Dublin

So, in 1977 at Mount Temple High School in Dublin, four boys got together and started a rock band. This band then became one of the most famous bands in the world - the name of this band? The Hype. What? You've never heard of them? Ok, maybe because soon after that they changed their name to U2.

Larry Mullen Jr wanted to start his own band and so he put up an announcement on the school noticeboard. Paul Hewson, Adam Clayton and Dave Evans replied, and the group began.

Paul Hewson was born in Dublin on May 10th 1960. His mother was Protestant and his father Catholic, which was quite unusual in those times in Ireland. He got married to Alison in 1982 and together they have two daughters and a son. Before he joined the group his friends gave him the nickname Bonovox, which means 'good voice' in Latin. Now he just uses the name Bono.

Adam Clayton was born in Oxford in England on March 13th 1960. He grew up in Dublin with his sister and brother, and his parents, of course. He isn't married and doesn't have any children. However, some years ago he was engaged to the English supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Dave Evans was born in London on August 8th 1961, and he too has a brother and a sister. They all moved to Dublin when he was just one year old. He was married until 1991 but then got divorced. He has three children from this marriage. He also has two children from his new relationship. When he joined the group, Bono gave him the name The Edge because of the shape of his head!

Larry, who started it all, is the youngest member of the band. He was born in Dublin on October 31st 1961. He initially played the piano but really wanted to play the drums, especially after his sister Cecilia gave him a set for his birthday.

So, U2 formed and soon had success. They made their first album in 1980, called Boy. A year later they released October. Now, around this time I only listened to The Rolling Stones, thanks to my father who played their songs everywhere - in the house, the car, in the garden. One day my friend gave me a cassette with these two U2 albums and I listened to them until the cassette broke! I became a big fan and in 1983, when I was 15, I went to my first rock concert. It was the tour to promote their third album, War. Me and about 700 other fans packed into the Hammersmith Palais in London and had a great time. After that I saw them another six or seven times and each time the atmosphere was amazing. The last time I went to one of their concerts was on the tour for Achtung Baby, but by now they group were so famous that the concert was in a stadium and I was about 300 metres from the stage. It was really disappointing and not like the times in London when we were so close to the band that you could touch them.

Now the band still make great albums but also spend a lot of time on other projects. Bono, for example, works very closely with Sir Bob Geldof to help Africa. The Live 8 concerts in 2005 were organised by them, 20 years after U2 appeared at Live Aid in London. He also started the organisation DATA, which stands for Debt Aid, Trade for Africa.