The Edge

This article is about the U2 guitarist with the stage name "The Edge." For other usages, see Edge. For the professional wrestler with the stage name Edge see Adam Copeland. For other people called David Evans, see David Evans (disambiguation).

The Edge

Dave Howell Evans (born August 8, 1961, Barking, East London, England) stage name The Edge, is the lead guitarist of the Irish rock band U2. He has often been named as one of the most influential guitarists of the past decade, and his famous ringing guitar has become a signature of the band's sound.

Biography

Dave Evans, who was known as a loner in secondary school, took piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an ad posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. seeking musicians to form a rock 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).

The Edge married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan. The couple had three daughters together: Hollie, Arran and Blue Angel. The Edge and O'Sullivan separated in 1991 but could not divorce due to Irish law. They were divorced in 1996, after divorce was legalized in 1995.

In October 1997, The Edge had a fourth daughter, Sian Beatrice Echo, with Morleigh Steinberg, a dancer from U2's early 1990s Zoo TV Tour. Their son Levi was born in September 1999. The couple married on June 22, 2002.

The Edge has become well-known for wearing a skull cap at all times in public, likely to cover up his bald head. He even wore his skull cap at his wedding to Steinberg in 2002. This cap has become part of his distinctive "look," as has wearing shirts with numbers on them during the Elevation Tour concerts.

People continue to speculate how Evans received his nickname "The Edge". While his bandmate Bono has joked that he got the name because of his sharp mind, most of U2's biographers attribute the nickname to the sharp profile of his face and nose. However, the most widely accepted reason happens to be the "Edgy" sound he makes while playing guitar; this peculiar style sounds as if he were playing chords with the edge of a knife. Bono also 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 1982, he came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he was persuaded to stay, and following this event "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was written.

Music

On stage in Anaheim, 2005.

As a guitar player, The Edge is recognised as having a trademark sound typified by understatement, extensive use of digital delay effects, and a focus on texture and melody. 1987's The Joshua Tree is probably the best example of the 'U2 sound', with songs like "With or Without You" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" being amongst the band's most critically acclaimed and best loved works. The album was recorded at the height of the 80's "shred-metal" era, but The Edge's guitar playing on it could not be further from the emphasis of the time on technique and speed (for example, Edge has suggested that With or Without You could easily have gone off into a huge guitar solo, a la November Rain, but instead resolves after a brief drum interlude to a relaxed and "chilled out" strummed guitar part, which he cites as his favorite from the album). The album showcases The Edge's approach to the guitar – rather than trying to push his guitar to the front of the mix and make his contributions obvious, The Edge focuses on the song and the mood, often contributing just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present digital delay. The intro riff to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated 4-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. Much like his contemporary, Tom Morello, The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's 80's material made heavy use of echo. His influence as a guitarist can be seen on many bands still active such as Radiohead, Coldplay, and much of the indie/alternative scene, especially Editors, whose drummer's style is also very similar to that of Edge's bandmate, Larry Mullen.

The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2's singer Bono. As a vocalist, his contributions to the band's overall sound are certainly underappreciated. U2's 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and Live At Red Rocks are good reference points for his singing. (So are the live DVD's from the Elevation Tour, "U2: Go Home" and "U2 Live From Boston.") For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). Though it should be noted U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are often in the form of a repeated cry; this style was probably at least partially inspired by later Beatles recordings such as "Helter Skelter" (of which U2 has recorded a cover version). Examples of songs that use this approach include: "Beautiful Day" and "New Year's Day". The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" (Rattle and Hum), "Numb" (Zooropa), the first half of the song "Seconds" from (War), the falsetto part at the end of Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of from All That You Can't Leave Behind and a verse in the song "Miracle Drug" (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb). He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the Popmart Tour).

He has played piano and keyboards on a myriad of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down," "October," "New Year's Day," "Running To Stand Still," "Miss Sarajevo," "The Hands that Built America," and "Original of the Species." In fact, in live versions of "New Year's Day," he will play both the piano and guitar parts simultaneously. After opening with the main piano melody, he will play the guitar and piano simultaneously on the first verse. In live versions of "Original of the Species", piano is the only instrument played during the song.

Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he has played the bass on at least one occasion. For the song "40" on both the album and live versions, The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton will switch instruments.

In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine named The Edge #24 on their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Instruments: Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Piano, Bass (on "40" and "Race Against Time"), Lap Steel

Guitars Used: Gibson Explorer, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Custom, Gibson SG, Fender Telecaster, Rickenbacker 330-12, Gretsch Country Gentleman, Line 6 Variax 700 acoustic, Epiphone Casino, Epiphone Dot, Gibson J-200, Gibson Hummingbird, Fernandes Decade, Gibson ES-330

Keyboards Used: Yamaha CP70 Electric Grand Piano

Solo recordings

In addition to his regular gig playing with U2, The Edge has also recorded with artists like Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, and Ron Wood.

The Edge connected with 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).

He also created the theme song for "The Batman".

See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

• U2.com, official U2 site
• The Edge at IMDb
• Huge library of instruments, effects, amps and others, used by The Edge
• The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'