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Revision as of 19:49, 1 February 2003 by Jtdirl (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Paul David Hewson (born May 10, 1960), from Dublin in Ireland, better known by his stage name Bono, is the lead singer of the Irish rock band, U2 (managed by Paul Mcguiness). He is married to Alison Stewart and has four children.
He Joined U2 aftr answering an advert posted at his school by Larry Mullen Jr. He turned up for the 'audition' claiming to be able to play guitar ( i think you can tell what i mean by 'claiming'!). Anyway, to cut a long story short, he got in the band, they got quite a reputation in and around Dublin...and then became the biggest band in the world!
Since 1999 he has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and the plight of Africa. In May 2002 he took US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. Also that year, Bono set up a organization called "DATA", which stands for Debt, Aids, Trade in Africa. The focus of the organization is to raise awareness about Africa's unpayable debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair trade rules which the country's citizens poor.
While on his mission to highlight Africa's AIDS crisis, Bono traveled 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. Bono also accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn. "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis," Bono said, "It is much easier and hipper for me to be on the barricades with a handkerchief over my nose -- it looks better on the resume of a rock 'n' roll star. But I can do better by just getting into the White House and talking to a man who I believe listens, wants to listen, on these subjects."
In 2002, Bono wrote the introduction to the "Book of Psalms", one of nine books of the Bible published individually in Canongate of Edinburgh's "Pocket Canons" series.
Bono appears in the 2002 List of "100 Great Britons" (sponsored by the BBC, voted for by the public and which included Irish people), alongside such other greats as Sir Winston Churchill, Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Sir Bob Geldof and others including footballer David Beckham, Aleister Crowley and Johnny Rotten.