The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton at school and in 1978, U2 was formed. The band released their first album, “Boy,” on Island Records in 1980 and to date have released a total of 14 studio albums that have sold 157 million copies worldwide. Heralded by Rolling Stone as “a live act simply without peer,” the band’s record-breaking 360° Tour (2009-2011) remains the highest-grossing concert band tour of all time. U2 have won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys, more than any other duo or group, as well as an Academy Award nomination and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award. In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Alongside his role in U2, Bono is a ground-breaking activist. A leader in Jubilee 2000’s Drop the Debt campaign, he next took on the fight against HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty, co-founding sister organizations ONE and (RED). ONE is a movement of millions of people dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.(RED) – which partners with companies to raise public awareness about, and corporate contributions for, the AIDS crisis – has to date generated more than $700 million for the Global Fund to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa.

Bono has received a number of awards for his music and activism, including the Freedom of the City of Dublin (with U2), Chile’s Pablo Neruda Medal of Honour, the Legion D’Honneur from the French Government, an honorary British knighthood, the Fulbright Association Prize for International Understanding and TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates).

His latest book, an autobiography: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound. Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him.