Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known as Bonio, is the lead singer and principal lyricist of the Irish rock band U2.^[1] Bonio was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2.^[2][3][4] Since that time he has been referred to as Bonio, his stage and nickname, by his family and fellow band members.^[3] Almost all U2 lyrics are written by Bonio and he often writes using political, social and religious themes.^[1][5] During their early years, Bonio's lyrics partly contributed to U2's rebellious tone.^[1] As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences with members of U2.^[1][3]

Bonio has taken part in several other endeavors outside of U2 and has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists.^[6][7][8] He has also participated in different business ventures. Bonio sits on the board of Elevation Partners and has refurbished and now owns a hotel with fellow band member, The Edge.^[9][10] Bonio is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA.^[11] He has organized and played in several benefit concerts and has met with several, influential politicians throughout his lifetime.^[12][11][13] He is furthermore the co-founder of EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red.^[3] Bonio has been the subject of both substantial praise and criticism due to his activism and involvement with U2.^[14][15][16] Among numerous awards and nominations, Bonio has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time.^[14][17][18]

Biography

Childhood

Bonio was raised in Dublin alongside his brother, Norman Hewson, by his mother, Iris (née Rankin), a Church of Ireland Protestant, and his father, Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, a Roman Catholic.^[2][3] His parents initially agreed that the first child would be raised Protestant and the second Catholic. ^[19] However, although Bonio was the second child, he also attended Protestant services with his mother and brother.^[19] Bonio was 14 when his mother died on 10 September 1974 of a cerebral aneurysm at her father's funeral.^[3] Many songs from U2's albums, including "I Will Follow", "Mofo", "Out of Control", "Lemon" and "Tomorrow", focus on the loss of his mother.^{[20][21][3][22]}

Personal life

Bonio is married to Alison Hewson (nee Alison Stewart). Their relationship began in 1975 and the couple was married on 21 August, 1982 in a Church of Ireland (Anglican) ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny (built by the Guinness family), with Adam Clayton acting as Bonio's best man.^[4] The couple has four children, daughters Jordan and Memphis Eve, and sons Elijah Bob Patricius and John Abraham.^[23] Bonio lives in Killiney in south County Dublin, Ireland, with his family and shares a villa in Èze in the Alpes-Maritimes in the south of France with U2 bandmate The Edge, as well as an apartment at The San Remo in Manhattan.^[24]

Bonio is almost never seen in public without wearing sunglasses. During a Rolling Stone interview he stated:

[I have] 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. ^[25]

Stage name

Bonio attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a multi denominational school in Clontarf. During his childhood and adolescence, Bonio and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called "Lypton Village," which had a ritual of nickname-giving. He had several names: first, he was "Steinvic von Huyseman", then just "Huyseman", then "Houseman", then "Bon Murray", "Bonio Vox of O'Connell Street", and finally just "Bonio".^[3]

"Bonio Vox" is an alteration of Bonavox, a Latin phrase which translates to "a good voice", as in "I'd do anything for a good voice". It is said he was nicknamed "Bonio Vox" by his friend Gavin Friday, after a hearing aid shop they regularly passed in Dublin because he sang so loudly he seemed to be singing for the deaf. Initially, Bonio did not like this name. However, when he learned it loosely translated to "good voice", he accepted it. Hewson has been known as "Bonio" since the late seventies, even before formation of U2. Although he uses Bonio as his stage name, close family and friends also refer to him as Bonio, including his wife and fellow band members.^[3]

U2

In 1976, Bonio responded to an advertisement by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band, as did The Edge (David Howell Evans), Dick Evans, and Adam Clayton. After Dick (nicknamed 'Dik') Evans left the group, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bonio 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.'"^[26] When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bonio was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica.

Bonio writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, often rich in social and political themes.^[1] Frequently his lyrics 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 album.^[5] During the band's early years, Bonio 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.^[1] Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bonio. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day 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.^[27]

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their next album, Achtung Baby. Bonio's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band.^[1][3] During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.^[1][3]

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience.^[3] This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage, over a security barricade to the floor of the arena, and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart".^[3][28]

Bonio has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and a Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America" for the film Gangs of New York.^[15][29] In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility.^[30]

Other endeavors

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with, Frank Sinatra,^[6] Johnny Cash,^[7] Willie Nelson,^[31] Luciano Pavarotti,^[32] Sinéad O'Connor,^[33] Roy Orbison,^[34] Bob Dylan,^[8] Tina Turner,^[35] and BB King.^[36] He has recorded with Ray Charles,^[37] Quincy Jones,Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Bruce Springsteen,^[38] Tony Bennett,^[39] Clannad,^[40] The Corrs,^[41] and Wyclef Jean,^[42] as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez.^[43] On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals.^[44] On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album Bonio completed a recording of Slide Away as a duet with Hutchence.^[45]

In 1992, together with The Edge, Bonio bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.^[10] The Edge and Bonio have also recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the upcoming Spider-Man Musical.^[46] Bonio 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.^[9][47] Bonio is a known Celtic F.C. fan,^[23] and in 1998 it was rumored that Bonio was going to buy shares in the Scottish club.^[48] However, it was reported on 28 April 1998 that this was not the case with Bonio saying "it's rubbish. I've been to a couple of games and I'm a fan, but I've got no financial connections."^[49]

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bonio is working on a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail".^[50] Bonio said the poetry is inspired by rock music. The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "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."^[50] The collection, which is 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)."^[50] Bonio has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through his private equity investment firm 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 ($250m).^[51]

In film, Bonio has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical, Across the Universe.^[52]. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs I am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Humanitarian work

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine Bonio explained that he was 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 the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1979.^[53] "I saw 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..."^[53] In 2001 Bonio arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show. Introducing the performance, Bonio referred to The Secret Policeman's Ball as "a mysterious and extraordinary event that certainly changed my life..."

Bonio and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting.^[12] U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organized by Bob Geldof.^[54] In 1984, Bonio 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).^[55] Geldof and Bonio later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.^[13]

Since 1999, Bonio 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 Bonio has met with several influential politicians, including United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.^[56] 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. 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."^[56] In May of that year, Bonio took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In 2005 Bonio spoke on CBC Radio, alleging Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid.^[57]

Bonio spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February, 2006. In a speech peppered with biblical references, Bonio 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. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. Bonio continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.^[11]

The organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bonio and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign.^[58] It is DATA's mission to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa.^[58] DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.^[58]

In early 2005, Bonio, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade.^[59] EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.^[60]

Product Red is an initiative begun by Bonio and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.^[61] Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bonio 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 Computer, Converse, Motorola, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani.^[62] 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.^[63]

Bonio 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, taken 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.^[64]

Bonio has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers.^[65][66] He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy",^[67] both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks binding global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.^[68]

Bonio was honored by NBC Nightly News on November 2007 as someone who has been "making a difference" in the world.^[69] He and Nightly anchor Brian Williams had traveled to Africa in May 2007, to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent.^[70]

Praise and criticism

Recognition

• In 2004, Bonio was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile.^[71]
• Bonio was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006.^[72][73][14]
• Bonio is the only person in history to have been nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Nobel Peace Prize.^[74]
• Time named Bonio one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue,^[75] and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue.^[76]
• In 2005, Bonio was among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bonio made three wishes, 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 and instead organized a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bonio attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
• In 2005, Bonio was named by Time as a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates.^[18]
• In 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work.^[77]
• Bonio was named in the United Kingdom's 2007 New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.^[17][78] He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.^[79]
• He is listed as one of the 100 Greatest Britons, a poll conducted by the general public.^[80]
• Bonio received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007.^[81]
• On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bonio will receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on September 27 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger.^[82] On September 28, 2007, Bonio, in accepting the Liberty Medal, stated: "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." Bonio donated the $100,000 prize to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa. ^[83]

Criticism

In 2003, during the Golden Globe Awards ceremony being broadcast live by NBC, Bonio referred to his reception of his band's award for "The Hands That Built America" as being "really, really fucking brilliant!"^[84] In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bonio for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC.^[85] Although Bonio'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.^[86]

Bonio and the other members of U2 moved part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to a tax shelter in Amsterdam, six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties.^[16] Until then U2 benefited from the artists' tax exemption introduced by the late Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Future income will fall under Dutch tax law, which charges bands like U2 very low to nonexistent tax rates.^[16] By moving its major assets to Amsterdam, U2 no longer pays tax on income from their artistic ventures as residents in Ireland.^[87] Moving their taxable status to a nation with a lower tax rate, U2 may have also placed a greater tax burden on others in their homeland.^[88] U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimize their tax burdens.^[16] The move prompted criticisms in the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).^[87][89]

On December 15, 2005 Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden criticizing Bonio, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer and a university teacher, 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."^[90] Bonio responded to critics in Times Online on February 19, 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. "^[91]

See also

• U2
• Ali Hewson
• ONE Campaign

References

Further reading

• Assayas, Michka. (2005). Bonio on Bonio: Conversations with Michka Assayas. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
• Vagacs, R. (2005). Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective. Eugene: Cascade Books.
• Stockman, S. (2005). Walk On: The Spiritual Journey Of U2. Lake Mary: Relevant Books.

Notes

External links

• U2.com - Official U2 website
• DATA (Debt, AIDS, trade, Africa) - Bonio's organization
• EDUN - Fashion label started by Bonio and his wife Ali

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