Bono pays tribute to dead father
Rock star Bono tonight paid tribute to his father who has died following a long illness.
He dedicated the song Kite to Bob Hewson, who was 75, before thousands of fans at Earl’s Court in London.
Bono, frontman of the Irish rock group U2, said: ‘‘I want to thank my old man, my father, for giving me this voice.
‘‘He was a fine tenor and he always said if I had his voice who knows what might have happened.
‘‘He had been ill for one week and has gone now. He’s free of all that now. This is a song I wrote for him. This is Kite.’’ Mr Hewson, who died earlier today in Dublin, had been ill with cancer for some time.
Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, had been flying back to Dublin on a nightly basis from the band’s current Elevation 2001 tour in Britain to be with his father.
It was understood no concerts will be cancelled. Tomorrow’s show at Earl’s Court, and at Slane Castle, in the Irish Republic’s Co Meath on Saturday are set to go ahead.
The Slane concert, the first to be staged on successive Saturdays at the venue, will be U2’s first major event in Ireland since 1997.
