Bono (Bah-No) was born May 10, 1960 and raised near the center of Dublin in a neighborhood called Ballymun with his older brother Norman and parents, Iris and Bob Hewson.  His father, a postal worker, called him an "exasperating" child growing up. Always a curious boy, Bono ran around the neighborhood having a great time exploring and questioning the world. He joined up with a group of neighborhood kids who would go into the center of the city and do impromptu theater. This group of kids called themselves "The Lypton Village" and was made up of Guggi, Gavin Friday, and several others. Guggi and Gavin are still among Bono's closest friends.  Bono's father was Catholic, his mother Protestant.  In Ireland, especially in those days, a mixed marriage was frowned upon. But the two of them made it work.  They were supposed to bring any children up in the Catholic faith but Bono's father went against that and had the children raised in the Protestant church.  His reasoning was that the mother was the one responsible for raising the children and since Iris was Protestant, the children would be raised as such.  This did cause much resentment between Bono and his father because of the conflict in Bono's mind, not knowing who he was, or how he felt about religious things. When Bono was 14, his world was turned upside down as his mother collapsed at her father's funeral and died a few days later of a brain hemorrhage.  By this time he had entered a progressive high school, the first of it's kind in Ireland.  Mount Temple Secondary School was a multi-denominational high school that catered to all faiths.  There were no uniforms and things were much more free.  The students were encouraged to think for themselves.  Bono had been thriving in that environment and had many friends by the time of his mother's death.  Her death caused much upheaval in his life and it would later have a very strong effect on the outcome of his life today. One day, Bono noticed a beautiful young new girl with spanish eyes named Alison Stewart.  He instantly fell in love.  She noticed him as well and liked him, too, but refused or ignored his advances because she also knew his reputation with the girls. She had no intention of becoming "one of Bono's girls." IF she was going to go       out with him, it would be on her terms.  Eventually, she gave in to his advances and they ended up marrying on August 21, 1982.  They now have 4 children ranging in ages between 14 and 2.  There are 2 girls: Jordan, age 14, and Eve, age 12.  And there are 2 boys as well: Eli, age 4, and John, age 2. Bono says that the month of November in 1976 was a fantastic time. He started dating Ali, and joined a rock and roll band that same month. In 1984, U2 agreed to perform in a huge Rock and Roll Extravaganza called Live Aid.  After Live Aid, Bono wanted to do more, so he and Ali, without press coverage, went to Ethiopia to work at a relief camp for a little over a month.  That helped to plant the seed for his work with Jubilee2000 and later DATA. Yet again, though, tragedy would strike.  Bono lost his father after a long fight with cancer in August of 2001.  He stated that he was glad that the difficulties they'd had in their relationship were resolved before his father's death, but that he also wished the issues could have been resolved much sooner. Over the years, Bono has become very active in using his celebrity to help others and he has inspired many others to get up and work to improve life around the world.  He has won many awards for his efforts, and is very humble in receiving those awards, usually stating that he was accepting them on behalf of the people that work so hard behind the scenes to make life better for others.  He's recently been nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for the second year in a row.  We here at the Graffiti Wall personally hope that he wins it.  He deserves it. Ok, so Bono didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.  We all know he will someday. When Bono’s father passed away, he sang a song at his funeral called, ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.�?SPAN>  I don’t know if he knew then, but it would be the second single off of their fourteenth studio release entitled, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.�?/STRONG> Yet through the tragedy and all of the charity work Bono continues to do, he still found time for a tour, which included a very special homecoming in where the band played Slane Castle for a crowd upwards of 80,000 people in Ireland.  The second show at Slane was filmed and was later released after a huge online petition by the fans requesting it.  It was also a record breaker in that there had never, until that date, been a second show in a year at Slane, due to regulations they have there. In addition to the Elevation tour,  Bono still found time to meet President Bush at the White House, tour four African countries with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, be a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and was on the cover of Time Magazine. He also began The Heart of America Tour with his DATA campaign and made a Knight of Legion of Honour in France. Bono, along with the rest of the band, won several awards as well as performed at the ceremonies.  U2 also had an exhibit entitled “In The Name of Love:  Two Decades of U2,�?at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, releasing a ‘best of�?volume 2 and a new album in late 2004, Bono continues his charity work and is quite well known for it.  He has stated that he has made finding an answer for Global Poverty the main concern for the rest of his life.  I think Time Magazine said it best on the cover when the headline read, “Can Bono Save The World.�?/STRONG> Bono, along with DATA have also launched the Make Poverty History (Europe) and One Campaigns (USA) in the quest to end extreme world poverty in our lifetime. He, along with the rest of the band, are currently embarked on their totally sold out Vertigo tour in support of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. To be continued...... [U2 Quick-Facts] [Band Bio] [Bono's Bio] [Larry's Bio]  [Adam's Bio] [Edge's Bio]   Biographies written by U2Luv, U2*Freak, JennMullen and Pine Siskin. Background created by ♥u2roxmysox�?/FONT> Please DO NOT snag tiles or any part of this background. ©2003 - 2008 U2 Graffiti Wall. All rights reserved. Page updated January 21, 2008 by LV. The Wall is best viewed with a screen resolution of 1024x768. Photo taken during Rattle & Hum, 1988; Photographer unknown to us.