The Edge stuns U2 fans by becoming Irish citizen after 63 years

24 June 2025, 12:32

He is one of the most recognisable faces in Irish music, but never, until now, has U2’s The Edge officially been Irish.

The legendary guitarist moved to Dublin as an infant and lived in the country for 62 of his 63 years but has never, until this week, formalised the paperwork.

He told reporters outside a court in Killarney, County Kerry: “I’ve been living in Ireland now since I was one year old.

“But the time is right. And I couldn’t be more proud of my country for all that it represents and all that it is doing.”

He added that he had been a bit “tardy” with official documents, but he has always considered himself to be Irish alone.

U2 fans admitted their shock online to realise that The Edge has never been formally Irish, until now, despite co-writing anti-war anthems such as Please, The Troubles, and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

"Good for him," tweeted Carlos. "Only took him 62 years."

"Thought he was Irish already," said Jessica.

"Wow, thought he already was!" another added.

Who is The Edge?

Born David Howell Evans, The Edge took his stage name upon founding U2 with bandmates Bono (Paul Hewson), Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.

Principally the band’s guitar player, the 62-year-old is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and a pioneer for new sounds and techniques that have seen the band evolve their sound over four decades. Often a backing vocalist to Bono, The Edge very occasionally takes lead vocals and took centre stage on the 1993 single Numb (which was recently sampled on Haim’s Now It’s Time).

The band’s members met while growing up in Dublin, but The Edge was in fact born in Barking, Essex, and - as the surname Evans suggests - he has Welsh ancestry. Edge’s brother Dik Evans was an original member of U2 but left before the band was signed in the late 1970s.

He has never held Irish citizenship, until now, despite the fact that he moved to the country aged one. He has lived, for at least some of the time, in Ireland ever since and married his first wife, Aislinn O'Sullivan, in 1985, having three children, before splitting in 1990.

Since 1993, he has been with Morleigh Steinberg, a dancer whom he met while she performed alongside the band on their Zoo TV tour. They have been married since 2002 and have two children.

The Edge is well known for wearing a hat, something he has done with U2, almost without exception, since the early 1990s.

Most recently, U2 have performed their Achtung Baby Live residency in Las Vegas and are rumoured to be working on their 15th studio album.