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10 Best Revelations From Bono s Surrender Memoir

The U2 singer shares inspiring and embarrassing true confessions

Knopf; John Hewson At 62, tireless activist and U2 singer Bono serves up his life story in a frank, lively and lyrical memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. In 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song and accompanied by Bono’s drawings, he shares intimate tales of loved ones and bandmates, celebrity anecdotes and true confessions. Here are 10 takeaways.

How Bono got his name​

Born Paul David Hewson, he was nicknamed Bono Vox of O'Connell by best friend Derek Rowen, after Dublin's Bonovox hearing-aid shop. "Previously I had been Steinvich von Heisen, and I was grateful when that phase passed." Also, before the band was named U2, it was almost called The Flying Tigers. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.

He was a bit of a bad boy

At age 12 he and his friends threw dog poop into their Spanish teacher’s lunchbox: “Some of it might have gone into her hair, and that was very bad.” But the result was very good: He was encouraged to move on to a less repressive school, "remarkable for its time in conservative Ireland. ... You were encouraged to be yourself, to be creative, to wear your own clothes. And there were girls. Also wearing their own clothes.”

He was a child chess champ

His grandfather taught him to play chess when he was around 8. “I thought he was letting me win, but eventually I noticed he wasn’t.” He beat grownups in chess matches. “To be sitting there at age 10, annoying the face off people five times your age, chasing them around a chessboard. That was a whole other order of fun.“ Ross Stewart

The impact of his mother Iris s death

His mother Iris suffered a brain aneurysm at her father’s funeral when Bono was 10. He and his brother and father didn't talk about it. “We were three Irish men, and we avoided the pain that we knew would come from thinking and speaking about her. Three men used to shouting at the television now shouting at one another. We live in rage and melancholy, in mystery and melodrama.”

He fell for his wife Ali Hewson when he was just a kid​

They first kissed a few months after his mom died, but didn’t go out seriously until the week he joined the band that would become U2, and married in 1982 when he was 22. “Nothing would ever be the same.” They’ve been together ever since. Entertainment Access curated AARP entertainment articles, essays, videos, films and more See more Entertainment offers >

Bono feared for his family s life

Authorities warned Bono that the IRA might attack his family, and in the 1990s, he learned that a Dublin gangster planned to kidnap his children. The gangster's daughter wrote a book detailing the elaborate plot. “That was the kind of news that messed with your sleep patterns.”

Pop goes the U2

For its Pop album cover, U2 met with artist Jeff Koons, famous for giant stainless steel balloon animals. Koons said in a clipped, academic tone, “I’d like to put four kittens in socks hanging from a washing line. Each of you is represented by a kitten, looking out from a sock, hanging on a washing line.” Bono calls this “a brilliant idea that we didn’t use.”

Bono passed out at Obama s White House

When Bono and his wife Ali had dinner in President Obama’s private quarters at the White House, the singer’s allergy to salicylic acid in the wine made him drowsy. Bono says that Obama — who found him out cold in the Lincoln Bedroom — “doesn’t for a minute believe I have this allergy. He thinks Ali made this up to cover for me. He tells people he can drink me under the table. Rubbish. But he does make a strong martini.” Edna Gundersen, a regular AARP music critic, was the longtime pop critic for USA Today. MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Restaurants offers > See more Travel Planning offers > See more Flowers & Gifts offers > See more Groceries offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS