Ali Hewson

**Alison "Ali" Hewson** (née **Stewart**; 23 March 1961) is an Irish activist and businesswoman. She is the wife of singer and musician Paul Hewson, known as Bono, from the rock group U2.

Raised in Raheny, she met her future husband at a young age at Mount Temple Comprehensive School and married him in 1982. She has a degree in politics and sociology from University College Dublin in 1989. The couple have four children together and live at residences in Ireland, France, and the United States.  She has inspired several U2 songs, most famously "Sweetest Thing".

## Early life

Alison Stewart was born on 23 March 1961,the daughter of Terry and Joy Stewart and the granddaughter of Hector Grey, a well known Dublin trader and shop owner. Alison studied at Mount Temple Comprehensive School where, at the age of twelve, she met Paul Hewson, who was a grade ahead of her.

## Marriage and family

She married Bono on 21 August 1982 in a Church of Ireland ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny.  In debt to U2's label, Island Records, the couple did not have ready funds for a honeymoon, but label head Chris Blackwell gave them use of the Goldeneye estate he owned in Jamaica.  At first, the newly married couple shared a small mews house in Howth with the rest of the band.  It took her a while to enjoy the band's music, as her own tastes ran toward her father's Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole records.

## Career as activist

In 1992, Hewson participated in Greenpeace protests against the Sellafield plant for nuclear reprocessing, located across the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. This involvement led her to become interested in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.

Since 1994, Hewson has been a patron of Chernobyl Children's Project International

## Career as businesswoman

In 2005, Hewson, Bono and designer Rogan Gregory co-founded the Edun fashion label ("nude" spelled backwards, to suggest both "natural" and the Garden of Eden). It was intended to help bring about positive change in Africa through a fair trade-based relationship rather than by direct aid.

## Hewson and U2

Songs written by Bono that were at least in part inspired by Ali go back to the earliest period of the band's recording career, with the track "Another Time, Another Place" off their 1980 first album, _Boy_.  She helped Bono get through a bad period of writer's block during the lead-up to the 1983 _War_ album and especially in the lyric composition for "Sunday Bloody Sunday".  She was the inspiration for the personal themes of "New Year's Day" on that record as well.  The album and the accompanying War Tour brought financial success to the band, and Bono and Ali moved into a three-level, three-room Martello tower in Bray for some years.  The group's 1984 song "Promenade" reflects both that location and the spiritual aspects of his desire for her.

The U2 song "Sweetest Thing" was written for Hewson as a gift because Bono forgot her birthday whilst recording with the band during _The Joshua Tree_ sessions.  Originally released as a B-side in 1987, it was later re-recorded and released as a single from the compilation album _The Best of 1980–1990_ in 1998.  Hewson agreed to appear in the single's music video as long as all proceeds from it went to Chernobyl Children's Project.

## Bibliography

- Dunphy, Eamon (1987) _Unforgettable Fire: The Story of U2_. New York: Warner Books. .
- Flanagan, Bill (1996) _U2: At the End of the World_. New York: Delta.
- Kootnikoff, David. (2012) _Bono: A Biography_. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
- Stokes, Niall (2005 edition). _Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song_. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.
- U2; McCormick, Neil (ed). (2006) _U2 by U2_. London: HarperCollins.

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Alison Hewson
- **image**: Alison Hewson.jpg
- **caption**: Ali Hewson May 2008 Stella Magazine
- **birth name**: Alison Stewart
- **nationality**: Irish
- **other names**: Ali Hewson
- **education**: Degree in social science, politics and sociology
- **alma mater**: University College Dublin
- **occupation**: Activist and businesswoman
- **spouse**: Bono (1982-present)
- **children**: 4