Guitarist with U2, The Edge was born David Howell Evans in East London. A year later, he and his family moved to Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple School amd met Larry Mullen, Jr., Bono and Adam Clayton. In 1978, U2 was formed. Described as one of the most influential guitar players of his generation, The Edge’s guitar playing is the hallmark of U2’s music and one of the most original and distinctive guitar styles in rock and roll history. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 have toured the globe countless times, have released 13 studio albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammy’s. One of the principle songwriters of U2, The Edge has also written extensively for other projects, often in collaboration with Bono, including music for movies (Captive, Gangs of New York and Golden Eye); for animation (The “Batman” TV series); and for stage (A Clockwork Orange by the Royal Shakespeare Company). He has also collaborated with composer Paul Chvez on music compositions for modern dance productions.
The Edge has been active in politics and philanthropy since early in his musical career and in 2006, the four members of U2 received Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award. In 2005, The Edge co-founded Music Rising, a charity initiative which provides musical instruments for the musicians, schools and churched of the Gulf Region; and he is an ambassador for Mencap, a charity which works to support people with learning disabilities across the UK. The Edge has served on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation since 2007 and is also a former board member of MIT Media Lab Europe.
Music Generation, Ireland’s National Music Programme that aims to provide every child and young person across the country with access to high quality, inspirational music education, was established in 2010 with an initial ¢5 million donation form U2. Following donations form The Ireland Funds and an ongoing funding commitment from the Irish government, 2015 saw the band make an additional donation of ¢2 million towards ensuring the long term future of music education in Ireland.