[2][3] Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where in 1976 he began dating his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as forming, with schoolmates, the band that became U2.

[16][17][18] He has collaborated with U2 bandmate the Edge on several projects, including: songs for Roy Orbison, Tina Turner, and Martin Garrix; and the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and a London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.

[4][36][37] He said "because of the way I grew up in Finglas -- sleeping on a couch, or because my mother died when I was a kid, I was in the house on my own a lot of the time, so I'd knock on the door of the Hanveys at teatime, or the Rowens at lunchtime.

[47][48] During a 12-minute performance of "Bad", Bono climbed down from the stage to embrace and dance with a female fan he had picked out of the crowd,[47] showing television viewers the personal connection that he could make with audiences.

[51] The film also contains footage of the band's 11 November 1987 free "Save the Yuppies" concert at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, during which Bono spray-painted "Rock N Roll Stops the Traffic" on the Vaillancourt Fountain sculpture.

[4][2] During the band's 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour, Bono assumed a number of costumed stage personae in an attempt to be more lighthearted and escape the group's reputation of being overly serious and self-righteous.

"[56] Bono's primary persona during the tour was "the Fly", which originated from him wearing an oversized pair of blaxploitation sunglasses, given to him by wardrobe manager Fintan Fitzgerald, to lighten the mood in the studio.

[57][58] He developed the persona into a leather-clad egomaniac, and described his outfit as having Lou Reed's glasses, Elvis Presley's jacket, and Jim Morrison's leather trousers.

"[65] Mirror Ball Man appeared during encores of concerts in 1992 and made prank calls from the stage, often to the White House in an attempt to reach U.S. President George H. W.

[66] According to him, "We came up with a sort of old English Devil, a pop star long past his prime returning regularly from sessions on The Strip in Vegas and regaling anyone who would listen to him at cocktail hour with stories from the good old, bad old days.

[87] In addition to his work with U2, Bono has collaborated with Frank Sinatra,[16] Johnny Cash,[17] Willie Nelson,[88] Luciano Pavarotti,[89] Sinéad O'Connor,[90] Green Day, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison,[91] Bob Dylan,[18] Patti Smith, Tina Turner,[92] B.B.

King, Zucchero,[93][94][95] Ray Charles,[96] Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin,[97] Bruce Springsteen,[98] Tony Bennett,[99] Clannad,[100] the Corrs,[101] Wyclef Jean,[102] Kylie Minogue,[103] Carl Perkins,[104] and Herbert Grönemeyer.

"[128] His vocal style evolved during the band's exploration of roots music for The Joshua Tree; Spin said that he learned to command "the full whisper-to-shout range of blues mannerisms".

[138] His singing on Zooropa was an even further departure from U2's previous style; throughout the record, Bono "underplay[ed] his lung power", according to Jon Pareles,[139] and he also used an operatic falsetto he calls the "Fat Lady" voice on the tracks "Lemon" and "Numb".

He 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.

[8] From September to October 1985, Bono and his wife Ali Hewson made a humanitarian visit to Africa, spending a month working at a feeding centre in Ajibar, Ethiopia.

[146] Along with other volunteers, they developed an educational programme consisting of songs and one-act plays to teach Ethiopian children important information about issues such as health and hygiene.

[146][147] In 1986, Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope Tour of benefit concerts in the United States,[7] alongside musicians such as Sting and Bryan Adams.

He met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and with U.S. Republican politicians such as Jesse Helms, John Kasich, Orrin Hatch, J. Dennis Hastert, and Dick Armey in an effort to secure bipartisan support for the U.S. forgiving the debt of developing countries.

[149][150] The following year, Bush signed legislation authorising the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program,[151] which has been credited with saving 17 million lives over its lifetime.

It featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists, each showcasing their contributions to humanitarian relief in Africa.

[172][173][174][175] In early April, Bono and the Edge recorded an acoustic rendition of "Walk On" for Global Citizen's Stand Up for Ukraine livestream, which was organised to urge world leaders to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.

[178][179][180] He has been dubbed "the face of fusion philanthropy",[181] 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.

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."

[194] In April 2023, Max and Cartoon Network greenlit a short animated film adaption of Peter & the Wolf with artwork based on Bono's original illustrations for his 2003 book.

[202] 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).

[213] Rise's investments fell across seven sectors, including agriculture, education, and healthcare, and were made into companies making "a measurable positive social and/or environmental impact".

[281]In January 1996, Bono was aboard a Grumman HU-16 aeroplane flown by musician Jimmy Buffett named Hemisphere Dancer that was shot at by Jamaican police, who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana.

[282] In May 2010, while rehearsing for a North American leg of the U2 360° Tour, Bono suffered a herniated disk and severe compression of the sciatic nerve,[283] and he was taken to a clinic in Munich for emergency neurosurgery.

Orthopaedic 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.