BONO FIDE?

In a new documentary the U2 singer tries to shed his various personas and find his real self. He talks to RACHAEL DAVIS

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Despite the fact that he is a self-described 'exhibitionist, Bono found himself being something of an enigma. Bold, brash, outspoken - particularly on issues of politics, non-violence and religion he found himself wearing a public-facing mask, one that was partly self-crafted and partly thrust upon him.

The 65-year-old vocalist and lyricist explores in intimate, albeit theatrical, detail the intricacies of his upbringing after losing his mother, who died after suffering a ruptured cerebral aneurysm at her father's funeral in 1974, and the fraught relationship he had with his father, who he felt didn't always believe he had what it took to make it as a musician.

It is, he says, the story of "a man still confused about who he is, who might have begun to know who he was, but who certainly has a clearer knowledge of where he came from".

"I think when you get a bit famous, it’s easy to fall into caricature, really," the rockstar says.

"And maybe it’s easier more easy for some of us than for othersbut you get drawn in very, very bold, brassy colours, and I certainly drew myself like that over the years, and I just wanted to get the pencil out and bring back some dimension to my life, and try and figure out actually the commonness of my story, or the ordinariness of my story, rather than the extraordinariness."