Bono (1962–)

Bono, who was born Paul David Hewson on May 10, 1962, in Dublin, Ireland, is the lead singer of the rock band U2 and one of the world's leading advocates for debt relief and aid to poorer countries. As a result of his many efforts in this area, Bono has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times and, in December 2005, was named Time Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates.

Bono's storied career in social activism began in 1984, when he appeared on Band Aid's charity recording “Do They Know It's Christmas?” After witnessing images of terrible poverty in Ethiopia on British Broadcasting Company television, Bono was inspired to travel to Ethiopia with his wife Ali shortly after U2's historic Live Aid performance of 1985. There they spent several weeks helping with an education and famine relief project. In 1986, U2 headlined Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope tour. In addition, Bono traveled to Central America during the fall of 1986, where he spent time in Nicaragua and El Salvador. His experiences there inspired the writing of several songs on the band's 1987 breakthrough album, The Joshua Tree.

The 1990s saw a period of personal and professional introspection for Bono, yet his experiences in Africa stayed with him through 1999, when he joined the Jubilee 2000 campaign. Jubilee 2000 was a church-based international movement designed to persuade the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the G8 (Group of 8 industrialized nations) to cancel third world debts. During the Jubilee 2000 campaign, Bono spoke before the United Nations and the U.S. Congress and met with key figures such as Pope John Paul II and Bill Clinton.

In March 2002, Bono founded DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) with Bobby Shiver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 campaign. DATA calls on the world's wealthy nations to put more resources toward Africa and to adopt policies that help, rather than hinder, African nations in achieving long-term prosperity. Bono gained a great deal of publicity for DATA when he embarked on a 2-week tour of Africa with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in May 2002.

Irish pop star Bono, left, buys palm nuts at a local market in Accra, Ghana, on Wednesday, May 24, 2006. Bono was visiting Ghana during the last leg of a 10-day tour that took him across Africa in an effort to bring attention to the need for more help to Africans from rich countries.

Source: AP Photo/Olivier Asselin.

Bono's work for Africa drew well-deserved admiration from politicians and the media in 2005. On February 25, 2005, the Los Angeles Times suggested in an editorial that Bono should be named president of [Page 259]the World Bank. Bono met with many of the leaders of the G8—including U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair—leading up to their July 2005 summit. Bono was also instrumental in organizing the Live 8 concerts, which were designed to put pressure on the leaders of the G8 to increase assistance to Africa. The G8 agreed to cancel $40 billion of African debt and pledged another $25 billion to combat poverty and disease on the African continent.

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