The Edge

On 29 April 2016, the Edge performed in the Sistine Chapel as part of a conference for the Angiogenesis Foundation, making him the first rock artist to stage a concert at the site.

Evans has been criticised for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a 156-acre (63.13-hectare) plot of land in Malibu, California. The California Coastal Commission voted 8–4 against the plans. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to remain neutral on the issue following a US$1 million donation from Evans and a commitment to designate 100 acres of the land as open space for public footpaths.

He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman. He and fellow U2 member Bono wrote the theme of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. The Edge, along with Bono, composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On 25 May 2011, a single titled "Rise Above 1" by Reeve Carney featuring Bono and the Edge was released digitally. The music video was released on 28 July 2011.

In 2008, the Edge participated in the Davis Guggenheim-directed documentary film It Might Get Loud. The film examines the history of the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and styles of the Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. The film premiered on 5 September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival

In 2007, the Edge was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, Spin ranked him 13th on their list. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Bono and the Edge at number 35 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. At the 2017 Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Edge was honoured with the Les Paul Spirit Award by the Les Paul Foundation for being someone who "exemplifies the spirit of the late, great Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music".

The Edge, Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz co-founded Music Rising in 2005, a charity that helped provide replacement instruments for those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. The instruments were originally only replaced for professional musicians but they soon realised the community churches and schools needed instruments as well. The charity's slogan is "Rebuilding the Gulf Region note by note" and has so far helped over a hundred musicians who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Edge also serves on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation dedicated to improving global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diets, and lifestyle.

In 1993, he began dating Morleigh Steinberg, an American professional dancer and choreographer whom he had met while she was employed as a dancer during the band's Zoo TV Tour. They have a daughter, Sian (born 1997), and a son, Levi (born 25 October 1999). The couple were married in 2002.

In 1987's The Joshua Tree, the Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. the Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in 1982 of his style:

In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with such artists as Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Ronnie Wood, Jah Wobble, Holger Czukay, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Daniel 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 Sinéad O'Connor was released as a single.

The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. Their 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky are good reference points for his singing (as are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle and Elevation 2001: Live from Boston). For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonises on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". Another technique he uses in his backing vocals is the falsetto, in songs such as "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", "A Man and a Woman", "The Wanderer", live versions of "The Fly", and "Window in the Skies".

Evans married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983. They have three daughters: Hollie (born in 1984), Arran (in 1985) and 'Blue Angel' (in 1989). The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get legally divorced because of Irish laws regarding marriage annulment at the time; divorce was legalised in 1995, and the couple legally divided in 1996. Evans is a Protestant Christian.

His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument. 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 Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that." 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 1980s material made heavy use of echos.

In 1981, leading up to the October Tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay. During this period he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers, 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 later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time") and lap steel guitar. Detailed gear diagrams of the Edge's U2 guitar rig for the 1981 October Tour, the 1983 War Tour, and the 2009 U2 360° Tour are well-documented. Key to his signature sound are the use of modulated delays, namely a Korg SDD-3000 delay unit made in the early 80's, as well as a special Herdim guitar pick, which Edge holds upside down to expose the "dimples" when hitting the guitar strings to achieve a raspier chime. For his main amplification, the Edge uses a vintage Vox AC30 particularly a 1964 JMI-era "Top Boost" model chassis fitted into an early 70's cabinet. In 2016, Fender unveiled a signature guitar model, the Edge Signature Stratocaster, which the Edge has been using on the most recent tours to replace his vintage 70's Stratocasters. Around the same time Fender also unveiled a signature amp, the Fender Edge Deluxe.

U2 began its public performance life in small venues in Dublin in 1977, occasionally playing at other venues elsewhere in Ireland. In December 1979 they performed their first concerts outside Ireland, in London, and in 1980 began extensive touring across the British Isles, developing a following. Their debut album Boy was released in 1980.

The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, and was raised in Ireland after the Evans family moved there. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School he formed a band with his fellow students and elder brother Dik that would evolve into U2. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most successful acts in popular music, with albums such as 1987's The Joshua Tree and 1991's Achtung Baby. Over the years, the Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, the Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record Zooropa, and occasionally served as co-lyricist. The Edge met his second wife Morleigh Steinberg through her collaborations with the band.

While the Evans brothers were at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin in 1976, they went along to a meeting in response to an advert posted by another pupil, Larry Mullen Jr., on the school's noticeboard seeking musicians to form a new band with him. Among the several other pupils who also responded to the note were Paul Hewson and Adam Clayton. The band went through a number of reformations before becoming known as U2 in March 1978 (Richard Evans having left before this to join another band, leaving his younger brother as the lead guitarist).

The Evanses initially lived in Chadwell Heath, Essex. Around 1962, Garvin was offered a promotion and a transfer at his job, and the family subsequently moved to County Dublin, Ireland for him to take it.

David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known by his stage name the Edge (or just Edge), is a British-born Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 14 studio albums with the band and one solo record. As a guitarist, the Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive sound that has become a signature of U2's music.

David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital, in the county of Essex in England, on 8 August 1961. He is the second child of Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans, both of whom originated from Llanelli, a coastal town in South Wales. Garvin was an engineer who worked for the local electricity board, and subsequently worked for the electronics company Plessey. The Edge has an elder brother Richard (often called Dik) and a younger sister called Gillian.