U2's Biography




U2 was formed in 1978 by drummer Larry Mullen when he and Adam Clayton
(bass), The Edge (guitar) and Bono (vocals) were still students at 
Dublin's Mount Temple School. 

The teenage U2 made a local name for themselves in their native Dublin
and released a three track EP on CBS called U23 in 1979. In January 
1980 a readers' poll in the Irish rock magazine Hot Press gave U2 the 
top spot in five categories. In April, they signed to Island Records 
and in May released their first single, 11 O'clock Tick Tock. 

U2's first three albums were produced by Steve Lillywhite and won them 
devoted audiences throughout Europe and America. Those recordings were 
BOY (October 1980), which contained the single I Will Follow; OCTOBER 
(October 1981), which included Gloria; and WAR (March 1983) which 
contained New Year's Day, Two Hearts Beat As One and Sunday Bloody 
Sunday and gave the band their first Number 1 album in the U.K. 

In November of 1983 U2 released UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY, a live 
recording of their concert at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater. 
Produced by Jimmy Iovine, it was a breakthrough record for U2 in 
the U.S. and also went to November 1 in the U.K. The Rolling Stone 
writers' poll named U2 1983's Band Of The Year. 

In May of 1984 U2 began working with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois at 
Slane Castle outside Dublin. The resulting album, THE UNFORGETTABLE 
FIRE was released in October 1984. Pride (In The Name Of Love) became 
U2's biggest hit yet. The album entered the British charts at Number 
1. U2 toured into 1985, selling out shows at New York's Madison Square 
Garden, U.K's Milton Keynes Bowl and Dublin's Croke Park. Then in July 
1985 U2 performed at Live Aid. 

In the summer of 1986, U2 headlined Amnesty International's Conspiracy 
of Hope Tour of the U.S., which also featured Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, 
Bryan Adams, The Neville Brothers, Joan Baez and Sting. The final 
concert in New Jersey's Giant Stadium was televised by MTV and 
included additional guests Joni Mitchell, Muhammad Ali, Miles Davis 
and the final performance of the Police. 

In March 1987 U2 released THE JOSHUA TREE, which entered the UK charts 
at Number 1 on St. Patrick's Day, to widespread critical acclaim. In 
the U.S., U2 made the cover of Time magazine touted as Rock's Hottest 
Ticket and THE JOSHUA TREE hit Number 1, as did the single I Still 
Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. During that week the band was 
performing in Las Vegas and attended a Frank Sinatra concert at which 
he welcomed then to the show with a spotlight and the comment "Well, 
they don't spend their money on clothes." It was the beginning of a 
warm friendship. Another Eno/Lanois production, THE JOSHUA TREE, also 
included singles With or Without You and Where The Street Have No 
Name. 

U2 toured for eight months, playing over 100 shows. THE JOSHUA TREE 
sold more than 15 million copies worldwide and reached Number 1 in 22
countries. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Best 
Rock Performance. At the presentation ceremony, Adam Clayton went to 
the men's room and found himself locked out of the hall when U2's name
was called. Also in 1987 U2 picked up the Best International Group 
Award at the U.K's British Phonographic Industry Awards. 

In October 1988 U2 released RATTLE AND HUM, a double album of live 
tracks, studio sessions and new material (Angel of Harlem, Desire, 
When Love Comes to Town, All I Want is You). RATTLE AND HUM, produced 
by Jimmy Iovine, went to Number 1 in several countries including the
U.S., Britain and Australia and gave U2 their first U.K. Number 1 
single with Desire. The album accompanied the theatrical release of 
the film "U2: Rattle and Hum", directed by Phil Joanou, which 
chronicled the band's 1987 tour. At the 1989 Grammy Awards, U2 won 
for Best Rock Performance and Best Video. 

In Summer 1989, accompanied by BB King, U2 took off on their Lovetown 
Tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan, climaxing with two night at 
the Tokyo Dome. The band returned to Ireland to wrap up the decade 
with four concerts in Dublin in the week between Christmas and New 
Year. At U2's final show in the '80s, on New Year's Eve, which was 
broadcast throughout Europe and the USSR by the BBC and RTE with an 
estimated audience of over 500 million, Bono announced that the band 
planned to "go away and dream it all up again." 

In the autumn of 1990, U2 began work on their album ACHTUNG BABY at 
the Hansa Studio in Berlin (formerly Hansa By The Wall). Produced 
Again by Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno, ACHTUNG BABY (released November
1991) included The Fly, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Who's 
Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Mysterious Ways. ACHTUNG BABY, widely 
acknowledged as a renaissance, has sold over 10 million copies world 
wide. 

1992's Zoo TV Tour was probably the most ambitious series of rock 
concert's ever staged. Playing first in arenas in America and Europe 
and then in outdoor stadiums, the tour put U2 in front of more than 
five million people. 

During their tour, U2's schedule coincided with that of American 
presidential candidate Bill Clinton, who later invited them to his 
inauguration in Washington. Adam and Larry accepted and performed 
One at MTV's inaugural Ball with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills of 
REM in the spontaneous supergroup Automatic Baby. In March, U2 topped 
17 categories in Rolling Stone magazine's readers' and critics' polls 
and Q magazine voted the band Best Act in The World Today and Best
Songwriters. 

On their spring break, U2 recorded ZOOROPA which captured the chaoes 
and overload of their lives in the middle of a world tour. Produced 
by the Edge, Brian Eno and U2's longtime engineer Flood, ZOOROPA 
includes the singles Numb, Lemon and Stay (Faraway So Close). U2 
finished mixing the album during the tour and it was released in 
July 1993. 

For the finale of each show during the Zooropa tour, Bono showed up 
on stage in a gold suit, white face and devil's horns. Calling 
himself Mister Macphisto, the Last Rock Star, he made live phone 
calls from the stage every night. In Italy, he told Mussolini's 
niece, Allessandra, that she was "doing a great job filling the old 
man's boots" and sang "I Just Called to Say I Love You" to Pavarotti.
When calling England's infamous football manager, Graham Taylor, 
from Wembley Stadium in July, Macphisto lead the audience in a 
rousing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone". 

In 1993 Q magazine named U2 Best Act in the World Today and Zooropa 
bagged the best Production Award for the third time in four years 
and U2 won their fourth Brit Award, as Best Live Act. 

In 1995 U2 released an album of remixes called MELON exclusively to 
members of their fan club. The album was given away free with copies 
of the club magazine Propaganda. U2 provided the song - Hold Me, 
Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - for the soundtrack of the movie Batman 
Forever. The band then joined forces with Pavorotti, Howie B, Brian 
Eno and Holi to record the avant-garde ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS VOLUME 1 
under the alias Passengers. Bono and Edge then provided Tina Turner 
with the theme to the James Bond film Goldeneye and the following year 
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen had a hit of their own with Theme From 
Mission: Impossible. 

Recent Grammys include awards for Best Rock Group Performance (ACHTUNG 
BABY), Best Alternative Album (ZOOROPA) and Best Music Video, Long 
Form, (Zoo TV Live from Sydney). They have also won five MTV awards. 
U2's worldwide record sales are now in excess of 70 million. In 1994 
U2 were given the Martin Luther King Freedom Award in the U.S. 
In 1992 they played a benefit concert for Greenpeace in Manchester 
and took part in a Greenpeace protest against the Sellafield nuclear 
plant on the Cumbrian coast. 

U2 has recorded with Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Johnny Cash and BB 
King. The band have for ten years enjoyed a friendship with Frank 
Sinatra, with whom Bono recorded the duet "I've Got You Under My Skin"
in 1993 and to whom Bono presented a Lifetime Achievement Grammy with 
an emotional speech in 1994. 

No one has ever left U2; no additional member has ever been added. 
The band remain in Dublin, Ireland where they grew up and met. 


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