Adam Clayton

Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-born Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock band U2.

Adam Charles Clayton, the oldest child of Brian and Jo Clayton, was born on 13 March 1960 in Chinnor, Oxfordshire, England.

His father was a pilot with the Royal Air Force who moved into civil aviation, and his mother was a former airline stewardess.

When Clayton was four years old, his father worked in Kenya as a pilot with East African Airways, with the family residing in Nairobi; Clayton regards this as the happiest period of his childhood.

He has resided in County Dublin, Ireland since his family moved to Malahide in 1965, when he was five years old.

In 1965, the family moved to Malahide, northern County Dublin, Ireland, where Clayton's brother Sebastian was born.

The Clayton family became friends with the Evans family (including their son David Evans ("The Edge"), who later co-founded the band U2 with Clayton).

When he was eight years old, Clayton was sent to the private junior boarding Castle Park School in Dalkey, southern County Dublin.

Not being sports-oriented, Clayton did not enjoy the school or respond well to its ethos; he found it difficult to settle socially there.

He was interested in pop music, which students were not allowed to listen to.

He joined the School's "Gramphone Society", which met to listen to classical music.

He also took piano lessons for a short time.

His introduction to the world of popular music was around age 10, listening to rock operas such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair, and other material that was midway between classical and popular music.

At age 13, Clayton entered the private St Columba's College secondary school in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

Here he made friends with other pupils who were enthusiastic about the pop/rock music acts of the period, including the Who, the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, and Carole King.

In response he bought a £5 acoustic guitar from a junk shop near the Dublin quays, and began learning elementary chords and songs.

John Leslie, who shared a bunk bed with Clayton at St. Columba's, persuaded him to join in with a school band where Clayton played the bass guitar for the first time.

His mother purchased a bass for him when he was 14 when Clayton promised that he would commit himself to learn to play the instrument.

Clayton later changed school to the non-boarding Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, where he met future U2 bandmates Paul Hewson ("Bono") and Larry Mullen Jr.., who were also pupils there, and was reunited with his childhood friend David Evans.

Clayton attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where he met schoolmates with whom he co-founded U2 in 1976.

A member of the band since its inception, he has recorded 15 studio albums with U2.

Clayton's bass playing style is noted for its "harmonic syncopation", giving the music a driving rhythm.

He is well known for his bass playing on songs such as "Gloria", "New Year's Day", "Bullet the Blue Sky", "With or Without You", "Mysterious Ways", "Vertigo", "Get on Your Boots", and "Magnificent".

In September 1976, Mullen put an advert onto the school's bulletin board seeking other musicians to form a band; Clayton showed up for the first meeting and practice, as did the Edge with his older brother Richard Evans ("Dik"), Bono, and Mullen’s friends Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin, who both left the band soon after its inception.

While the band was a five-piece (consisting of Bono, the Edge, Mullen, Dik Evans, and Clayton) it was known as "Feedback".

The name was subsequently changed to "The Hype", but changed to "U2" soon after Dik Evans left.

Clayton stood in as the nearest thing that the band had to a manager in its early life, handing over the duties to Paul McGuinness in May 1978.

In 1981, around the time of U2's second, spiritually charged album, October, a rift occurred between Clayton and McGuinness, and the three other band members.

Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group, and were questioning the compatibility of rock music with their spirituality.

However, Clayton, with his more ambiguous religious views, was less concerned, and so was more of an outsider.

He played (along with the other members of U2) on Robbie Robertson's self-titled album from 1987, and has also performed with Maria McKee.

Clayton joined U2 producer Daniel Lanois and bandmate Larry Mullen Jr.. on Lanois's 1989 album Acadie, playing the bass on the songs "Still Water" and "Jolie Louise".

In 1995, after the Zoo TV Tour and Zooropa album, Clayton went to New York with bandmate Mullen to receive formal training in the bass; until then, Clayton had been entirely self-taught.

During that period, Clayton worked on U2's experimental album, released under the pseudonym "Passengers", entitled Original Soundtracks 1.

That album features one of the few instances where Clayton has appeared as a vocalist; he spoke the last verse of "Your Blue Room", the album's second single.

Prior to this Clayton had only provided live backing vocals to tracks such as "Out of Control", "I Will Follow", "Twilight", and "Bullet the Blue Sky".

He has worked on several solo projects throughout his career, such as his work with fellow band member Larry Mullen Jr.. on the 1996 version of the "Theme from Mission: Impossible".

Since the 1997 PopMart Tour, Clayton has not sung live in any capacity for the band.

Clayton has worked on several side projects throughout his career.

As a member of U2, Clayton has received 22 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.