U2 has been named MusiCares’ 2027 Persons of the Year. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. are being honored for their music and decades of global activism at the 36th annual Persons of the Year benefit gala.
The event will be held on Feb.
5, 2027 — two nights before the Grammys — at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
“We are honored to celebrate and recognize U2 as this year’s MusiCares Persons of the Year,” Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, said in a statement. “Their impact goes far beyond the stage. Not only has their music defined generations, but they’ve been equally exemplary in their dedication to humanitarian work and using their platform for good. We are so excited to come together to honor their collective artistry and commitment to giving back on this special night.”
U2 will also be celebrating 50 years as a band since meeting as teens at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. The group has garnered 22 Grammy awards throughout its prolific career and sold more than 170 million albums worldwide, and all four members have established and supported a wide range of philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives. (The group has provided ongoing support to Music Generation, Ireland’s national music education program, which helps provide young people in the country with access to lessons on how to play, sing, and create music.)
Individually, Bono, who was previously honored as the 2003 MusiCares Person of the Year, co-founded sister organizations ONE and (RED) to push governments and businesses to do more in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Edge co-founded Music Rising to replace instruments and equipment for musicians, schools, and music programs affected by the devastating disaster. Clayton, who received the MusiCares Stevie Ray Vaughan Award in 2017, has supported efforts focused on addiction and mental health, including Ireland’s Walk in My Shoes initiative. Larry Mullen Jr. served as a producer on the documentary Left Behind, which told the story of mothers coming together to establish New York City’s first public school for dyslexic children.
“We are huge fans of MusiCares and the lifelines they provide across the incredible pool of talent that is the music industry. We’ve been recording and touring for 50 years because of that pool, from producers and engineers to carpenters and riggers,” U2 said in a statement. “‘Persons of the Year’ couldn’t be a better title as it’s the people we’ve been so fortunate to work with, and of course our indomitable audience, that have given us the opportunity to keep making music and keep rocking the boat on things we really care about. It’s such an honour, and we’re very excited to be in the front row of our first ever U2 gig…we know we’re gonna be outplayed.”
The MusiCares Persons of the Year ceremony will also include a tribute concert with performances by artists celebrating U2’s music and humanitarian work.
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