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| Birth Name(s) : David Howell Evans |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
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Full The Edge Biography
David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961 in Barking, East London, UK), more widely known by his moniker The Edge, is a musician known best as the guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist for the Irish rock band U2. His distinctive electric guitar timbre and percussive style of playing, along with his innovative use of digital sound processing — delay in particular — have been instrumental in defining U2's unique sound.
The Edge was born to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans. When he was a year old, his family moved to Malahide in County Dublin where The Edge attended St. Andrew's National School. The Edge received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at their school, Mount Temple Comprehensive School, seeking musicians to form a band. This band would go through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978 (Dik Evans left the band just before the name change). U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their debut album, Boy, was released in 1980.
In 1982, The Edge came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he was persuaded to stay. During this period, he became involved with a group called Shalom, in which bandmates Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved. Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that was to become "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The Edge married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983. The couple had three daughters together: Hollie, in 1985, Arun, in 1986, and Blue Angel, in 1989. The Edge and O'Sullivan separated in 1990 but could not divorce due to Irish law; divorce was legalized in 1995 and the couple legally divorced in 1996.
During U2's groundbreaking Zoo TV Tour, The Edge met Morleigh Steinberg, a professional dancer and choreographer. The couple began dating in 1993, and had their daughter, Sian, in 1997, and a son, Levi, in 1999. Steinberg and The Edge were married on 22 June 2002.
There is considerable speculation as to how he received his nickname "The Edge". Bono made reference to the name in the commentary track of the movie The Million Dollar Hotel, saying that The Edge tends to stand close to the edges of buildings because of his comfort with heights. In another, book-length interview with Michka Assayas, Bono mentions both the sharp profile of his face and nose, and the "insane love he had for walking on the edges of very high walls, bridges, or buildings". In the book U2 by U2, it states that the name originates from his angular facial features, which is then supported by The Edge's claims himself. During an interview with Channel 4's weekend television programme T4, The Edge was asked how he got his nickname and replied "it's the nose," referring to both his nose and angular facial features.
The Edge's guitar technique has been shaped by many different influences. His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar, with which his brother Dick Evans and he experimented with. He said in 1982 of this early experimentation, "I suppose the first link in the chain was a visit to the local jumble sale where I purchased a guitar for a pound. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dick both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that."
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named The Edge #24 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with artists like Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, and Ron Wood.
The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film Captive (1986). From this soundtrack the song 'Heroine', the vocal of which was sung by a young Sinead O'Connor was released as a single.
The Gibson Explorer is The Edge's signature instrument; he said of the Explorer in 1982, "I think it's the most distinctive of my guitars. It seems that the body shape affects the sound somehow. It's a very vibrant guitar with lots of treble. I had a Strat what I wasn't that pleased with in those days, and when I was in New York with my parents, I went to some stores to look around. I picked up this secondhand Explorer and played around on it for a while. It was just so naturally good, and it felt right, so I bought it. It was quite cheap as well, about 450 dollars. A lot of people look at it and think it's one of the originals (under 100 of these were made in 1958 and they are very rare) but it's one of the '76 limited edition reissue models."Amps
- Vox AC30- his 1964 AC30 has been used to record every single U2 album and has been used for every single concert. He has said in interviews that he owns over thirty AC30's.
- Fender Deluxe Tweed
- Fender Blues Jr
- Roland JC120Pedals and Rack
- "Floor board" - Digitech WH-1, Dunlop Wah, Skrydstrup SC-1 (foot controller which controls the gear in rack, and the pedals as well.)
- "Rack" -Lexicon PCM, TC 2290 Dynamic Delay, Line6 Pod Pro, Korg SDD 3000, AMS S-DMX, Korg A3, Line 6 CUSTOM Distortion Pro, Rockton DVC
- "Pedals" - BOSS CS-2, BOSS DD-3, BOSS FA-1, BOSS GE-7, BOSS PW-2, EHX Big Muff, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Lovetone Doppelganger, Lovetone Meatball, |
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