Bono

Everyone loves a freebie, right? Not always, as Apple and Irish rockers U2 found out in 2014, when the band gave away its album Songs of Innocence directly into people’s iTunes music libraries – whether they wanted it or not.Both the band and Apple faced a dramatic backlash, with Apple eventually having to issue instructions on how to remove the album. “I take full responsibility,” says Bono (real name Paul Hewson), in his new autobiography, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story (opens in new tab), in an excerpt from the…

I take full responsibility. Not Guy O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook, not Eddy Cue. I’d thought if we could just put our music within reach of people, they might choose to reach out toward it. Not quite. As one social media wisecracker put it, “Woke up this morning to find Bono in my kitchen, drinking my coffee, wearing my dressing gown, reading my paper.” Or, less kind, “The free U2 album is overpriced.” Mea culpa. I take full responsibility. Not Guy O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook, not…

Once upon a time, back in 2014, U2 gave away an album's worth of songs to every iTunes user in the world. And a lot of people were not happy. The blowback was so intense that Apple had to release a special tool to remove it. And it was all Bono’s fault, as he explained in an interview with The Guardian over the weekend. When Bono approached Tim Cook, along with Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller about the idea, he was met with some incredulity. "Are you talking about free music?" Cook said. In Bono’s words: "'No,' I said, 'I…

Remember back in 2014 when U2 gave away an album's worth of songs to every iTunes user in the world? And it turned out that a large number of them didn't want said album anywhere near their music library — to the point that Apple had to release a special tool to remove it? That was completely my bad, U2 lead singer Bono wrote in an article for The Guardian.  When Bono approached Tim Cook, along with Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller about the idea, he was met with some incredulity. "Are you talking about free music?" Cook said,…

“Anything strange or startling?” That’s how my da, Bob, opens our conversations. We’d meet in our “local” pub in Dalkey, Dublin. Finnegan’s is its own country with its own laws and customs. Time is said to change shape on crossing its door. I have experienced that. It’s a constitutional monarchy with Dan Finnegan the head of state, his sons effectively running the government with his eldest, Donal, the prime minister. Donal is 6ft 4in but, depending on the hour and the state of the state, can appear 6ft 7in. I would not…

Article content You may have seen Bono the singer perform, but what about the author? Article content The U2 frontman is coming to Toronto’s Meridian Hall on Nov. 6 for the only Canadian date of his speaking tour on behalf of his forthcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, due Nov. 1. Article content You may have seen Bono the singer perform, but what about the author? Article content The U2 frontman is coming to Toronto’s Meridian Hall on Nov. 6 for the only Canadian date of his speaking tour on…

The Irish rock star Bono has revealed his distress at visiting his mother on her deathbed in a Dublin hospital after she had an aneurysm when he was 14 years old.In an extract published in the New Yorker from his upcoming memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, the U2 frontman recalls that Iris Hewson collapsed at the funeral of her father “Gags” Rankin in 1974 and died just days later, and “she was never spoken of again” in the house he shared with his father Bob and elder brother Norman.“I fear it was worse than that.…

Getty Images/iStockphotoSAP, a business application software company, in partnership with the non-profit PYXERA Global, is supporting racial and social justice through its pro-bono, six-week program focused on helping Black entrepreneurs successfully grow their small business. Cyber Pop-up CEO and founder Dr. Christine Izuakor attests to its success.The virtual Pro Bono for Economic Equity (PBEE) program utilizes the expertise of SAP professionals to support Black entrepreneurs by helping them grow their businesses…

After more than four decades in the public eye, the rock star Bono has revealed a deeply personal secret and spoken of finding forgiveness and peace.The U2 frontman has a half-brother he has not talked about before, who was born after his father had an affair while living at home in Dublin with Bono, his brother Norman and their mother.Bono describes the discovery, and tells how he finally resolved his difficult relationship with his late father, a postal worker Brendan “Bob” Hewson, in a candid radio interview in the…

The first memoir by Bono will be released this year, publisher Penguin Random House has announced.While the U2 frontman’s career has been written about extensively, this will mark the first time Bono has written about it himself. Titled Surrender, the autobiography will span the singer’s early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was 14, the success of U2 and his activist work fighting against Aids and poverty.Surrender will contain 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. Bono has…