Paul David Hewson, KBE OL (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (/ˈbɒnoʊ/), is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist.^[1] He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of rock band U2.

Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as schoolmates with whom he founded U2 in 1976.^[2][3][4] Bono soon established himself as a passionate frontman for the band through his expressive vocal style and grandiose gestures and songwriting. His lyrics are known for their social and political themes, and for their religious imagery inspired by his Christian beliefs.^[5][6] During U2's early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to the group's rebellious and spiritual tone.^[5] As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members.^[3][5] As a member of U2, Bono has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bono is well known for his activism for social justice causes, both through U2 and as an individual. He is particularly active in campaigning for Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign, and Product Red.^[3][7] In pursuit of these causes, he has participated in benefit concerts and met with influential politicians.^[7][8][9] Bono has been praised for his philanthropic efforts;^[10][11][12] he was granted an honorary knighthood by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom for "his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work", and has been made a Commandeur of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters). In 2005, Bono was named one of the Time Persons of the Year.^[10][13][14]

Outside the band, he has recorded with numerous artists.^[15][16][17] He has collaborated with U2 bandmate the Edge on several projects, including: songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner; the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and a London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange; and the refurbishment of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin. He is Managing Director and a Managing Partner of the private equity firm Elevation Partners, which has invested in several companies.^[18][19][20]

Bono was born in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, on 10 May 1960.^[21] He was raised in the Northside suburb of Finglas^[22] with his brother (who is eight years older than Bono) by their mother, Iris (née Rankin), a member of the Church of Ireland, and their father, Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, a Roman Catholic.^[2][3] His parents initially agreed that the first child would be raised Anglican and the second Catholic.^[23] Although Bono was the second child, he also attended Church of Ireland services with his mother and brother.^[23]

He went to the local primary Glasnevin National School.^[24] Bono's mother died on 10 September 1974, after suffering a cerebral aneurysm at her father's funeral.^[3] Many U2 songs, including "I Will Follow", "Mofo", "Out of Control", "Lemon" and "Tomorrow" focus on the loss of his mother.^[3][25][26]

Bono attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a multi-denominational school in Clontarf. During his childhood and adolescence, Bono and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called "Lypton Village". Bono met one of his closest friends, Guggi, in Lypton Village.^[27] The gang had a ritual of nickname-giving. Bono had several names: first, he was "Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbang",^[27] then just "Huyseman", followed by "Houseman", "Bon Murray", "Bono Vox of O'Connell Street", and finally just "Bono".^[3] "Bono Vox" is an alteration of Bonavox, a Latin phrase which translates to "good voice". It is said he was nicknamed "Bono Vox" by his friend Gavin Friday. He initially disliked the name; however, when he learned it translated to "good voice", he accepted it. Hewson has been known as "Bono" since the late 1970s. Although he uses Bono as his stage name, close family and friends also refer to him as Bono, including fellow band members.^[3]

After he left school, his father Bob Hewson, 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.^[27]

Bono is married to activist and businesswoman Alison Hewson (née Stewart).^[4] The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (born 10 May 1989) and Memphis Eve (7 July 1991) and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (17 August 1999) and John Abraham (20 May 2001).^[28]

Bono was a close friend to INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.^[29]

Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses, as he suffers from glaucoma.^[30] During a Rolling Stone interview, he stated:

In the late 1980s or early 90s, Bono bought a top-floor duplex apartment in Manhattan's San Remo apartment building from Steve Jobs for $15 million. Jobs had renovated it for his own use, but never moved in.^[33] In 2004, Bono was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania.^[34]

In May 2010, Bono suffered a spinal injury while preparing for a U2 tour, and was taken to a German clinic in Munich for emergency neurosurgery.^[35][36] The North American leg of the tour was postponed and rescheduled for 2011.^[37][38]

Bono was named one of the 17 Irish artists to be proud of by the Irish Post on 9 April 2013.^[39] Time magazine ranked him at the 8th place on its list of the "Most Influential Celebrities" in 2013; he was the only person from the music industry in the Top 10.^[40]

Bono's work as an activist, which is due largely to his Christian beliefs,^[41] began in earnest when, inspired by Live Aid, he travelled to Ethiopia to work in a feeding camp with his wife Alison and the charity World Vision, an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organisation.^[41] With regard to Bono's 2013 declarations in interviews published and videotaped of his faith in Jesus Christ,^[42] he states that Christ was either who he said he was, or he is "a complete and utter nutcase".^[43] As early as 2005, Bono was invoking this argument,^[44][45] identified as the "Lewis trilemma".

On 16 November 2014, Bono was involved in a "high energy bicycle accident" when he attempted to avoid another rider. Bono was rushed to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Emergency Department and underwent "multiple X-rays and CAT scans" followed by five hours of surgery. Bono suffered fractures of the shoulder blade, humerus, orbit and pinky finger. Orthopedic 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."^[46][47] 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.^[48][49]

In 2016, during the recording sessions for U2's album Songs of Experience, Bono had what the Edge called a "brush with mortality".^[50] The Irish Times reported that sometime in late 2016 between Christmas and New Year's Day, Bono had a near-death experience.^[51] Other than clarifying that it was a physical health scare, he declined to elaborate any further on what happened.^[52] As a result of the episode, he decided to rework the album's lyrics.^[50]

On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form 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 and Beach Boys songs. The band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.^[53]

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, 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.'"^[54] 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.^[55]

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which often have social and political themes.^[5] His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree.^[6] 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, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras.^[5] Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono.^[3] IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members.^[3] These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Enniskillen bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday".^[3] The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in.^[56] Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band.^[3][5] During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star; "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists; and "MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.^[3][5]

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.^[3] At the Live Aid concert in 1985, Bono leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad". In 2005, during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart".^[3][57] Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York.^[11][58] During the live broadcast of the Golden Globe ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fucking brilliant!".^[59] In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC.^[60] 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.^[61] In apparent reaction to the refusal,^[62] a group of congressmen introduced House Resolution 3687, the "Clean Airwaves Act",^[63] on 8 December 2003,^[64] 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.^[65] The bill was not enacted.^[64] The incident has had a long-term impact in the handling of profanity on live broadcasts.^[63]

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility.^[66] In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd-greatest singer of all time.^[67] In 2015, the magazine ranked Bono and the Edge at number 35 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.^[68]

U2 were criticised in 2007 for moving part of their multimillion-euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties.^[12][69] Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates.^[12] U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens.^[12] The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament.^[70][71] 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.^[72] Bono was one of several wealthy figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.^[73]

In addition to his work with U2, Bono has collaborated with Frank Sinatra,^[15] Johnny Cash,^[16] Willie Nelson,^[74] Luciano Pavarotti,^[75] Sinéad O'Connor,^[76] Green Day, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison,^[77] Bob Dylan,^[17] Patti Smith, Tina Turner,^[78] B.B. King and Zucchero.^[79][80][81] He has recorded with Ray Charles,^[82] Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin,^[83] Bruce Springsteen,^[84] Tony Bennett,^[85] Clannad,^[86] The Corrs,^[87] Wyclef Jean,^[88] Kylie Minogue,^[89] Carl Perkins,^[90] Herbert Grönemeyer,^[91] Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez.^[92] On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals.^[93] On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of "Slide Away" as a duet with Hutchence.^[94] Bono collaborated with African stars D'banj, Waje and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde for a women's empowerment song entitled "Strong Girl".^[95]

Bono and the Edge also wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. On 25 May 2011, a single titled "Rise Above 1" by Reeve Carney featuring Bono and The Edge was released digitally.^[96] The music video was released on 28 July 2011.^[97]

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.^{[98][99][100]} He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy",^[101] 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.^[102]

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 Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by Monty Python member John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International in 1979.^[103] Bono stated, "I saw The Secret Policeman's Ball and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...".^[104] In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

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 and 2014 Band Aid 30 singles of the same name).^[105] Bob Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organise the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.^[9] Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting.^[8] U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organised by Geldof.^[106]

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.^[107] During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where 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."^[107] In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid.^[108]

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile.^[109] Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue^[110] and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue.^[111] In 2005, Time, named Bono, with Bill and Melinda Gates, a Person of the Year.^[14] Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work.^[112] That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world".^[113] Bono made three wishes,^[114] the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa^[114] and instead organised a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007.

In 2005, he recorded a version of "Don't Give Up" with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.^[115] On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely cancelled without him."^[116] Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. He encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He praised Bush received for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent.^[7]

Also in 2005, Bono, Ali Hewson and designer Rogan Gregory co-founded the EDUN fashion label ("nude" spelled backwards, to suggest both "natural" and the Garden of Eden).^[117] It was intended to help bring about positive change in Africa through a fair trade-based relationship rather than by direct aid.^[118][119]

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in The New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. 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 can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit."^[120]

In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.^[13][121] He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.^[122]

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's chairman's Award in 2007.^[123] On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger.^[124] On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, 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 ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free". Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organisation. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.^[125]

The organisation DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign.^[126] DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa.^[126] DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.^[126]

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.^[127]

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."^[128]

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.^[129] Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, 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."^[130]

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world.^[131] He and anchor Brian Williams had travelled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent.^[132] On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.^[133]

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.^[134] Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, while Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap and Giorgio Armani.^[135] Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.^[136]

In 2016, 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".^[137]

In 1992, Bono, along with the Edge, bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.^[20] The Edge and Bono have recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They also worked on the score for the 2011 rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.^[138]

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail".^[139] The book's foreword details the meanings of its poetry, stating "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is."^[139] The collection, edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake" and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."^[139]

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.^[19][140] Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which 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).^{[141][142][143]} The firm also owns a 1.5 percent stake in social networking site Facebook, originally purchased for $210 million.^[18] Although it was reported that Bono's stake was valued at approximately US$ 1 billion in February 2012,^[144][145] a 2015 article in Forbes stated that this estimate was based on an incorrect attribution of shares.^[146]

Bono was among those cited in the Paradise Papers after he was named as a passive minority 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, stating that he welcomed transparency and had personally campaigned for it.^[147] Nude Estates paid €53,000 in taxes and fines after the investigation was completed and Bono severed ties with the company.^[148]

In September 2019, it was announced that Bono joined the Board of Directors of Zipline (drone delivery).^[149]

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