by childhood experiences in Ireland as well as volunteer work in Africa and South America. He married his childhood sweetheart Ali Hewson in 1982. An accomplished activist in her own right, Ali Hewson once declined an invitation to run for President of Ireland because her husband "would not move to a smaller house". They live in Dublin with their four children: Jordan, Memphis Eve, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q and John Abraham.
Spouse
| Ali Hewson | (21 August 1982 - present) (4 children) |
Trade Mark
Wears goggle-like sunglasses
Often wears black clothes
Religious symbolism in songs
Often wears a rosary given to him by Pope John Paul II
Songs about politics
Gretsch Irish Falcon Guitar
High vocal range
Runs around the stage at live concerts
Trivia
At one point in in their career, less than ten paying customers were on hand for a U2 show. In the early 1990s, U2 was the biggest export in all of Ireland.
Luciano Pavarotti called Bono's father relentlessly, so that he would try and convince his son to write a song for him.
He has written songs either for, or with, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Keith Richards, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor and Howie B. among several others.
Wife Alison gave birth to their 4th child, John Abraham Hewson, 7
lbs 7 oz, in Dublin Ireland. Now has two daughters and two sons. [May
2001]
Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the rock band U2.
Children: Jordan Hewson (born on his 29th birthday, 10 May 1989), Memphis Eve Hewson (born 7 July 1991), Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (born 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (born 21 May 2001).
His father, Robert Hewson, died of cancer in Dublin. [August 2001]
Wrote a song with The Edge for Roy Orbison, "She's a Mystery to Me". It is included on Orbison's last album "Mystery Girl" (1989).
His stage name comes from Bono Vox, a hearing aid retailer. Bono Vox is Latin for "good voice"
He is the only person, who has been nominated for an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, and for the Nobel Prize.
Was one of the keynote speakers at Liberal Party of Canada's Leadership Convention in November 2003, where Paul Martin was elected as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
Addressed the British Labour Party annual conference in Brighton, England. [September 2004]
U2 were voted the 22nd Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Supports Celtic Football club
He and his daughter Jordan share a birthday. She was born on his 29th birthday.
In 2005, he was one of 166 people nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize for his work on Third World debt relief and increasing AIDS
awareness.
Mother's name was Iris.
Was a school boy chess champion.
Voted the most powerful personality in the music industry by music execs.
Illustrated the children's book "Peter and the Wolf" with his daughters, Jordan Hewson and Eve Hewson, in 2003. The royalties went to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Was named by TIME Magazine as one of their 'Persons of the Year' for 2005 along with Bill Gates and Melinda Gates.
First Grammy-winning artist to say "fuck" during the 1994 live Grammy telecast
Was featured twice as a contestant on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch. In 2006, he fought Chris Martin in the episode "Changing of the Guard", even though he was killed by Yoko Ono in the 1999 episode "Celebrity Deathmatch International".
U2 won the Brit Award for International Group in 1990.
U2 won the Brit Award for International Group in 1989.
U2 won the British Phonographic Industry Award for International Group in 1988.
U2 won the 2001 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution.
U2 won the 2004 Q Icon Award.
Was named in the annual honor list as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).
Initiated "Product Red" along with Robert Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The U2 songs "I Will Follow", "Mofo", "Out of Control" and "Tomorrow" focus on his mother's death.
Resides in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland and shares a villa in
Èze, France and an apartment at The San Remo in New York City with The Edge.
U2
were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for their outstanding
contribution to British music and integral part of British music
culture. [November 2004]
Ranked #17 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
Bono's silhouette is used as the icon for the "Artists" tab of the music component of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Good friend of Neil Jordan. Named first daughter, Jordan Hewson, after him.
Is the only rock musician to be nominated for an Oscar, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and the Nobel Peace Prize.
He gives millions of dollars every year to charity.
Awarded an honorary knighthood, therefore not allowed to have the title 'Sir' Bono [March 2007]
U2
just gave a concert in Monterrey, Mexico and are still in Mexico for
their concerts on the 15th and 16th. Their next stop is Brazil as they
continue with the fourth leg of the Vertigo Tour. [February 2006]
His group, U2,
has given 3 successful concerts of their Vertigo tour in Spain:
Barcelona (7), San Sebastián (9) and Madrid (11). [August 2005]
Bono performed a duet with Yuriy Shevchuk live in Russia [August 2010]
Bono visited Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia. [August 2006]
Writing music with The Edge for an upcoming new rock-opera musical based on Spiderman. [May 2007]
Personal Quotes
Everyone argues, then we do what I say. - 1987
It costs a fortune to look this trashy.
Never trust a man who tells you it's from the heart, never trust a
man smoking a cigar, never trust a cowboy or a man who wears shades...
I could go onstage, unzip my pants, and hang my dick out, and people would think it was a statement about something.
Marriage is this grand madness, and I think if people knew that,
they would perhaps take it more seriously. The reason why there's operas
and novels and pop tunes written about love is because it's such an
extraordinary thing, not because it's commonplace, and yet that's what
you're told, you grow up with this idea that it's the norm. Hot Press,
March 2000
I love art too much to call these anything other than marks on paper
- on his paintings
U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do, it doesn't seem to help.
When I write, it's there. There's no staring at a blank page.
[about The Edge] He's an owl!
[talking about The Edge]
And that's not always a given - that he would want to play guitar. He
might be into keyboards this album, and you have Larry and Adam going
"oh fuck, he's into the keyboards now. We'll never get a rock song out
of him".
Look, I'm sick of Bono and I AM Bono.
I represent a lot of people [in Africa] who have no voice at
all... They haven't asked me to represent them. It's cheeky but I hope
they're glad I do.
The world is more malleable than you think. We can bend it into a better shape. Ask big questions, demand big answers.
I know sometimes you shouldn't judge your audience by the fans you
meet, especially if they're in a flowerbed in your garden at home but U2 fans are different, they're very humane.
Brian Wilson
believes in angels. I do too and you only have to listen to the string
arrangement of 'God Only Knows' for fact and proof of angels.
Great music is written by people who are either running toward or away from God.
On wearing his trademark sunglasses: Without them, I'm an amorphous mass.
What about this idea of liberty? Not liberty for its own sake, but
liberty for some larger end - not just freedom from oppression, but
freedom of expression and worship. Freedom from want, and freedom from
fear because when you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When
trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grow, you are not free.
When you are dying of a mosquito bite for lack of a bed net, you are
not free. When you are hungry in a world of plenty, you are not free.
And when you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a
temple because of your gospel of peace, it is an affront to the thug
regime, well then none of us are truly free.
I'm the Fidel Castro of speechifying. We've got a few hours, don't we?
The stage is but a platform shoe.
(On Live Aid
(1985)) That day changed my life and started me on this incredible
adventure, that is the possibility that our generation could be
remembered for something other than the Internet ... the first
generation to eradicate extreme poverty ... I want to spend the rest of
my life doing that, the band mouth off and complain, but they support
me.
I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. I'm
throwing a punch, and the fist belongs to people who can't be in the
room, whose rage, whose anger, whose hurt I represent.
We're delighted, of course, that people are owning up to being U2 fans.
The problem with voting is no matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
It
was a way of attracting people to this country who wouldn't normally do
business here and the financial services brought billions of dollars
every year directly to the Exchequer. What's actually hypocritical is
the idea that then you don't use a financial services center in Holland.
The real question people need to ask about Ireland's tax policy is:
'Was the nation a net gain benefactor?' and of course it was - hugely
so. So there was no hypocrisy for me. We're just part of a system that
has benefited the nation greatly and that's a system that will be closed
down in time. Ireland will have to find other ways of being competitive
and attractive. (On criticisms of tax avoidance made against U2)
[on Third World aid] The Irish people are amazing. What's so
incredible about the Irish people is that if you poll them -- I think
it's over 62 per cent -- even though they are hurting and there's a lot
of pain in the country, they don't want to cut the aid budget. That just
humbles me.
This whole concept of celebrating the millennium, the whole
concept of celebrating a particular minute in time, what is it? What's
it all about? It's bollocks, isn't it? It is.
[on Apple designer Jonathan Ive] Jony Ive is himself classic
Apple.
Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software
honed to simplicity. His genius is not just his ability to see what
others cannot, but also how he applies it. To watch him with his
workmates in the holy of holies, Apple's design lab, or on a night out,
is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss and he
loves them. What the competitors don't seem to understand is you cannot
get people this smart to work this hard just for money. Joni is Obi-Wan.
[on Elton John] He's the King and Queen of England.
[on meeting Freddie Mercury at Live Aid] So when Freddie Mercury
comes up to me, he goes, "Hello. Mmmmm. We've all agreed that we like
you." And I went, "Oh?" And he had me up against a wall and Freddie was
being really playful with me. And I walked off and I went, "He's really
very camp, isn't he?" Somebody said, "Queen?"
Pop music has dated much better than a lot of rock music.
[on creativity] If you were of sound mind, you wouldn't need 70K people a night screaming 'I love you'.
Nelson Mandela had humor and humility in his bearing, and he was
smarter and funnier than the parade of world leaders who flocked to see
him.. He could charm the birds off the trees - and the cash right out of
wallets.. Mandela lived a life without sanctimony. you try it; it's not
easy..
Laughter, not tears was Mandiba's preferred way. One of his
cellmates told me that price Mandela paid for working in the limestone
mine was not bitterness or even the blindness that can result from being
around the bright white reflection day after day. Mandela could see,
but the dust damage to his tear ducts had left him unable to cry. For
all this man's farsightedness and vision, he could not produce tears in a
moment of self-doubt or grief.
More than anyone, it was Mandela who rebooted the idea of Africa
from a continent in chaos to a much more romantic view, one in keeping
with the majesty of the landscape and the nobility of even its poorest
inhabitants.
He was also a hardheaded realist, as his economic policy
demonstrated. To him, principles and pragmatism were not foes; they went
hand-in-hand. He was an idealist without naiveté, a compromiser without
being compromised.
As an activist, I have pretty much been doing what Nelson Mandela
tells me since I was a teenager. He has been a forceful presence in my
life, going back to 1979 when U2 made its first anti apartheid effort.
And he's been a big part of the Irish consciousness even longer than
that. Irish people related all too easily to the subjugation of ethnic
minorities. From our point-of-view, the question as to how bloody South
Africa would have to get on its long road to freedom was not abstract.
