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NameDateIntellectual Devotional Modern Culture Reading: Bono. Please use this reading on lead singer of the rock group U2 and political activist Bono to answer the reading comprehension questions on the worksheet that accompanies it.Bono (1960-) is the lead singer of the immensely popular rock group U2 as well as the world’s most visible champion of humanitarian causes. He has used his fame and status as the face of U2 to fight poverty and AIDS in the Third World, particularly in Africa. Bono was born Paul Hewson in Dublin, Ireland, to a Catholic father and Protestant mother. He joined the band that would become U2 in October 1976, even though he could not sing or play the guitar very well. But his new bandmates could already recognize his potent charisma and overwhelming desire for success.As Bono honed his tenor voice, songwriting skills, and dramatic stage presence, U2 built a following in the early 1980s with its live shows. The band’s third album, War, released in 1983, turned the group into an international sensation. Four years later, the release of The Joshua Tree turned U2 into one of the biggest bands on the planet, and the group filled stadiums all around the world.Subsequent U2 albums, including Achtung Baby (1991), All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000), and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), explored new musical directions and provided further confirmation of the band’s international popularity.As U2 skyrocketed to fame, Bono began developing into a social activist. He and bass player Adam Clayton (1960) played on the 1984 charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.In July 1985, U2 participated in Live Aid, a major international concert for African famine relief at London’s Wembley Stadium. U2’s stirring performance created thousands of new fans, and after the concert, Bono and his wife, Alison Hewson (1961-), worked for six weeks in Ethiopia on a famine-relief and education project.More recently, Bono has focused on canceling Third World debts and fighting poverty and global diseases through his work as a cofounder of the One Campaign and DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa). In 2005, he convinced leaders of the G8 countries to forgive $40 billion worth of debt owned by poorer nations. For his efforts, he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times (2003, 2005, and 2006).Additional FactsThere are many stories about how Bono got his moniker. The most credible version is that the name came from a brand of hearing aid called Bonavox—a close approximation of bono vox, which is Latin for “good voice.”Perhaps the lyrics that best sum up Bono’s brand of activism come from U2’s 2004 song “Crumbs for Your Table”: “Where you live should not decide/Whether you live or whether you die.”Among Bono’s onstage trademark are his political speeches (which have made him a lightning rod for criticism), his penchant for pulling women out of the audience to dance with him, and his personas from the 1992-1993 Zoo TV tour—the Fly, Mirrorball Man, and MacPhisto. Adapted from: Kidder, David S, and Noah Oppenheim. The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Converse Confidently about Society and the Arts. Emmaus PA: Modern Times, 2008. ................
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