Editing Bono (section)

===Vocals===
[[File:U2 in Tokyo (49182846331).jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Bono performing in Amsterdam in July 2017]]
Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style, often delivered in a high [[vocal register|register]] through open-throated [[Belting (music)|belting]].<ref>Fast (2000), pp. 33–53</ref><ref name="nzherald">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10411209|title=Album review: The Joshua Tree|newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=20 March 1987|first=Colin|last=Hogg|access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-15-ca-10491-story.html|title=U2's Roots Go Deeper|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Robert|last=Hilburn|author-link=Robert Hilburn|date=15 March 1987|at=section Calendar, p. 61|access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref><ref>Rooksby (2001), pp. 122–123</ref> Bono has been classified as a [[tenor]],<ref name="nyt-achtung">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/17/arts/recordings-view-u2-takes-a-turn-from-the-universal-to-the-domestic.html |title=U2 Takes a Turn From the Universal To the Domestic |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Jon |last=Pareles |author-link=Jon Pareles |date=17 November 1991|edition=National|at=sec. Arts and Leisure, p. 29|access-date=13 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928170832/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/17/arts/recordings-view-u2-takes-a-turn-from-the-universal-to-the-domestic.html |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/music/article/On-Music-U2-s-latest-CD-takes-time-to-settle-in-1301425.php| title = On Music: U2's latest CD takes time to settle in| work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] |date=2 March 2009|access-date=12 May 2018| first=Gene| last=Stout}}</ref> and according to him has a three-[[octave]] [[Voice classification in non-classical music|vocal range]];<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.hotpress.com/music/even-better-than-the-surreal-thing-2613082|title=Even Better Than the Surreal Thing|magazine=[[Hot Press]]|first=Joe|last=Jackson|date=16 June 1993|volume=17|issue=11}}</ref> one analysis found it to span from C{{music|sharp}}{{sub|2}} to G{{music|sharp}}{{sub|5}} on studio recordings over the course of his career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges|title=The Vocal Ranges of the World's Greatest Singers|website=ConcertHotels.com|access-date=2 September 2019}}</ref> He frequently employs "[[Non-lexical vocables in music|whoa-oh-oh]]" vocalisations in his singing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20286274.html|title=U2's Songs of Innocence Forget the hype: what about the music?|website=[[Irish Examiner]]|first=Ed|last=Power|date=15 September 2014|access-date=3 September 2020}}</ref> Rock musician [[Billie Joe Armstrong]] of [[Green Day]] said: "He's a physical singer, like the leader of a gospel choir, and he gets lost in the melodic moment. He goes to a place outside himself, especially in front of an audience, when he hits those high notes." He added that Bono is "not afraid to go beyond what he's capable of".<ref name="Lethem 67–108">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-147019/bono-8-222931/|title=The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|first=Jonathan|last=Lethem|date=27 November 2008|issue=1066|pages=67–108|access-date=5 July 2018}}</ref>

In the early days of U2, Bono unintentionally developed an English vocal accent as a result of him mimicking his musical influences such as [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]].{{sfn|U2|2006|p=58}} He said: "I still think that I sing like Siouxsie from The Banshees on the first two U2 albums. But I found my voice through [[Joey Ramone]] at that gig in Dublin. I stood there and heard him singing. He sang a bit like a girl too. It was all going to be OK after all. That was my way in."<ref>{{cite web|first=Bjørn |last=Hammershaug|url=https://tidal.com/magazine/article/age-of-innocence-u2s-dublin-beginnings/1-9360|title=Age of Innocence: U2's Dublin Beginnings|website=[[Tidal (service)|Tidal]]|date=23 October 2014 |access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref> His vocal style evolved during the band's exploration of roots music for ''The Joshua Tree''; ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' said that he learned to command "the full whisper-to-shout range of blues mannerisms".<ref name="spin">{{cite magazine|title=Spins: U2&nbsp;– The Joshua Tree|magazine=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|first=John|last=Piccarella|date=June 1987|issue=3|volume=3|pages=32–33}}</ref> Bono attributed this maturation to "loosening up", "discover[ing] other voices", and employing more restraint in his singing.<ref name="worldabout">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.hotpress.com/archive/551797.html |title=The World About Us |magazine=[[Hot Press]] |first=Niall |last=Stokes |author-link=Niall Stokes |author2=Graham, Bill |date=26 March 1987 |access-date=27 April 2011 |volume=11 |issue=5 |archive-date= 16 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016162124/http://www.hotpress.com/archive/551797.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> For "[[Where the Streets Have No Name]]", Bono varied the [[timbre]] of his voice extensively and used [[tempo rubato|rubato]] to vary its timing,<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Butler |first=Mark |title=Taking it seriously: intertextuality and authenticity in two covers by the Pet Shop Boys |magazine=Popular Music |volume=22 |issue=1 |date=January 2003 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1017/S0261143003003015 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |jstor=853553| issn = 0261-1430 }}</ref> while author Susan Fast found "[[With or Without You]]" to be the first track on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way".<ref>Fast (2000), p. 48</ref>

Bono continued to explore a lower range in the 1990s, using what Fast described as "breathy and subdued colors" for ''Achtung Baby''.<ref name="exp">Fast (2000), pp. 45–48</ref> One technique used on the album is [[octave doubling]], in which his vocals are sung in two different octaves, either simultaneously or alternating between verses and choruses. According to Fast, this technique introduces "a contrasting lyrical idea and vocal character to deliver it", leading to both literal and ironic interpretations of Bono's vocals.<ref>Fast (2000), pp. 49–50</ref> On tracks such as "[[Zoo Station (song)|Zoo Station]]" and "[[The Fly (U2 song)|The Fly]]", his vocals were highly [[Audio signal processing|processed]],<ref name="nyt-achtung"/><ref name="globe">{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/ae/music/packages/U2Fleetcenter/album_review_achtung_baby |title=U2 bounces back |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |first=Steve |last=Morse |date=15 November 1991 |access-date=13 October 2009 |pages=53–54|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212124705/http://www.boston.com/ae/music/packages/U2Fleetcenter/album_review_achtung_baby/ |archive-date=12 December 2009 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="ew">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/article/1991/11/29/achtung-baby |title=Burn, Bono, Burn|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|issue=94 |first=Bill |last=Wyman |date=29 November 1991|page=90|access-date=6 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220184857/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C316330%2C00.html |archive-date=20 February 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> giving them a different emotional feel from his previous work.<ref name="stokes96">Stokes (2005), p. 96</ref> Bono said that lowering his voice helped him find a new vocal vocabulary, as he previously felt limited to "certain words and tones" by his tenor voice.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-08-ca-hilburn8-story.html|title='Where craft ends and spirit begins'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Robert|last=Hilburn|author-link=Robert Hilburn|date=8 August 2004|pages=E1, E40–E41|access-date=14 December 2020}}</ref> His singing on ''[[Zooropa]]'' was an even further departure from U2's previous style; throughout the record, Bono "underplay[ed] his lung power", according to [[Jon Pareles]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/04/arts/recordings-view-a-raucous-u2-moves-farther-out-on-a-limb.html|title=A Raucous U2 Moves Farther Out on a Limb|last=Pareles|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Pareles|date=4 July 1993|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=8 October 2009|at=sec. Arts and Leisure, p. 22}}</ref> and he also used an operatic [[falsetto]] he calls the "Fat Lady" voice on the tracks "[[Lemon (U2 song)|Lemon]]" and "[[Numb (U2 song)|Numb]]".<ref name="u2byu2-248">McCormick (2006), p. 248</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Bono vs. The Beast|magazine=[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]|first=Joe|last=Jackson|date=August 1993}}</ref> As he has aged, Bono has continued to evolve his singing, relying more on "the [[Crooner|croon]] than the belt", according to ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s Joe Gross.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/u2-songs-of-surrender-1234693586/|title=U2 Go Back to Basics and Revisit Their Epic Career on 'Songs of Surrender'|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|first=Joe|last=Gross|date=14 March 2023|access-date=14 March 2023}}</ref>