NEW YORK, Dec 18 (AFP) - Bono has built up an unparalleled influence in the world of rock and international politics which he has used to fight for poor nations and the victims of the world AIDS emergency.
While filling stadiums with his rock band U2, Bono's economics and diplomatic credentials built up to the degree that even some top US administration officials said this year they would not rule him out as a potential head of the World Bank. He is also spoken of a Nobel Peace Prize candidate.
Born Paul Hewson on May 10, 1960, Bono acquired a reputation as an argumentative child.
He became a talented songwriter and the 1985 Live Aid concerts for Africa, organised by his fellow Irishman Bob Geldof, and against apartheid, saw the U2 rock band acclaimed as one of the world's greatest. They have remained at the top ever since.
In 1986, Bono and his wife Ali spent several weeks working in an orphanage in Ethiopia.
His real engagement for the world's poor came in 1997 when he met a group working for the cancellation of Third World debt.
Since then Bono has listened to Cambridge economists, argued with prime ministers and presidents and spoken at International Monetary Fund and other multilateral forums to plead for debt relief.
In 2002 he founded the Data organisation -- Debt, Aid, Trade for Africa -- which is based in London and campaigns to help African nations.
"Our generation wants to be remembered for something other than the war against terror," he told a press conference at the Davos economic forum in January.
"We actually want to perhaps be the generation that's remembered for ending extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is what I call stupid poverty."
Nearly always dressed in black and always with his signature wrap around dark glasses, Bono was present at the Group of Eight industrialised powers this year when it decided to cancel the debt of the 40 poorest countries.
He is convinced that the US government -- whether Republican or Democrat -- has to be won over to the cause. And he has badgered both of the major parties over the years.
Bono has become a friend of Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton and has regular meetings with US leader George W. Bush. Some allies have criticised him for his links with the current US administration, but he told the New York Times in an interview this year: "I'm sure it was the right thing to do."
The Times called him "a kind of one-man state" to explain his status and single minded determination.
But not everyone is his friend or admirer.
The writer Paul Theroux, wrote a critique in the New York Times saying: "There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment."
But the critics are rare and U2 concerts still sell out as soon as they are announced. Bono has not given up his rock ambitions.
The four-man group got to know each other in Dublin in the 1970s. Bono lost his mother when he was 14 and rock music became a therapy.
His fellow group members appear to accept Bono's dual career with good grace even though he often uses concerts to put across his political message.
At the Ottawa concert on his latest "Vertigo" tour, Bono told the audience he was "disappointed" that Canada was not doing more to help Africa.
At each concert in North America, he asked the public to use their mobile phones to send messages of support for the One campaign, a new effort to rally Americans against AIDS.
"I've been involved in African issues for a long time," he said in an interview with the BBC this year. "The famine in Ethiopia was an extraordinary thing to witness first hand. I worked in a camp there in the mid-80s and saw what famine can do.
"The AIDS emergency is dwarfing any of the famines that are raising their head again. The problem with AIDS is that it sets back all the work you do in the area of development in these countries. If you care about Africa -- this incredible continent, with such rare beauty and rare spirited people, you have to deal with the problem of AIDS - there's no way round it."
In New York, Bono even wrapped himself in the Stars and Stripes flag to show his admiration for the world superpower.
The US leg of the Vertigo tour earned 260 million dollars and played before three million people at 90 concerts, according to Billboard magazine.
The boy from Dublin, whose stage name came from a local hearing aid store, is now a rich man with a beautiful wife and four children, enjoys the best wines and has homes in his native Ireland, southern France and New York.
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