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Paul David Hewson, known by the nickname Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style as well as his grandiose songwriting and performance style. His lyrics frequently include social and political themes, and religious imagery inspired by his Christian faith.
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entertainment · Irish musician and activist (born 1960) · singer-songwriter · guitarist · activist · singer · musician · author · also Bono
Born 10 May 1960 · Q834621
96 published statements · 0 followers
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“Who in Ireland could have too much respect for organized religion? We've seen it tear our country in two. My mother was a Protestant. My father was a Catholic. And I learned that religion is often the enemy of God, actually.”
“It's much harder to be relevant than it is to be successful”
“Great ideas and great melodies have a lot in common”
“This moment in time will be remembered for three things: the war against terror, sure; the Internet, probably; and how we let an entire continent, Africa, burst into flames and stood around with water in cans.”
“religion is the artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it sometimes, like Elvis has left the building. You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.”
“Ireland has a very different attitude to success than a lot of places, certainly than over here in the United States. In the United States, you look at the guy that lives in the mansion on the hill, and you think, you know, one day, if I work really hard, I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look up at the guy in the mansion on the hill and go, one day, I'm going to get that bastard. It's a different mind-set.”
“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.”
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“All through the Eighties we tried to be ourselves and failed when the lights were on. Which is what set us up for Zoo TV. We decided to have some fun being other people, or at least other versions of ourselves.”
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The Globe and Mail: Claudio Bono's The Homelessness Fix Book Returns to #1 on Amazon Kindle in Social Policy, Philanthropy & Charity, and Social Work, Highlighting a Three-Year Blueprint to End Street Homelessness
Far Out Magazine: Five opening lyrics that prove Bono is an overrated songwriter
Awarded Member of the European Order of Merit (2026).
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Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Joe Biden (2025).
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Released ep “Stories of Surrender EP”.
The Guardian: Bono criticises Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas at Ivor Novello awards
The Guardian: Bono, Anna Wintour and Jane Goodall receive Presidential Medals of Freedom
fact checker rated the claim “photo of Bono and Bob Geldof holding the Israeli flag.” fake.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Full Fact rated the claim “A picture shows Bono and Bob Geldof holding Israeli flags and staging a “two-man vigil” outside the Israeli embassy in Dublin.” This picture isn’t real. It was generated by artificial intelligence..
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Lead Stories rated the claim “Image shows Bono and Bob Geldof waving Israeli flags” AI Image.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Snopes rated the claim “U2's Bono said during a performance that every time he clapped a child in Africa died, to which an audience member shouted at him to stop.” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Snopes rated the claim “A photograph genuinely shows singers, Bono, Paul McCartney, and Freddy Mercury performing together at the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Bono announced he would leave the board of directors of the One Campaign at the end of the year
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Released album “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story”.
The Guardian: Bono on the birth of U2, that iTunes album and Live Aid: ‘There’s only one thing I can see when I watch it: the mullet’
Awarded Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class (2022).
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Snopes rated the claim “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi read a poem by Bono about Ukraine during a luncheon in March 2022.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Bono supported Ukraine's resistance to being invaded by Russia
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Released album “The Singles Collection”.
Bono lent his voice to One's animated series Pandemica, which was created to raise awareness of the importance of vaccines in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequalities in worldwide vaccine availability
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AP News rated the claim “Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has a “handler,” Luisa-Marie Neubauer, who has ties to the “ONE Foundation managed by Bono, Bill Gates and George Soros.”” Mixed.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
In 2019, Bono and TPG announced the creation of Y Analytics, a company intended to measure the social and environmental impacts of investments.
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Sold the hotel leasehold, and four years later, they sold the property
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Bono and TPG announced the creation of Y Analytics, a company intended to measure the social and environmental impacts of investments
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Snopes rated the claim “During a 'Rolling Stone' interview, U2 singer Bono proclaimed that "Donald Trump is destroying America, [and] we must stop him."” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Was the first recipient of the George W
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Claimed: “"For every extra year a girl goes to school, her income goes up 12 percent."” — rated True by PolitiFact.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Glamour named him "Man of the Year", breaking the 26-year tradition that saw the "Woman of the Year" accolade reserved only for women
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During the recording sessions for U2's album Songs of Experience, Bono had what the Edge called a "brush with mortality"; as a result of the episode, he decided to rework the album's lyrics
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Bono invested in and joined the board of directors of the "Rise Fund", a new $2 billion impact investment fund founded by TPG
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Collaborated with African stars D'banj, Waje and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde for a women's empowerment song entitled "Strong Girl"
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Rolling Stone ranked Bono and the Edge at number 35 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time
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Awarded Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (2013).
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When discussing his faith in Jesus Christ, Bono said that Christ was either who he claimed he was or he was "a complete and utter nutcase"
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“a complete and utter nutcase”
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Although it was reported that Bono's stake was valued at approximately US$1 billion in February 2012, a 2015 article in Forbes stated that this estimate was based on an incorrect attribution of shares.
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Released album “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”.
Awarded doctor honoris causa of Keiō University (2008).
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Awarded Man of Peace (2008).
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Won Philadelphia Liberty Medal (2007).
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Awarded Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2007).
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Awarded NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award (2007).
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Bono received several honours
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For moving part of their multimillion-euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties
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And transferred ownership to Nude Estates 1 in Guernsey, in an apparent attempt to avoid tax
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Snopes.com rated the claim “When U2's Bono announced that every time he clapped a child in Africa died, someone from the audience told him to stop doing that.” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Bono and Shriver collaborated again to found (Red), an organization that licenses the Product Red brand to partner companies to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
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Awarded Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2005).
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Awarded TED Prize (2005).
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Awarded Time Person of the Year (2005).
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Awarded Officer of the Order of Liberty (2005).
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Won: (OL) (April 2005).
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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)
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Bono was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of U2, in the group's first year of eligibility
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Bono recorded a version of "Don't Give Up" with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive
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The magazine named him, Bill and Melinda Gates the Persons of the Year
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Received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work
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During U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart"
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Being granted an honorary knighthood by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in 2007, being made a Commandeur of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) in 2013, and receiving the Presidential
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And subsequently invested in other entertainment businesses
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Bono was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania
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Bono and Shriver co-founded the One Campaign, with the aim of eliminating extreme poverty and disease in Africa by building citizen support
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Awarded MusiCares Person of the Year (2003).
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Won: (Chev. L.H.) (Knight) (February 2003).
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Awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour (2003).
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Bono received the Legion of Honour from the French government, and the MusiCares Person of the Year award
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Released album “The Lonely Planet”.
Released album “The Complete Solo Recordings, Volume 5”.
By Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from Drop the Debt
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“I am saying we are great. I'm not saying I'm great. There's a difference...”
Released album “The Complete Solo Projects, Volume 4”.
“Zobacz też: Bob Geldof, George W. Bush”
Released album “The Complete Solo Projects, Volume 3”.
Bono learned that Scott Rankin, a relative he thought to be his cousin, was actually his half-brother; Rankin was the offspring of an affair that Bob Hewson had with his wife's sister Barbara
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“The thing about The Dubliners is — line'em up, the hardest rock'n'roll bands in the world, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Oasis, Nirvana, U2 — we're all a bunch of girls next to The Dubliners.”
“Bono, cantor da banda irlandesa U2, no Rio para divulgar seu novo CD”
“Your president leads the world in the cause of freedom right now. ... The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom. … We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon.”
Released album “The Complete Solo Projects, Volume Two”.
Released album “The Complete Solo Projects Volume 1”.
Bono and the Edge co-purchased a seafront house in Èze-sur-Mer in the south of France
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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
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And made prank calls from the stage, often to the White House in an attempt to reach U
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Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope Tour of benefit concerts in the United States, alongside musicians such as Sting and Bryan Adams
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Musician Bob Geldof enlisted Bono to participate in the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas
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Began dating his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as forming, with schoolmates, the band that became U2
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Bono and Stewart began dating
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“a kind of showman America. He had the confidence and charm to pick up a mirror and look at himself and give the glass a big kiss. He loved cash and in his mind success was God”
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Born 1960-05-10.
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Ireland has a very different attitude to success than a lot of places, certainly than over here in the United States. In the United States, you look at the guy that lives in the mansion on the hill, and you think, you know, one day, if I work really hard, I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look up at the guy in the mansion on the hill and go, one day, I'm going to get that bastard. It's a different mind-set.
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