name	Bono
background	solo_singer
birth name	Paul David Hewson
alias	Bono
birth date	May 10, 1960
origin	Glasnevin, County Dublin, Ireland
instrument	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
genre	Rock, post-punk, alternative rock
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, activist, philanthropist
years active	1976–present
associated acts	U2, Passengers
website	u2.com
notable instruments	Gretsch Irish FalconGretsch Country Club }}

Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono ( ), is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Alison Stewart, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes. During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organised and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticised for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by ''Time'', among other awards and nominations.

Early life

Bono was born in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, on 10 May 1960. He was raised in Northside suburb of Glasnevin with his brother, Norman Robert Hewson (who is eight years older than Bono), by their mother Iris (née Rankin), a Church of Ireland Anglican, and their father Brendan Robert "Bob" Hewson, a Roman Catholic. His parents initially agreed that the first child would be raised Anglican and the second Catholic. Although Bono was the second child, he also attended Church of Ireland services with his mother and brother.

He went to the local primary Glasnevin National School. Bono was 14 when his mother died on 10 September 1974 after suffering a cerebral aneurysm at her father's funeral. Many U2 songs, including "I Will Follow", "Mofo", "Out of Control", "Lemon", and "Tomorrow", focus on the loss of his mother. Other songs focus on the theme of childhood vs. maturity, such as "Into the Heart," "Twilight", and "Stories for Boys."

Bono attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a multi denominational school in Clontarf. During his childhood and adolescence, Bono and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called "Lypton Village". Bono met one of his closest friends, Guggi, in Lypton Village. The gang had a ritual of nickname-giving. Bono had several names: first, he was "Steinvic von Huyseman", then just "Huyseman", followed by "Houseman", "Bon Murray", "Bono Vox of O'Connell Street", and finally just "Bono".

"Bono Vox" is an alteration of ''Bonavox'', a Latin phrase which translates to "good voice." It is said he was nicknamed "Bono Vox" by his friend Gavin Friday. Initially, Bono disliked the name. However, when he learned it loosely translated to "good voice", he accepted it. Hewson has been known as "Bono" since the late 1970s. Although he uses Bono as his stage name, close family and friends also refer to him as Bono, including his wife and fellow band members.

Personal life

Bono is married to Alison Hewson (née Stewart). Their relationship began in 1975 and the couple were married on 21 August 1982 in a Church of Ireland (Anglican) ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny (built by the Guinness family), with Adam Clayton acting as Bono's best man. The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (b. 10 May 1989) and Memphis Eve (b. 7 July 1991) and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (b. 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (b. 21 May 2001); Memphis Eve portrayed the character Stella in the 2008 film ''The 27 Club''. Bono lives in Killiney in south County Dublin with his family and shares a villa in Èze in the Alpes-Maritimes in the south of France with The Edge. Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses. During a ''Rolling Stone'' interview he stated: }}

In 2002, he was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Britons in a poll conducted among the general public, despite the fact that he is Irish.

In May 2010, Bono suffered an injury while preparing for the forthcoming U2 tour, and was taken to a German neurosurgery clinic in Munich for emergency surgery. The entire North American leg was postponed and rescheduled into 2011.

Musical career

U2

On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.

The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it. When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album ''October'', and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from ''The Joshua Tree''. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's ''War'', ''The Joshua Tree'' and ''Rattle and Hum'' eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the ''Rattle and Hum'' film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, ''Achtung Baby''. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film ''Gangs of New York''. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fucking brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fuck" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all-time.

Bono and his bandmates were criticised in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.

Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, BB King and Zucchero. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of "Slide Away" as a duet with Hutchence.

Bono and The Edge also wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark''. On May 25, 2011, a single titled ''Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge'' was released digitally. The music video was released on July 28, 2011.

Other endeavours

In 1992, Bono, along with the Edge, bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.

The Edge and Bono have also recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the 2011 rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club, which Bono denied.

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled ''"Third Rail"''. The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as ''"Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby"'', ''"Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake"'', and ''"Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."''

Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).

In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical ''Across the Universe''. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I Am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's ''Entropy'' and 2000's ''Million Dollar Hotel'', the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film ''Sightings of Bono'', adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.

Bono owns a 1.5% stake in social networking site Facebook, an investment that is currently valued at £500 million

Humanitarian work

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers and was named the most politically effective celebrity of all time by the National Journal. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organisations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.

In a 1986 interview with ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International in 1979. ''"I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..."'' In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organised by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organise the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. ''Time'' Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, ''Time'' named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organised a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda. In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "''When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free''." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organisation. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.

In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the ''New York Times'' called ''The Rock Star's Burden'' (cf. Kipling's ''The White Man's Burden'') that criticised stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for "[ignoring] the legitimate voices of Africa and [turning] a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy".

On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely cancelled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

The organisation DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.

In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of ''Vanity Fair'' magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.

In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funnelled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimise taxes."

Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organisations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in ''Times Online'' on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by ''NBC Nightly News'' as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had travelled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.

See also

Timeline of U2

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

External links

U2.com—Official U2 website

ONE Campaign—Advocacy and campaigning organization cofounded by Bono

EDUN—Fashion label started by Bono and his wife Ali

Category:1960 births Category:AIDS activists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees Category:Golden Globe Award winning musicians Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Free Your Mind Award winners Category:Irish Anglicans Category:Irish humanitarians Category:Irish male singers Category:Irish philanthropists Category:Irish rock singers Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:Living people Category:People associated with Dalkey Category:People from Dublin (city) Category:Private equity and venture capital investors Category:U2 members Category:International opponents of apartheid in South Africa Category:Pseudonymous musicians

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name	The Edge
background	solo_singer
birth name	David Howell Evans
born	August 08, 1961Barking, London, England
origin	County Dublin, Ireland
instrument	Guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar
genre	Rock, post-punk, alternative rock
occupation	Musician, songwriter, activist
years active	1976–present
label	Island (1980–2006)Mercury (2006–present)
associated acts	U2, Passengers
website	U2.com
notable instruments	Gibson ExplorerFender StratocasterGibson Les PaulFender TelecasterGretsch Country GentlemanGretsch White FalconRickenbacker 330/12 }}

David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge), is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2's music.

The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, but was raised in Ireland after moving there as an infant. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, he formed U2 with his fellow students and his older brother Dik. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most popular acts in popular music, with successful albums such as 1987's ''The Joshua Tree'' and 1991's ''Achtung Baby''. Over the years, The Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, The Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record ''Zooropa'', and occasionally contributed lyrics. The Edge met his second and current wife, Morleigh Steinberg, through her collaborations with the band.

As a member of U2 and as an individual, The Edge has campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising, a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate Bono on several projects, including songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner, and the soundtracks to the musical ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' and the Royal Shakespeare Company's London stage adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange''. In 2011, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine placed him at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Personal life

David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital, Essex, England to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans. When he was one, his family moved to County Dublin, Ireland where he attended St Andrew's National School. He received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at their school, Mount Temple Comprehensive School, seeking musicians to form a band. The band accepted both of them. This band went through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978 (Dik Evans left the band just before the name change). U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their debut album, ''Boy'', was released in 1980.

In 1981, leading up to the October tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay. During this period, he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers, in which bandmates Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved. Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The Edge married his high school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983. The couple had three daughters together: Hollie in 1984, Arran in 1985 and Blue Angel in 1989. The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get officially divorced because of Irish laws regarding marriage annulment; divorce was legalised in 1995 and the couple were legally divorced in 1996. In 1993, The Edge began dating Morleigh Steinberg, a professional dancer and choreographer employed by the band as a belly dancer during the Zoo TV Tour. They had a daughter, Sian (born 1997), and a son, Levi (born 25 October 1999), before marrying on 22 June 2002.

He appeared in the 2009 music documentary film ''It Might Get Loud''.

The Edge has been criticized for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a 156 acre plot of land in Malibu, California. The California Coastal Commission voted 8-4 against the plans, with the project described by the commission's executive director, Peter Douglas, as "In 38 years...one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation...It's a contradiction in terms – you can't be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location." The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to remain neutral on the issue following a $1 million donation from The Edge and a commitment from The Edge to designate 100 acres of the land as open space for public footpaths.

Music style

Guitar playing

As a guitar player, The Edge has a sound typified by a low-key playing style, a chiming, shimmering sound (thanks in part to the sound of VOX AC-30s) that he achieves with extensive use of delay effects and reverb. The feedback delay is often set to a dotted eighth note (3/16 of a measure), and the feedback gain is adjusted until a note played repeats two or three times.

On 1987's ''The Joshua Tree'', The Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in 1982 of his style,

"I like a nice ringing sound on guitar, and most of my chords I find two strings and make them ring the same note, so it's almost like a 12-string sound. So for E I might play a B, E, E and B and make it ring. It works very well with the Gibson Explorer. It's funny because the bass end of the Explorer was so awful that I used to stay away from the low strings, and a lot of the chords I played were very trebly, on the first four, or even three strings. I discovered that through using this one area of the fretboard I was developing a very stylized way of doing something that someone else would play in a normal way."

Many different influences have shaped The Edge's guitar technique. His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for only a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument. He said in 1982 of this early experimentation, "I suppose the first link in the chain was a visit to the local jumble sale where I purchased a guitar for a pound. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that." The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the ''Achtung Baby'' era onwards, although much of the band's 1980s material made heavy use of echos.

Vocals

The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. U2's 1983 live album and video release, ''Under a Blood Red Sky'' and ''Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky'' are good reference points for his singing (as are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, ''U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle'' and ''Elevation 2001: Live from Boston''). For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". Other technique he uses in his backing vocals is the falsetto, for instance in "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", "A Man and a Woman", "The Wanderer", live versions of "The Fly", and "Window in the Skies".

The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" and "Numb", the first half of the song "Seconds", dual vocals with Bono in "Discotheque", and the bridge in the song "Miracle Drug". He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the PopMart Tour and "Party Girl" during the Rotterdam Zoo TV show when it was Bono's birthday). He also does a solo version of the song "Love is Blindness" that is featured in the documentary DVD "From the Sky Down".

Other instruments

He has played piano and keyboards on many of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down", "October", "So Cruel", "New Year's Day", "Running to Stand Still", "Miss Sarajevo", "The Hands that Built America", and "Original of the Species" and others. He plays the organ on "Please". In live versions of "New Year's Day", "The Unforgettable Fire", "Your Blue Room", and "Moment of Surrender", he plays both the piano and guitar parts alternately. In most live versions of "Original of the Species," piano is the only instrument played during the song.

Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he occasionally plays bass guitar, including the live performances of the song "40" where The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments.

Solo recordings

In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with such artists as Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Ronnie Wood, Jay-Z, and Rihanna.

The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film ''Captive'' (1986). From this soundtrack the song "Heroine", the vocal of which was sung by a young Sinéad O'Connor was released as a single.

He also created the theme song for season one and two of ''The Batman''. He and fellow U2 member, Bono, wrote the lyrics to the theme of the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye''. The Edge, along with fellow bandmate Bono, recently composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On May 25, 2011, a single titled ''Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge'' was released digitally. The music video was released on July 28, 2011.

Musical equipment

The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time") and lap steel guitar.

Compared to many lead guitarists, The Edge is known for using many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night, whereas The Edge takes 45 on the road, and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert. He is estimated to have more than 200 guitars in the studio.

Philanthropy

In 2005, The Edge along with Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz co-founded Music Rising, a charity that helped provide replacement instruments for those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. The instruments were originally only replaced for professional musicians but they soon realized the community churches and schools needed instruments as well. The charity's slogan is "Rebuilding the Gulf Region note by note" and has so far helped over a hundred musicians who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Edge also serves on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diets, and lifestyle.

See also

List of people on stamps of Ireland

Timeline of U2

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

External links

U2.com, official U2 site

Music Rising

The Edge – Album Credits

A Study of The Edge's Guitar Delay

The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'

Food Bank For New York City public service announcement

Comment on the mathematical analysis of The Edge's guitar sound

Category:Irish male singers Category:Irish rock guitarists Category:Irish people of Welsh descent Category:People from County Dublin Category:People from Dalkey Category:Lead guitarists Category:Slide guitarists Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Golden Globe Award winning musicians Category:Backing vocalists Category:U2 members Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:Pseudonymous musicians

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name	David Letterman
pseudonym	Earl Hofert
birth date	April 12, 1947
birth place	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, talk show
nationality	American
genre	Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan
subject	Self-deprecation, everyday life
influences	Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, Paul Dixon
influenced
website	CBS.com/latenight/lateshow
active	1974–present
domesticpartner	Regina Lasko (1986-2009)
spouse	Michelle Cook (1969–1977)Regina Lasko (2009–present)
Religion	Lutheran
notable work	Host of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (NBC)Host of ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (CBS)
signature	David Letterman Autograph.svg

}} David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, ''Late Show with David Letterman'', broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' on NBC. Only Letterman's friend and mentor Johnny Carson had a longer late-night hosting career in the United States.

Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', currently in syndication.

In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Early life and career

Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (''née'' Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.

Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers. In 2000, he told an interviewer for ''Esquire'' that, while growing up, he admired his father's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up. The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack at age 57.

Letterman attended his hometown's Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker Quayle (wife of the former Vice President) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas supermarket. According to the ''Ball State Daily News'', he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades weren't good enough, so he decided to attend Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and he graduated from what was then the Department of Radio and Television, in 1969. A self-described average student, Letterman endowed a scholarship for what he called "C students" at Ball State.

Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam due to receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 365).

Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college's student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio. He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence.

Letterman then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).

Letterman credits Paul Dixon—host of the ''Paul Dixon Show'', a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while Letterman was growing up—for inspiring his choice of career: :"I was just out of college [in 1969], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"

Weatherman

Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as a local anchor and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams." He would also occasionally report the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas.") while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased. ("From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I'm not in favor of this.") He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from "Godzilla" using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called "Clover Power," in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.

In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports' tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500. David is initially introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. He interviews Mario Andretti who has just crashed out of the race and asks him a question about traffic on the course.

Move to Los Angeles

In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer. He started off by writing material for comedian Jimmie Walker. He also began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, a proving ground for unknown comics.

Letterman appeared in the summer of 1977 on the short-lived ''Starland Vocal Band Show''. He has since joked about how fortunate he was that nobody would ever see his performance on the program (due to its low ratings).

Letterman had a stint as a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, ''Mary''; a guest appearance on ''Mork & Mindy'' (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard); and appearances on game shows such as ''The $20,000 Pyramid'', ''The Gong Show'', ''Password Plus'' and ''Liar's Club''. He also hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled ''The Riddlers'' that was never picked up. He was also screen tested for the lead role in ''Airplane!'', a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.

His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson's and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.

NBC

Morning show

On June 23, 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC, ''The David Letterman Show''. It was originally 90 minutes long, but was shortened to 60 minutes in August 1980. The show was a critical success, winning two Emmy Awards, but was a ratings disappointment and was canceled in October 1980.

''Late Night with David Letterman''

NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. ''Late Night with David Letterman'' debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987. It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine, Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and '60s programs of Steve Allen. Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show, Letterman has denied this.

The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including "Stupid Pet Tricks", dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building, demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer, Velcro and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam (and the Audience Cam), and a facetious letter-answering segment. The Top 10 list, several "Film[s] by My Dog Bob" in which a camera was mounted on Letterman's own dog (often with comic results), Stupid Human Tricks, Small Town News, and Stupid Pet Tricks (which had its origins on Letterman's morning show) all eventually moved with Letterman to CBS.

Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on ''The Today Show'', announcing that he was the NBC president while not wearing any pants; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV's broadcast of ''Live at Five'' by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman's studio); and staging "elevator races", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.) In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman "May I insert something here?" and Dave responded "OK, as long as it's not a cucumber."

''Late Show with David Letterman''

In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of ''The Tonight Show''. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite ''The Tonight Show'' at 11:30 p.m., called the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan taped his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman's arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations. In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract, doubling his ''Late Night'' salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.

But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, ''Late Show'' was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes and tailored suits. The monologue was lengthened and Paul Shaffer and the "World's Most Dangerous Band" followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the "CBS Orchestra" as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his ''Late Night'' segments verbatim, but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.)

Popularity

The main competitor of ''The Late Show'' is NBC's ''The Tonight Show'', which was hosted by Jay Leno for nearly 16 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, ''The Late Show'' consistently gained higher ratings than ''Tonight''. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings; Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. ''The Late Show'' lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno's departure in 2009. In the final months of his first stint as host of ''The Tonight Show'', Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and ''Nightline'' and ''The Late Show'' were virtually tied. Once O'Brien took over ''Tonight'', however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings. O'Brien initially drove the median age of ''Tonight Show'' viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch ''The Late Show'' instead.

Following Leno's return to ''The Tonight Show'', however, Leno has regained his lead.

Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993–2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of ''Nation's Favorite TV Personality'' 12 times. For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth. Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.

Hosting the Academy Awards

On March 27, 1995, Letterman acted as the host for the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted Letterman for what they deemed a poor hosting of the Oscars, noting that his irreverent style undermined the traditional importance and glamor of the event. In a joke about their unusual names (inspired by a similar joke by Woody Allen), he started off by introducing Uma Thurman to Oprah Winfrey, and then the both of them to Keanu Reeves: "Oprah...Uma. Uma...Oprah," "Have you kids met Keanu?" This and many of his other jokes fell flat. Although Letterman attracted the highest ratings to the annual telecast since 1983, many felt that the bad publicity garnered by Letterman's hosting caused a decline in the ''Late Show'''s ratings.

Letterman recycled the apparent debacle into a long-running gag. On his first show after the Oscars, he joked, "Looking back, I had no idea that thing was being televised." He lampooned his stint two years later, during Billy Crystal's opening Oscar skit, which also parodied the plane-crashing scenes from that year's chief nominated film, ''The English Patient''.

For years afterward, Letterman recounted his hosting the Oscars, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued to hold Letterman in high regard and they had invited him to host the Oscars again. On September 7, 2010, he made an appearance on the premiere of the 14th season of ''The View'', and confirmed that he had been considered for hosting again.

Heart surgery hiatus

On January 14, 2000, a routine check-up revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was severely obstructed. He was rushed to emergency surgery for a quintuple bypass.

During the initial weeks of his recovery, reruns of the ''Late Show'' were shown and introduced by friends of Letterman including Drew Barrymore, including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician Louis Aronne, who frequently appears on the show. In a show of emotion, Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked the health care team with the words "These are the people who saved my life!" The episode earned an Emmy nomination. For a number of episodes, Letterman continued to crack jokes about his bypass, including saying, "Bypass surgery: it's when doctors surgically create new blood flow to your heart. A bypass is what happened to me when I didn't get ''The Tonight Show!'' It's a whole different thing." In a later running gag he lobbied his home state of Indiana to rename the freeway circling Indianapolis (I-465) "The David Letterman Bypass." He also featured a montage of faux news coverage of his bypass surgery, which included a clip of Dave's heart for sale on the Home Shopping Network. Letterman became friends with his doctors and nurses. In 2008, a ''Rolling Stone'' interview stated "he hosted a doctor and nurse who'd helped perform the emergency quintuple-bypass heart surgery that saved his life in 2000. 'These are people who were complete strangers when they opened my chest,' he says. 'And now, eight years later, they're among my best friends.' "

Additionally, Letterman invited the band Foo Fighters to play "Everlong", introducing them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song." During a later Foo Fighters appearance, Letterman said that Foo Fighters had been in the middle of a South American tour which they canceled to come play on his comeback episode.

Letterman again handed over the reins of the show to several guest hosts (including Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Elvis Costello, John McEnroe, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Bonnie Hunt, Luke Wilson and bandleader Paul Shaffer) in February 2003, when he was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles. Later that year, Letterman made regular use of guest hosts—including Tom Arnold and Kelsey Grammer—for new shows broadcast on Fridays. In March 2007, Adam Sandler—who had been scheduled to be the lead guest—served as a guest host while Letterman was ill with a stomach virus.

Re-signing with CBS

In March 2002, as Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program ''Nightline'' with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno's ratings at CBS due to Letterman's complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network's late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel. Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.

On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' through the fall of 2010. "I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," said Letterman. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute." Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.

"Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. "His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the ''Late Show'' puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS 'home.'"

According to a 2007 article in ''Forbes'' magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year. A 2009 article in ''The New York Times'', however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year. In June 2009, Letterman's Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the ''Late Show'' until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past. Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a "solid moneymaker for CBS" under the previous contract.

On the February 3, 2011, edition of the ''Late Show'', during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."

2007–2008 writers' strike

The Late Show went off air for eight weeks during the months of November and December because of the Writers Guild of America strike. Letterman's production company—Worldwide Pants—was the first company to make an individual agreement with the WGA, thus allowing his show to come back on air on January 2, 2008. On his first episode since being off air, he surprised the viewing audience with his newly grown beard, which signified solidarity with the strike. His beard was shaved off during the show on January 7, 2008.

Letterman and Carson

NBC's decision to select Jay Leno and not Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson as host of ''The Tonight Show'' was an embarrassment to Carson, who had all but promised the succession to Letterman. Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called ''The Late Shift'', based on a book by ''New York Times'' reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted ''Tonight Show'' hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterward, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least. ("They took a guy who looked nothing like me and with make-up and special camera angles, turned him into a guy who looked nothing like me, with red hair.")

Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a ''Late Show'' episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued (it was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance).

In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it." Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson.

Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor." Letterman also frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac the Magnificent" (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band" and the "Week in Review."

Letterman and Oprah Winfrey

On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and live-in girlfriend. The so-called feud between Letterman and Winfrey apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS's ''Late Show with David Letterman'' on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as "the Super Bowl of Love". Winfrey had previously appeared on Letterman's show when he was hosting NBC's ''Late Night'' on May 2, 1989.

Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey. Three years later, during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman's idea: Leno flew to New York City in an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the ''Late Show'''s February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater's balcony where they taped their promo.

Response to Internet death threat

On August 17, 2011, it was reported that a Muslim militant had posted a death threat against Letterman on a website frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters, calling on American Muslims to kill Letterman for making a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2011. In his show on August 22, Letterman joked about the threat, saying "State Department authorities are looking into this. They're not taking this lightly. They’re looking into it. They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail — but everybody knows it's Leno."

Appearances in other media

Letterman appeared in issue 239 of the Marvel comic book ''The Avengers'', in which the title characters are guests on ''Late Night''. A parody of Letterman, named "David Endochrine," is gassed to death along with his bandleader named "Paul" and their audience in Frank Miller's ''The Dark Knight Returns''.

Letterman appeared in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1986 series "Coach Toast", and he appears with a bag over his head as a guest on Bonnie Hunt's ca. 1993 sitcom ''The Building''. He also appears in The Simpsons, as himself in a couch gag when The Simpsons find themselves (and the couch) in "Late Night with David Letterman." He had a cameo in the feature film ''Cabin Boy'', with Chris Elliott, who worked as a writer on Letterman's show. In this and other appearances, Letterman is listed in the credits as "Earl Hofert", the name of Letterman's maternal grandfather. He also appeared as himself in the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts as well as the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic ''Man on the Moon'', in a few episodes of Garry Shandling's 1990s TV series ''The Larry Sanders Show'' and in "The Abstinence", a 1996 episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. Letterman also made an uncredited appearance in the first episode of the third season of the sitcom The Nanny.

Letterman provided vocals for the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody" from ''My Ride's Here'', and provided the voice for Butt-head's father in the 1996 animated film ''Beavis and Butt-head Do America''.

In 2010, a documentary ''Dying to Do Letterman'' was released directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina featuring Steve Mazan, a stand up comic, who has cancer and wants to appear on the Letterman Show. The film won Best Documentary and Jury Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival. Steve Mazan published a same-titled book (full title, ''Dying to Do Letterman: Turning Someday into Today'' about his own saga.

Other projects

Worldwide Pants

Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''The Late Late Show'', and several critically acclaimed, but short-lived television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program ''Ed'', which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman's first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During ''Ed's'' run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on ''The Late Show'' several times.

In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, ''Strangers with Candy'', which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, ''Knights of Prosperity''.

Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman's company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.

Record company

In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner. Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.

Rahal Letterman Racing

Rahal Letterman Racing (RLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and part-time in the Indy Racing League. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice. Letterman was a pit reporter for ABC in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming is Letterman's private foundation. Through it, Letterman has donated millions of dollars to charities and other non-profits in Indiana and Montana, celebrity-affiliated organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, universities such as Ball State, and other organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, and Doctors Without Borders.

Personal life

Marriages and long-term relationships

In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977. He also had a long-term relationship with former head writer and producer on ''Late Night'', Merrill Markoe. In fact, Markoe was the mind behind several ''Late Night'' staples, such as "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks".

Letterman has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with Regina Lasko. Harry is named after Letterman's father. In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.

Letterman and Lasko, who had been together since 1986, wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999. Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house. The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a estate.

Stalking incidents

Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman suffering from schizophrenia. She once stole his Porsche, repeatedly broke into his house, and camped out on his tennis court. Her exploits drew national attention, and Letterman occasionally joked about her behavior in his show, although never mentioning her name. After she committed suicide in 1998, Letterman told the ''New York Times'' that he had had great compassion for her, and publicly expressed sympathy.

Extortion attempt and revelation of affairs

On his October 1, 2009, show, Letterman announced that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by someone threatening to reveal that he had had sex with several of his female employees, confirming the relationships. He stated that three weeks earlier (on September 9, 2009) someone had left a package in his car with material he said he would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him $2 million. Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, ultimately cooperating with them to conduct a sting operation involving giving the man a phony check. Subsequently, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer of the CBS true crime journalism series ''48 Hours'', was arrested after trying to deposit the check. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on October 2, 2009. Eventually, on March 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to this same felony and served a 6-month jail sentence, followed by probation and community service.

A central figure in the case and one of the women Letterman had had a sexual relationship with was his longtime personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt who often appeared with him in his show. She had also worked for ''48 Hours''. Until a month prior to the revelations she had shared a residence with Halderman, who allegedly had copied her personal diary and used it, along with private emails, in the blackmail package.

On October 3, 2009, a former CBS employee, Holly Hester, announced that she and Letterman had engaged in a year-long "secret" affair in the early 1990s while she was his intern and a student at New York University.

In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent women, including Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of NBC's ''Today Show'', and NBC news anchor Ann Curry questioned whether Letterman's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment. A spokesman for Worldwide Pants said that the company's sexual harassment policy did not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees. According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department..."

On October 5, 2009, Letterman devoted a segment of his show to a public apology to his wife and staff. Three days later, Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the ''Late Show''. On October 15, CBS News announced that the company's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to conduct an "in-depth investigation" into Halderman's blackmail of Letterman.

Awards and honors

Awards

In his capacities as either a writer, producer, performer, or as part of a writing team, Letterman is among the most nominated people in Emmy Award history with 52 nominations, winning two Daytime Emmys and five Primetime Emmys since 1981. His nomination record is second only to producer Jac Venza, who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual (57). Letterman has been nominated every year since 1984, when he first appeared on late night television as the host of ''Late Night with David Letterman.'' Additionally, he has won four American Comedy Awards. Letterman was the first recipient of the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at The Comedy Awards in 2011.

David Letterman Communication and Media Building

On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university throughout his career as a comedian. The $21 million, David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 fall semester. It features state-of-the-art recording equipment and facilities. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana. Letterman's emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the "top ten good things about having your name on a building", finishing with, "if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible."

At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.

References

External links

David Letterman's Feb. 24, 1978 appearance on ''90 Minutes Live''

Official ''Late Show'' biography

1999 article on Letterman from Salon.com

Tape of Letterman announcing affairs/extortion attempt on Late Show

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American people of German descent Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Ball State University alumni Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Indianapolis, Indiana television anchors Category:Indy Racing League owners Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:Weather presenters Category:American people of British descent

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name	The Corrs
background	group_or_band
origin	Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
genre	Folk rock, Rock, Pop, Celtic rock, alternative rock
years active	1990–2006 (On hiatus)
label	143 (1990–2003) Lava (1990–2003)Atlantic (1990–2006)
website	www.thecorrswebsite.com
current members	Andrea CorrCaroline CorrSharon CorrJim Corr }}

The Corrs are a Celtic folk rock band from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle); Sharon (violin, vocals); Caroline (drums, piano, bodhrán, vocals); and Jim (guitar, piano, vocals).

The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and their support of Celine Dion on her 1996 Falling into You Tour. Since then, they have released five studio albums and numerous singles, which have reached platinum in many countries. ''Talk on Corners'', their most successful album to date, reached multi-platinum status in Australia and the UK.

The Corrs have been actively involved in philanthropic activities. They have performed in numerous charity concerts such as the Prince's Trust in 2004 and Live 8 alongside Bono in 2005. The same year, they were awarded honorary MBEs for their contributions to music and charity. The Corrs are on hiatus because Jim and Caroline are raising families, while Andrea and Sharon are pursuing solo careers.

History

Early years

The Corrs' parents are Gerry Corr, a manager of the payroll department of the Irish Electricity Supply Board, and his wife, Jean, a homemaker, who died in 1999 while waiting for a lung transplant. They raised their family in Dundalk, Ireland. The Corrs' paternal uncle, Peter Corr, was a professional footballer who played for Ireland and several clubs including Everton. Gerry and Jean performed together as a band called Sound Affair, and often brought their children to their performances, where they played songs by ABBA and the Eagles in local pubs.

With the encouragement of their parents, Jim took guitar lessons and Sharon played the violin. Caroline did not learn to play the drums until she was 17 and was helped by a boyfriend at the time and Andrea did not take up the tin whistle until she was 19. They were all taught the piano by their father. Throughout their teenage years the children practiced in Jim's bedroom at a rented house. Andrea sang lead vocals, Sharon played the violin, and Caroline and Jim played the keyboards.

1990–1994: Early commercial success

While Caroline and Andrea were still attending school, Jim and Sharon began playing as a duo, often at their aunt's pub, ''McManus's''. In 1990, Jim and Sharon added their younger siblings, to form a quartet. Their career took off in 1991 when they auditioned for the film ''The Commitments''. Jim, Sharon, and Caroline each had small parts as musicians, while Andrea had a speaking part as Sharon Rabbitte. John Hughes noticed them when they auditioned for the movie, and agreed to become their manager.

In 1994, the American ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, invited them to perform at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in Boston after seeing them play a gig at Whelan's Music Bar in Dublin. After an appearance at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, The Corrs joined Celine Dion's worldwide ''Falling into You Tour'' as a supporting act.

1995–1999: International fame

Jason Flom, Atlantic Records's head of A&R;, recommended that they meet with David Foster, a Canadian musician, producer, composer and arranger. The Corrs played live for Foster and he agreed to sign them to Atlantic Records. They extended their stay in the US for over five months to record their debut album, ''Forgiven, Not Forgotten''. ''Forgiven, Not Forgotten'' featured six instrumental selections among its Celtic-influenced tracks. The album sold well in Ireland, Australia, Japan, Norway and Spain. Major success in the US and the UK, however, was not immediately forthcoming. Eventually, the album reached platinum status in the UK and Australia, and quadruple platinum in Ireland, making it one of the most successful debuts by an Irish group.

The Corrs' next album, 1997's ''Talk On Corners'', was produced by Glen Ballard, who was respected for his collaboration with Alanis Morissette. The Corrs also collaborated with Carole Bayer Sager, Oliver Leiber, Rick Nowels, and Billy Steinberg. The album met with lukewarm responses and was only successful in Ireland.

The Corrs performed a special remixed version of the tracks from their first two albums in a televised St. Patrick's Day appearance at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1998. After the performance, the band re-released ''Talk on Corners'', with new remixes of "What Can I Do?", "So Young" and "Runaway". The special edition topped the charts worldwide, and again reached multi-platinum status in the UK and Australia.

In June 1998, The Corrs participated in the ''Pavarotti and Friends for the Children of Liberia'' charity concert. The concert was held in Modena, Italy and was hosted by Luciano Pavarotti. Other performers included Jon Bon Jovi, Céline Dion, Spice Girls and Stevie Wonder. The concert aimed to raise money to build the Pavarotti and Friends Liberian Children's Village, to provide refuge for children in Liberia.

The following year, The Corrs received a BRIT Award for ''Best International Band''. They performed live on MTV's Unplugged on 5 October 1999 at Ardmore Studios, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. The resulting CD and DVD sold 2.7 million copies and featured live performances of previously released songs, plus a new song, "Radio", later featured on their third album, ''In Blue''.

2000–2002: Mainstream success

In 2000, The Corrs returned to mainstream success with their third album. Unlike their previous albums, ''In Blue'' moved towards mainstream pop. Nevertheless, ''In Blue'' hit number one in its first sales week in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and debuted at #2 in France and Norway. It climbed to the top spot during its second week in Sweden and Spain.

The Corrs worked with Alejandro Sanz on ''In Blue'', recording "Una Noche (One Night)", a duet between Sanz and Andrea Corr; Sanz played Andrea's love interest in the music video. In return, The Corrs performed "Me Iré (The Hardest Day)" with him on his album, ''El Alma Al Aire''. The Corrs collaborated with Robert Lange to produce a mainstream hit single, "Breathless", which reached number 34 in the Billboard Hot 100, number seven in Australia, number three in Ireland and New Zealand, and topped the charts in the UK. The album went straight to number one in the Irish Albums Chart, the third highest single-week sales in the history of the charts, behind U2's ''The Best of 1980-1990'' and Oasis' ''Be Here Now''. ''In Blue'' achieved platinum sales in the US, double platinum in the UK, and quadruple platinum in Australia.

During the production of the album, the Corrs' mother, Jean, died while waiting for a lung transplant. She was buried at St. Patrick's cemetery in Dundalk, and Bono, Larry Mullen, Brian Kennedy and Paul Brady were among the congregation at the funeral. "No More Cry", written by Andrea and Caroline Corr for the album, was written to help their father get over his grief.

In 2001, The Corrs released their first compilation album, ''Best of The Corrs''. The album featured previously released songs and new tracks, such as the singles "Would You Be Happier", "Make You Mine" and "Lifting Me". The album did not chart highly in Ireland but reached platinum status in Australia. The Corrs collaborated with Josh Groban, recording ''Canto Alla Vita'', for his eponymous debut album.

When the band returned to Ireland, they hosted another live concert at Ardmore Studios, where they previously performed for the MTV's Unplugged series. Guest performers included Bono from U2 and Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones. During the concert, Bono joined Andrea Corr for a duet of Nancy Sinatra's "Summer Wine" and a performance of Ryan Adams' "When the Stars Go Blue". Ronnie Wood joined the band onstage to play guitar on their version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday". These performances were recorded and compiled on a live album, ''VH1 Presents: The Corrs, Live in Dublin'', which was released in the UK.

2003–2005: Later years

In 2003, Andrea Corr recorded "Time Enough For Tears", written by Bono and Gavin Friday for the film ''In America''. This track was featured on The Corrs' 2004 album, ''Borrowed Heaven''. Recorded over an 18-month period in Dublin and Los Angeles, ''Borrowed Heaven'' was produced by Olle Romo, who previously worked with Melanie C and Kelly Clarkson. The album marked The Corrs' return to the folk rock genre with a slightly heavier emphasis on guitars. Nevertheless, the album was not as successful as their predecessors, but at least successful enough to enter at No.2 in both the UK and Germany and reach silver status in the UK as well as gold in Germany. Jason Duffy temporarily joined the band as drummer, filling in for Caroline while she was pregnant with her second child and unable to tour. ''Borrowed Heaven'' was dedicated to the band's parents.

The band also dedicated their 2005 album ''Home'' to their deceased mother. It is regarded a traditional Irish album as the band covered traditional Irish songs taken from their mother's songbook to commemorate their 15 years as a band. The album was produced by Mitchell Froom and featured the BBC Radio 2 Orchestra. The songs on ''Home'' spanned the history of Irish music. It also included two songs in Irish, "Bríd Óg Ní Mháille (Brigid O'Malley)" and "Buachaill Ón Éirne (Boy from Lough Erne)". ''Home'' had success in Ireland, France (reaching #5) and Germany (reaching #12) and was certified silver in the UK.

2006–present: Children and a solo career

The Corrs have been on hiatus since 2006. Sharon, Jim, and Caroline are raising their own families while Andrea pursues a solo career. Sharon married Gavin Bonnar, a Belfast barrister, on 7 July 2001. Since then, they have had two children, Cathal Robert Gerard and Flori Jean Elizabeth. Jim's child, Brandon, was born in 2006 to Gayle Williamson, his ex-fiancée and a former Miss Northern Ireland. Caroline married Frank Woods, a property developer in Majorca, Spain on 22 August 2002. They have three children, Jake, Georgina and Rihann. Andrea released her first solo album, ''Ten Feet High'', on 25 June 2007. It was produced by Nellee Hooper, who has worked with Gwen Stefani and Madonna; Bono was an executive producer. The first single released from the album was "Shame on You (to Keep My Love from Me)". On 30 May 2011, Andrea released her second album, Lifelines, an album of cover songs, with The Blue Nile's ''Tinseltown in the Rain'' as the first single. As of 2009, Sharon is pursuing a solo career, her single ''It's Not A Dream'' was released on 29 August 2009.

The Corrs released their second compilation album, ''Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection'', on 20 November 2006. The album consisted of several of the band's hits, as well as tracks that had not previously been released on Corrs albums, such as "I Know My Love", a collaboration with The Chieftains, and "All I Have To Do Is Dream", Andrea's duet with Laurent Voulzy. The album also featured remixes of "When The Stars Go Blue" and "Goodbye". The latter was released as a download-only single to promote the album. However, the album charted poorly, reaching number 24 in Ireland. On 25 September 2007, The Corrs released another compilation album, ''The Works''. The album consists of three CDs that feature previously released songs. It performed worse than its predecessor, failing to chart at all. Sharon Corr suggested in a September 2010 interview that The Corrs could do something in 2011.

Musical style and influence

When asked to describe their genre, Caroline Corr said it was a "blend of modern rhythms and technology with acoustic instruments, violin, tin whistle, drums, and of course the voices, the marrying of these instruments is our sound". The Corrs' music is typically categorised as folk rock. This is evident in their first two albums, ''Forgiven Not Forgotten'' and ''Talk on Corners'', although Andrea described the genre of ''Talk on Corners'' by saying "it [has] got more of an edgy feel, a little bit more guitar-orientated and also an Irish sound, which is in ''Forgiven, Not Forgotten''."

''In Blue'' moved to towards mainstream pop, placing heavy emphasis on synthesisers. The move attracted criticism from many; one ''Entertainment Weekly'' critic called it "a disheartening example of musical ethnic cleansing". A ''USA Today'' critic called it "the best mainstream pop album you're likely to come across".

''Borrowed Heaven'' placed heavier emphasis on guitars, while retaining the original folk rock genre. ''Home'' is a traditional Irish album, where the band covered many traditional Irish songs. The album contained songs from different eras of Irish music, including a 1982 song written by the late Phil Lynott ("Old Town") while the 1,000-year-old "Return to Fingal" featured as a bonus track on the Japanese, limited German and Spanish editions.

The Corrs' main influences were their parents who were musicians and encouraged them to learn instruments. They drew inspiration from musicians such as The Eagles, The Police, The Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac, which Sharon said in an interview with CNN is the reason "our songs are very, very melodic and [harmonious]".

Philanthropy

The Corrs have been active in supporting charitable and philanthropic causes and disaster relief. In 1996, the Corrs participated in the ''Pavarotti and Friends for the Children of Liberia'' charity concert. The concert was held in Modena, Italy and was hosted by Luciano Pavarotti. Among the other participating artists were Jon Bon Jovi, Natalie Cole, Pino Daniele, Céline Dion, Florent Pagny, Eros Ramazzotti, Spice Girls, Vanessa L. Williams, Stevie Wonder, Trisha Yearwood and Zucchero. The concert raised money that was used to build the Pavarotti and Friends Liberian Children's Village and to provide a refuge for orphans in Liberia during the civil war. The Corrs, along with Sinéad O'Connor, Van Morrison, Boyzone, U2 and Enya held a charity concert in 1998, to raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland.

The Corrs' mother, Jean, died in Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, England. The Corrs showed their appreciation to the hospital by performing a one-off charity concert, held in 2001 at the Telewest Arena; it raised more than £100,000. The money was used to extend the William Leech Centre of the hospital, which is dedicated to research into lung treatment. The city of Newcastle presented them a limited edition painting of Tyneside's quayside in return.

The Corrs' played at a 2004 charity concert for The Prince's Trust, a UK-based charity that provides help, training, financial, and practical support to UK citizens aged between 14 and 30. They performed with Will Young, Blue, Avril Lavigne, Lenny Kravitz, Busted, Anastacia, Nelly Furtado, Sugababes and Natasha Bedingfield and raised more than £1 million.

They are ambassadors for the Nelson Mandela's "46664" campaign, where they performed live to raise awareness towards AIDS in Africa. The concert was held on 29 November 2003 in Cape Town, South Africa. The concert aimed to "[raise] awareness of HIV in South Africa and launched the 46664 campaign" and the money raised was donated to the ''Nelson Mandela Foundation for Aids''. During the Edinburgh Live 8 on 2 July 2005, the Corrs performed "When the Stars Go Blue" alongside Bono to promote the Make Poverty History campaign, which aimed to increase awareness and pressure governments into taking actions towards relieving absolute poverty.

In recognition of their charity work, the Corrs were made honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Personal

The Corrs are four siblings: Andrea Corr (lead vocals, tin whistle); Sharon Corr (violin, vocals); Caroline Corr (Drums, piano, bodhrán, vocals); and Jim Corr (guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals). After the release of ''Forgiven Not Forgotten'' in late 1995, Anthony Drennan (lead guitar/dobro)and Keith Duffy (bass guitar/percussion) joined the lineup for their Forgiven, Not Forgotten World Tour. Both Drennan and Duffy subsequently became permanent members of the touring ensemble and all subsequent recordings. During Caroline Corr's absence due to pregnancy for much of their 2004 Borrowed Heaven Tour, bass player Keith's brother, Jason, who was known as the former drummer of Michael Flatley in Lord of the Dance and Celtic Tiger Live took over. When Caroline reunited with the band, she did piano and percussion as it was easy for her as she progressed

They had numerous producers working for their albums, using differing styles. For ''Forgiven, Not Forgotten'' they enlisted David Foster. They recruited Glen Ballard to produce ''Talk on Corners''. Mutt Lange produced ''In Blue'', Olle Romo produced ''Borrowed Heaven'', and ''Home'' was produced by Mitchell Froom. Froom also produced ''The Corrs Unplugged''.

Band Members

Current Members

# Andrea Corr (lead vocals, tin whistle) # Sharon Corr (violin, vocals) # Caroline Corr (Drums, piano, bodhrán, vocals) # Jim Corr (guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals)

Touring Members

# Anthony Drennan (lead guitar/dobro) # Keith Duffy (bass guitar/percussion)

Discography

Albums

{|class="wikitable" ! Release date ! Title |- | 1995 | ''Forgiven Not Forgotten'' |- | 1997 | ''Talk on Corners'' |- | 2000 | ''In Blue'' |- | 2004 | ''Borrowed Heaven'' |- | 2005 | ''Home'' |}

Compilation albums

{|class="wikitable" ! Release date ! Title |- | 2001 | ''Best of The Corrs'' |- | 2006 | ''Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection'' |- | 2007 | ''The Works'' |- | 2011 | ''Original Album Series'' |}

Live albums

{|class="wikitable" ! Release date ! Title |- | 1997 | ''The Corrs – Live'' |- | 1999 | ''The Corrs Unplugged'' |- | 2002 | ''The Corrs, Live in Dublin'' |}

Tours and other media

Tours

Forgiven Not Forgotten tour (1996–1997)

Talk On Corners Tour (1997–2000)

In Blue Tour (2000–2001)

Borrowed Heaven Tour (2004)

The Corrs: In Concert

Video

The Corrs Live At the Royal Albert Hall

The Corrs Live at Lansdowne Road

The Corrs Unplugged

The Corrs Live In London

All The Way Home/Live in Geneva

Awards

Many of the Corrs' songs have charted at #1 in numerous countries. They won one BRIT Award, in 1999, and have twice been nominated for Meteor Music Awards, in 2005 and 2006. They were nominated for two Grammy awards in 2001 too: one for their song ''Breathless'' and for another one due to their instrumental song ''Rebel Heart''.

See also

Music of Ireland

List of artists who reached number one in Ireland

References

Sources

Cornwell, Jane, ''The Corrs'', London: Virgin Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85227-840-4

Footnotes

External links

The Corrs Official Website

Disfrutaloscorrs.es

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Celtic music groups Category:Family musical groups Category:Irish folk musical groups Category:Irish alternative rock groups Category:Folk rock groups Category:People from County Louth Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Irish pop music groups Category:Celtic fusion musicians Category:Musical quartets

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name	Imelda May
background	solo_singer
birth name	Imelda Mary Clabby
birth date	July 10, 1974
origin	Dublin, Ireland
spouse	Darrell Higham (2002-present)
instrument	Vocals, bodhrán, guitar
genre	Rockabilly, blues, jazz
occupation	Singer, songwriter-composer
years active	2003–present
label	Foot Tapping, Ambassador (Universal Ireland)), Decca
website	}}

Imelda Mary Higham, Clabby (born 10 July 1974), known as Imelda May, is an Irish vocalist and musician. She began her career in music at 16 and released her debut album in 2005. She also plays the bodhrán and guitar. She won the Best Female Artist of the Year award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.

Early life and career

May was born in Dublin on 10 July 1974 in an area known as The Liberties. She is the youngest of five siblings, with sisters Edel Foy and Maria O'Reilly, and brothers Brendan Clabby and Fintan Clabby. Her early musical influences were Folk and Rock & Roll, especially the music of Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. By the age of nine, she was a fan of Rockabilly and Blues, particularly Elmore James and Billie Holiday. At fourteen, she sang in an advertisement for Findus Fish Fingers. However, her career began at age 16 when she began touring the Dublin club circuit and she was occasionally barred from her own shows at Dublin's Bruxelles club for being underage. "I was getting tips from the best musicians in Dublin," May said. "One of them said, 'your voice is great, but it needs to roughen.'" It was around this time, when driving a tearful Imelda to a gig after a boyfriend break-up her father asked her, "Is your heart broken? Excellent. Now you can sing the blues." After moving to the UK in 1998, May began singing with Blue Harlem and Mike Sanchez.

Professional career

May began her professional career in 2003, forming her band and releasing ''No Turning Back'' (Foot Tapping Records) under her maiden name, Imelda Clabby. Specializing in rockabilly music, the album was later re-recorded and re-issued by Foot Tapping Records under her married name in 2005.

In 2007, she joined a recording contract with Ambassador Records (a subsidiary of Foot Tapping Records), and recorded her second album. ''Love Tattoo'' reached No. 1 in Ireland and received wide critical acclaim. It caught the attention of Jools Holland, whom she later supported on tour, which led him to request that she appear on his well-known music show ''Later... with Jools Holland''. She was well received in the United Kingdom, performing to an audience that included Jeff Beck, Elbow, and Roots Manuva. Her first two singles, ''Johnny Got a Boom-Boom'' and ''Big Bad Handsome Man'', were released on 23 January 2009. She performed on Ireland's most popular television show, ''The Late Late Show''. She won Female Artist of the Year at the 2009 Meteor Awards. May has also toured the United States including, most recently, a tour with Jamie Cullum. On 14 August 2009, she appeared on RTÉ's ''Other Voices'' singing ''Johnny Got a Boom Boom'' and an unplugged version of ''Big Bad Handsome Man.'' thumb|250px|May at the Azkena Rock Festival, Spain, 2010 }}

On 31 January 2010, she performed at the 52nd Grammy Awards with Jeff Beck in tribute to Les Paul. After some promotional performances at festivals, such as the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, Netherlands, she released her third studio album, ''Mayhem'', in Ireland on September 3, 2010 — again reaching No. 1 in the Irish Album Charts — and in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2010. On July 18, 2011, May made her network television debut on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', performing "Mayhem," in promotion of the album's recent release in the U.S. and later appeared on ''Conan'' on August 8.

Imelda May has recently contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "I'm Looking For Someone To Love" for the upcoming tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly to be released on September 6, 2011.

Performances with other artists

May has shared the stage with Wanda Jackson, Alison Moyet, Lou Reed, David Gilmore, Sharon Corr, The Supremes, Brian Setzer, The Dubliners, Madeleine Peyroux, Matt Bianco, Elvis Costello, Jools Holland, Jeff Beck and Meat Loaf . She has worked with producers Tony Visconti and Peter Asher. She also sings in The Candy Box Burlesque Club in Birmingham. She has appeared alongside The World Famous Palookaville! Burlesque Orchestra at every Candy Box show since it started in February 2006.

May has sung for the Flashmonkey burlesque band, a popular night at Cafe De Paris in London, also featuring trumpeter/composer Eacott.

In 2009, she recorded the official Children In Need single alongside Cara Dillon, Terry Wogan, Hayley Westenra, and others at Abbey Road Studios. In 2010, she participated on ''Emotion & Commotion'' by Jeff Beck, singing on the track ''Lilac Wine'' and also on the Japanese CD bonus track ''Poor Boy.'' On 11 November 2010, she appeared as a guest on BBC2's comedy panel music show, ''Never Mind The Buzzcocks''.

In 2010, she performed with Meat Loaf as part of the UK leg of his Hang Cool Tour. During 2011, she and her band toured with Jeff Beck.

In August 2011 she performed on Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and the Craig Ferguson show

Personal life

May is married to her guitarist and band member, Darrel Higham. She is a vegetarian.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		! style="width:30px;"	! style="width:30px;"
2005		* Released: 2002 as Imelda Clabby, re-released in 2005 as Imelda May.	* Label: Foot Tapping Records	* Formats: CD	—	—
2008		* Released: October 20, 2008	Universal Records>Universal	* Formats: CD, Download	1	58
2010	style="text-align:left;"	* Released: October 4, 2010	* Label: Universal	* Formats: CD, Download	1	7

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions
!style="width:4em"	!style="width:4em"
	"Johnny Got a Boom Boom"
"Big Bad Handsome Man"
	style="text-align:left;"

Band members

Imelda May – vocals, bodhrán

Al Gare – double bass, bass guitar

Steve Rushton – drums

Darrel Higham – guitar

Dave Priseman – trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion, guitar

Awards and nominations

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Organisation	Nominated work	Award	Result
	2009 Meteor Awards		Imelda May	Best Irish Female
	RTÉ Radio 1	rowspan="2"	Album of the Year
	Choice Music Prize	Choice Music Prize

References

External links

Imelda May Album Review

No Turning Back (Imelda Clabby) Review

Blue Harlem (featuring Imelda May) Reviews

Music On-Air Interview

Liberation Frequency interview

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Irish female singers Category:Irish jazz singers Category:Music from Dublin (city) Category:People from Dublin (city) Category:Irish musicians Category:Rockabilly musicians

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