Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), better known as Bono (pronounced Bonn-oh), is the lead singer and occasional rhythm guitarist 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.

Biography

Paul Hewson was brought up in Glasnevin, Dublin. His mother, Iris Rankin Hewson, was Protestant, and his father, Brendan Robert Hewson, was Roman Catholic. When asked whether he would call himself a Catholic or Protestant, the singer is reported to have said, "I always felt like I was sitting on the fence." His mother died on 10 September 1974 of a brain hemorrhage at her father's funeral, when Bono was fourteen years old. Many U2 songs, especially from the early albums ("I Will Follow", "Out of Control", "Tomorrow"), focus on this part of his life.

He attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, an Ecumenical school, which was the first of its kind in Dublin. During his childhood and adolescence, Bono and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called Lypton Village, where one of the rituals was 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".

"Bono Vox" is an alteration of Bona Vox, 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 on North Earl Street, just off O'Connell Street, 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 translated to "good voice", he accepted it.

In 1976, Bono responded to an advertisement by fellow student Larry Mullen, Jr. to form a band, as did Dave Evans (also known as The Edge), brother Dick Evans (who soon left the band), and Adam Clayton. The remaining four formed a band named 'Feedback', before changing the name to 'The Hype' and then settling on U2. Initially Bono sang, played guitar and wrote songs. As The Edge became a better guitarist, Bono was relegated to vocals, although he often plays rhythm guitar and harmonica.

Bono married his longtime girlfriend, Alison "Ali" Stewart, on 21 August 1982, in an Anglican ceremony at a chapel on the Guinness family estate. The singer has mentioned in several interviews that his stint in U2 and relationship with Ali began around the same time. The couple have four children: Jordan (born 10 May 1989), Memphis Eve (born 7 July 1991), Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (born 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (born 21 May 2001).

Following the Enniskillen bombing in 1987, several newspapers claimed Provisional IRA paramilitaries had put Bono on a hit-list for his "fuck the revolution" speech following the bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987. The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film but it stayed. Some papers suggested the film's charity London premiere on 31 October would have to be cancelled. It wasn't, and U2 all turned up, although their attempts to busk in Leicester Square were prevented by crowds and police.

In 1992, together with U2's guitarist The Edge, Bono bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel, which quickly gained a reputation as one of the most stylish (and expensive) hotels in the city. The hotel was also home to the now defunct niteclub, The Kitchen which was located in the basement of the hotel.

Bono is almost never seen in public without his sunglasses on. He has said in a Rolling Stone interview that the reason is 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."

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.

Humanitarian work

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine Bono explained that he was first 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 being performers on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the US in 1986 alongside Sting who was one of the Secret Policeman's Ball performers seen by Bono. It also led to Bono's participation as a performer in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects organized by Bob Geldof - another Secret Policeman's Ball performer - with whom Bono later collaborated as an organizer on 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 the 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 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."

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. The focus of the organization is to raise awareness about what he claims are Africa's unpayable debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair 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, in 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. Following this a spokesperson for the Prime Minister pointed 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."

In early 2005, Bono, Ali Hewson and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN. This has been an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. By utilizing factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to the workers and practice good business ethics EDUN will hopefully create a business model which will encourage others to invest in developing nations.

Later in the year, before Paul Wolfowitz was chosen to replace James Wolfensohn as president of the World Bank, Bono was spoken about as a serious candidate 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 selection process for the position is by member governments, however, and his selection was considered unlikely.[citation needed]

In December, Bono was named by TIME as a Person of the Year, along with Bill and Melinda Gates. An article by former senator Jesse Helms appears in a special issue of May's Time magazine, "Time's 100 Most Influential People".

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. His Christian views were brought into harmony with other faiths as he noted that Christian, Jewish and Muslim writings universally called for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush appeared uncomfortable receiving praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

In May, Bono became Editor of The Independent newspaper for a day in aid of the (RED) charity.[citation needed]

In February 2003, 2005 & 2006, Bono was among the nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2004 he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile, one of only 100 recipients

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 legitimising their actions. Monbiot dubbed the pair "Bards of the Powerful". . They have also drawn criticism from Bianca Jagger for "trying to patent the language of poverty reduction" and that his relationship with George Bush and Tony Blair amounts to little more than a "mutual admiration club".

Bono has also been criticized for his connection with 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.".

Bono, along with the rest of the band U2, has also come under criticism for moving part of their multi-million euro business empire out of Ireland for tax reasons. Commenting on the decision to move his assets to a tax shelter, Joan Burton, the finance spokesman of the Irish Labour Party commented:

"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.�

As the leader of the "Drop the Debt" Campaign, Bono has been strongly criticised in asking the top twenty-five wealthiest countries to waive the debts owed by the poorest countries, in effect requesting their own taxpayers to subsidise it. The criticism was underlined by virtue of the fact that U2 has recently moved his accounts base to Amsterdam in order to avoid tax payable on artists royalties - a tax artists in Ireland wouldn't have had to pay up to recently. This, coupled with his charity campaigning has led to accusations that he is two-faced .

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 reportedly played the piano intro on the album version of "City of Blinding Lights", and has played harmonica on both the studio and live versions of "Desire."