mumble.de: Der irische «U2»-Sänger Bono hat zwar im Rockgeschäft alles erreicht, was man erreichen kann - ist aber dennoch unzufrieden. «Es gibt Augenblicke, da wäre ich am liebsten ein Country-and-Western-Sänger», sagte Bono einem Bericht des «Express» zufolge. «Wenn ich in ein Hotel komme und da singt jemand "Oh, Ruby...", dann bin ich aufrichtig neidisch. Ich wäre gerne ein Crooner.» [ more]

thestar.com: Paige Pedlar autographed Bono's book and he autographed hers.

It was that kind of day.

The day before, the 7-year-old Grade 1 student was sitting in F.M. Heard School in Whitby. At about 2 o'clock, her mother, Anna, got a phone call. It was the Prime Minister's Office, saying the man himself would like to see the book Paige wrote and illustrated about AIDS orphans, Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?

The next day, dressed in a black skirt, sweater and tights, Paige went to Parliament Hill, where she got to meet with Paul Martin and Bono, the lead singer of U2, who was in town to applaud Martin's announcements about new spending for HIV/AIDS.

Paige sat on the rock star's lap and her 2-year-old sister Erin in Paul Martin's, while people took photos. "You're an amazing little girl," Bono told Paige. She gave him her book and he said, "I have a little book to give you too."

He then gave her a book and CD of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which he illustrated with help from his daughters Jordan and Eve.

"Love to the amazing Paige, from Bono, 2004," his autograph says, beside a drawing of himself. The night before the big day Paige told her friends she was going to meet "the singer guy." Then her family drove to Ottawa.

She got the idea for the book when she was watching television around the time of World Aids Day in December.

u2log.com: U2log.com’s New York editor Chris Conroy recently attended a Tribeca Film Festival screening of the thirty-minute documentary Heart Of America, chronicling the December 2002 initiative by Bono and his DATA group to bring the message of the AIDS emergency and relief for Africa to the American Midwest. To read his review of the film and event, click here.

bbc.co.uk: We've got the short and sweet stats of the big money (earned and spent) by our lush celebs uncovered by the finance fiends from Liquid Assets. Bono is the latest to reveal his figures... which are quite handsome for a strong-minded singer from Dublin.

We reckon Bono can bank on a personal fortune totalling around £108 million - having earned around £26m of it from U2's songs. And that's despite splitting all profits not four, but five ways - with all band members and manager Paul McGuinness.

Because artists in Ireland are exempt from paying tax on royalties or artistic incomes, Bono's saved millions of pounds over the years. The band's royalty rate is believed to be 28% making them one of the highest earning acts in pop history. [ more]