The Observer

Issue date: 11/10/03 Section: Scene

Bono´s new biography by Laura Jackson.

It is hard to imagine a Notre Dame student who doesn't know the name "Bono." It is, in fact, difficult to imagine many people who do not know who Bono is. Nearly everyone in the world knows the name and knows the band U2, but how many really know the man himself?

In the biography of Bono by Laura Jackson called Bono: His life, music, and passions, Jackson takes the reader on a journey from the slums of Dublin to the glitz of world-wide tours. Through it all, the reader steals a glimpse of the real character of Bono: the constantly changing artist, the energetic performer, the devoted Christian and the untiring human rights activist. Bono is a man who refuses to be defined as any one thing, and the course of his life explains much of where his vigor comes from.

Born in May 1960 in Dublin, Bono's real name is Paul David Hewson. A very Christian name, Bono was born to a Protestant mother and a Catholic father, a very unique couple for that time in Ireland. Jackson describes his parents as refusing "to allow the intense rivalry in Ireland between these religions to keep them apart. Bravely, they married - in the teeth of intense opposition."

Bono was brought up primarily Protestant, going to church with his mother, which was untraditional at that time, as children were generally raised in the faith of their father. However, the unconventional nature of this arrangement is precisely why the Hewsons chose this path for their children, Bono and his older brother. As his father would wait for the rest of his family outside of the Church of Ireland after he attended Mass, Bono's view of religion was deeply affected. Jackson explains that, "This segregation would inflame Bono and laid foundations for his views on the need to pursue integration and greater tolerance of different faiths." Bono never quite classified himself as Protestant or Catholic. Jackson writes that, later in life, Bono felt "whether to class himself as Protestant or Catholic ... 'I always felt like I was sitting on the fence.'"

Childhood was not necessarily easy for Bono. With a stiff sibling rivalry and the death of his beloved mother during high school, Bono became a rebel of his own accord.

Bono attended one of the first and only non-denominational high schools at the time in Dublin with the other future members of the band U2. The band started almost by chance when drummer Larry Mullins Jr. posted a note on the high school bulletin board calling any potential band members to a meeting at his house. The band that is today U2 is who showed up.

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