Bono
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- For other uses, see Bono (disambiguation).
| Bono | ||
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 Bono talking to the (then) Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin in Prague, 2000.
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Paul David Hewson | |
| Also known as | Bono | |
| Born | 10 May 1960 Dublin, Ireland |
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| Genre(s) | Rock | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, activist | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica | |
| Associated acts |
U2 | |
| Website | http://www.U2.com/ | |
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), better known as Bono[1], is the lead singer and occasional rhythm guitarist/harmonicist of the Irish rock band U2. Bono is also known for his humanitarian work in Africa and his efforts in cancelling the debt of poor third world countries.
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Biography
Paul Hewson was raised in Glasnevin (Northside of Dublin) by his mother, Iris Rankin Hewson, a Protestant, and his father, Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, a Roman Catholic. His mother died on 10 September 1974 of a brain hemorrhage when she collapsed at her father's funeral, when Bono was only 14 years old. Many songs from U2's early albums ("I Will Follow", "Out of Control", "Tomorrow"), focus on the loss of his mother, as well as a couple songs from more recent albums ("Mofo")
Hewson attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, an Ecumenical school that was the first of its kind in Dublin. During his childhood and adolescence, Hewson and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called "Lypton Village," which had a ritual of nickname-giving. He had several names: first, he was "Steinvic von Huyseman", then just "Huyseman", then "Houseman", then "Bon Murray", "Bono Vox of O'Connell Street", and finally just "Bono"[2].
"Bono Vox" is an alteration of Bonavox, a brand of hearing aid. The phrase in Latin translates to "good voice". "Bona Vox" was the name of a hearing aid shop they regularly passed in Dublin. It is said he was nicknamed "Bono Vox" after the shop by his friend Gavin Friday because he sang so loudly he seemed to be singing for the deaf. Initially, Bono did not like his name. However, when he learned it loosely translated to "good voice", he accepted it. [3]
In 1976, Bono responded to an advertisement by fellow student Larry Mullen, Jr. to form a rock band, as did Dave Evans (also known as The Edge), Dave's brother Dick Evans (who soon left the band), and Adam Clayton. The remaining four formed a band named 'Feedback', changed the name to 'The Hype', and then settled on U2. Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he often plays rhythm guitar and harmonica.
Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, several newspapers claimed Provisional IRA paramilitaries had put Bono on a hit-list for his "fuck the revolution" speech,. The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Some newspapers suggested the film's charity London premiere on 31 October would have to be cancelled. It was not, and all of the band members arrived, although their attempts to busk in Leicester Square were prevented by crowds and police.
In 1992, together with The Edge, Bono bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel that quickly became one of the city's most stylish (and expensive) hotels. The hotel's basement was also home to the now defunct nightclub, The Kitchen.
Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses on. He has said in a Rolling Stone interview that he has "very sensitive eyes to light. If somebody takes my photograph, I will see the flash for the rest of the day. My right eye swells up. I've a blockage there, so that my eyes go red a lot. So it's part vanity, it's part privacy, and part sensitivity."
In addition to his work with U2, he has written songs either for or with, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and BB King.
Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses.
Personal life
Bono married Alison "Ali" Stewart, whom he had dated since 1975, on 21 August 1982 in an Anglican ceremony at a chapel on the Guinness family estate. Adam Clayton, U2's bass player, was Bono's best man. The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (born 10 May 1989 which was Bono's 29th birthday) and Memphis Eve (born 7 July 1991); and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (born 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (born 21 May 2001).
Bono lives in Killiney in south County Dublin, Ireland, with his family and shares a villa in Èze in the Alpes-Maritimes in the south of France with The Edge, as well as an apartment at The San Remo in Manhattan.[4]
Humanitarian work
In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the benefit shows staged by Monty Python's John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for human rights organization Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." The seed led to Bono and U2 to perform on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting, who was one of the Secret Policeman's Ball performers Bono had seen. It also led Bono to perform in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects organized by Bob Geldof - another Secret Policeman's Ball performer - with whom Bono later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project. Bono's commitment to Amnesty has endured, and when U2 contributed a live performance to Amnesty's 2001 benefit, Bono introduced the song by referring to "The Secret Policeman's Ball - which is a mysterious and extraordinary event that certainly changed my life..."
In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). He also performed at Live Aid (in 1985) and Live 8 (in 2005) benefit concerts. Since 1999, he has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa.
In March 2002, Bono travelled to the White House for a special private meeting with President George W. Bush, who had just unveiled a $5 billion aid package for the world's poorest countries that respect human rights. He also accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn. He stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." [5]
In May 2002, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. Later in that year, Bono set up an organization called "DATA", which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa, to raise awareness about Africa's debts, the spread of AIDS, and trade rules that hurt the continent's poor citizens.
Bono made a speech during the inauguration of Paul Martin as Canada's prime minister, who in turn pledged to help with the global crisis. In 2005, at a time that some claimed Martin was facing "political destruction", Bono spoke on CBC Radio "bashing" Martin for being slow at increasing Canada's foreign aid. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister responded by pointing out that the budget has seen an 8% increase to aid and that "Rather than set an artificial deadline, the prime minister has focused on real increases measured in real dollars each and every year."[6]
In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations. [7]
Before Paul Wolfowitz was chosen to replace James Wolfensohn as president of the World Bank, some advocated Bono for the position. United States Secretary of the Treasury John Snow said about Bono on the ABC news talk program This Week: "He's somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development." The odds of his selection process, which is controlled by member governments, were poor.[citation needed]
On 26 April 2004 Bono was named influential in the May special issue of TIMEs 100 Most Influential People".
On 18 December 2005, Bono was named by Time as a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates.
On 2 February 2006 Bono spoke in advance of United States President George W. Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel. In a speech peppered with biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra 1% "tithe" of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.[8]
In May, Bono became Editor of The Independent newspaper for a day to assist the (RED) charity (Tuesday 16 May 2006).[citation needed]
In February 2003, 2005 & 2006, Bono was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. [9] [10] [11] In 2004 he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile, one of only 100 recipients [12]
Criticism
Along with Bob Geldof, Bono has come under fire from journalist George Monbiot for getting too close to those in power and therefore running the risk of legitimizing their actions. Monbiot dubbed the pair "Bards of the Powerful".[13] They have also drawn criticism from Bianca Jagger for "trying to patent the language of poverty reduction" and for having relationships with George Bush and Tony Blair that amount to little more than a "mutual admiration club". [14]
Bono has received criticism in the press for his connection to the war game Mercenaries 2: "many people around the world have been shocked to find out that you are a part owner, through Elevation Partners, of Pandemic/Bioware producers of “Mercenaries 2” [...] a war game that simulates the invasion of Venezuela in the year 2007."[15]
Bono and the other members of U2 have also come under criticism for moving part of their multi-million euro business empire out of Ireland to Amsterdam for tax reasons. Commenting on Bono's decision to move his assets to a tax shelter, Joan Burton, the finance spokesperson of the Irish Labour Party commented:[16]
"Having listened to Bono on the necessity for the Irish Government to give more money to Ireland Aid, of which I approve, I am surprised that U2 are not prepared to contribute to the Exchequer on a fair basis along with the bulk of Irish taxpayers.”
Critics of Bono's leadership of the "Drop the Debt" Campaign charge that Bono's request that the top 25 wealthiest countries write off debts owed by the poorest countries amounts to asking the public to pay for the debt. U2's movement of their accounts base to avoid tax payable on artists royalties (a tax that artists in Ireland would not have had to pay until recently)[16] has led to accusations that Bono is a hypocrite.[17]
U2's manager Paul McGuinness countered the criticism in September in Hot Press magazine:[18]
"The reality is that U2's business is 90% conducted around the world. 90% of our tickets and 98% of our records are sold outside of Ireland. It's where we live and where we work and where we employ a lot of people. But we pay taxes all over the world – of many different kinds. And like any other business, we are perfectly entitled to minimise the tax we pay."
Bloomberg reporter Fergal O'Brien criticized this approach as:[19][20]
"Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid."
Tax Research UK blogger Richard Murphy, who heads the Tax Justice Network :[1] said that "Tax is a key component in the development equation. Development thinking started with aid......Bono has not bought into this argument. I think he should be aware of it. The Tax Justice Network has tried to contact him. We’ve never succeeded in doing so. So, perhaps, to use tax jargon, he’s simply avoiding it." :[2]
Equipment
Bono occasionally plays rhythm guitar for U2 during live shows. He uses a Vox AC30 amp like The Edge and typically prefers big hollow-body guitars. Over the years he has been seen using the Gibson ES-335, Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-175, Gibson ES-137, Gretsch Tennessean, Gretsch Country Club, Gretsch Irish Falcon, and Gibson Hummingbird. He has also been spotted with a Fender Stratocaster, two Gibson Les Paul Customs, a Gibson L-7, and a Gretsch Black Falcon. He reportedly played the piano intro on the album version of "City of Blinding Lights", and has played harmonica on the studio and live versions of "Desire" and "Running to Stand Still".
Notes
- ^ Rocker leads drive to lift Third World debt
- ^ Assayas, Michka (2005). Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340832762.
- ^ "Bono Vox" is improper latin; a more correct possibility would be "Vox Bona".
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=400188&in_page_id=1879
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,667739,00.html
- ^ http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2005/04/23/1009529-sun.html
- ^ http://www.edun.ie/faq.asp
- ^ http://www.data.org/archives/000774.php
- ^ http://www.wnbc.com/entertainment/1986984/detail.html
- ^ http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=596&id=214402005
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/02/24/international/i082615S45.DTL
- ^ http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4267
- ^ Monbiot, George. "Bards of the powerful", Guardian Unlimited, Guardian Newspapers Limited, June 21, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ Jagger, Bianca (July 15, 2005). Why I don't trust them, or Sleeping with the enemy. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ "Video Game Affiliation Has Left-Wingers Turning on Bono", SPIN, July 10, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ a b Peterkin, Tom. "U2 move their assets out of Ireland", Telegraph, Telegraph Group Limited, August 8, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ Murphy, Rex. "Lecture us no more, Mr. Bono", The National, CBC, October 17, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ "McGuinness Opens Up on Zoo TV, The Netherlands Move and Much More", Hot Press, September 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
- ^ Bono, tax avoider - the hypocrisy of U2
- ^ Bono, Preacher on Poverty, Tarnishes Halo With Irish Tax Move
See also
- 100 Greatest Britons (2002 poll by BBC)
- The ONE Campaign
- List of people on stamps of Ireland
- Product Red
- Bono on Bono
- Live 8
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- U2.com - official U2 website
- DATA (Debt, AIDS, trade, Africa) - Bono's organization
- The ONE Campaign
- EDUN - ecofashion line started by Bono and his wife Ali
- Bono: The Beliefnet Interview by Anthony DeCurtis
- Bono's Charity Work
Categories: Semi-protected | Articles with unsourced statements | Cleanup from November 2006 | All pages needing cleanup | 1960 births | Living people | Christian musicians | Humanitarians | Irish Anglicans | Irish rock singers | Irish male singers | People from Dublin | People known by single-name pseudonyms | Time magazine Persons of the Year | U2 | Falsettos
