Desert Island Discs

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Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Desert Island Discs: Bono, singer and songwriter

03/07/2022

Bono, singer and songwriter

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Bono, singer and songwriter

Bono, singer and songwriter, shares the soundtrack of his life with Lauren Laverne.

Bono, singer, songwriter, activist and U2 frontman, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item he would take with him if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Bono is a singer, songwriter and the frontman of U2, one of the most recognisable and successful bands in music history. They have sold over 170 million albums, won 22 Grammys – more than any other band – and two Golden Globe Awards.  Bono is also known for his work as an activist, especially in Africa where he has played a prominent role in campaigns which tackle poverty and HIV/AIDs. 

Bono was born Paul Hewson in Dublin in 1960.  A schoolfriend named him Bono after a hearing aid shop in Dublin called Bono Vox, and the name stuck.  When he was 16, Bono saw a poster on his school noticeboard posted by Larry Mullen Jr asking for people to form a rock band.  He responded with enthusiasm and before long was rehearsing with his future bandmates Larry, who played the drums, guitarist the Edge and bassist Adam Clayton.     

The band’s debut album Boy came out in 1980 and five years later they made an impact at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium when Bono disappeared from the stage for two minutes to get up close to the audience.  One newspaper later described this incident as one of the 50 key events in rock history.  U2's subsequent albums, including the Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby, cemented their status as global superstars, filling arenas around the world. 

In 2004 Bono co-founded One, an international campaigning organisation which was set up with the aim of ending extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030. 

Bono met his future wife, Ali, at school when they were both teenagers.  They married in 1982 and have four children. 

DISC ONE: Show Me The Way by Peter Frampton
DISC TWO: Every Grain Of Sand by Bob Dylan  
DISC THREE: Abide With Me by Emeli Sande and The Fron Choir
DISC FOUR: Dead In The Water (Live At RTÉ 2FM Studios, Dublin) by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds  
DISC FIVE: Ice Cream Sundae by Inhaler
DISC SIX: Agolo by Angelique Kidjo 
DISC SEVEN: Verdi: La traviata Prelude to Act 1, composed by Giuseppe Verdi and performed by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, conducted by James Levine  
DISC EIGHT: Someone Somewhere in Summertime by Simple Minds

BOOK CHOICE: Ulysses by James Joyce 
LUXURY ITEM: A Spanish guitar    
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Every Grain Of Sand by Bob Dylan     

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

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