About Me
Adam was born the oldest child of Brian, a RAF pilot, and Jo Clayton in Oxfordshire, England on 13 March 1960. At the age of five, the family moved to Yellow Walls Road in Malahide near Dublin, where sister Sarah and brother Sebastian were born.Adam attended private boarding school(lives nearby) St. Columba's in Rathfarnham, but hated it. [citation needed] Being a bit of a hippie, Adam's freewheeling personality was at odds with the structured environment. He later switched to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, Ireland's first ecumenical school, where he met his U2 bandmates Paul "Bono" Hewson, Dave "The Edge" Evans and Larry Mullen Jr. Mullen had posted an advertisement for musicians. Adam ignored it at first, believing it was a school-sponsored event. When he discovered that it wasn't, he showed up at the first practice, which also included Dik Evans, Dave's older brother. When Dik Evans left, the fledgling band that would become U2 was created. They were known first as Feedback, then The Hype. He also served as the band's first manager before Paul McGuinness, a more experienced manager, was hired.Adam's ambiguous religious beliefs caused a rift with his three outspoken Christian bandmates which peaked between the time of their second album, October (1981) and their third album, War (1983). Reportedly, Clayton was being treated as a bit of an outsider until manager Paul McGuinness came to his aid. To smooth over the rift, Adam was asked to be Bono's best man at his wedding.In 1986, U2 recorded what is considered by many to be their first masterpiece: 1987's The Joshua Tree album, at Danesmoate House. Adam later bought the home for approximately €380,000. It is hidden away behind Taylors Pub on Kellystown Road, Rathfarnham.Adam's name made world headlines in August 1989 when he was arrested in the car park of the Blue Light pub in Barnacullia, Dublin, and charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana. He avoided a conviction by making a sizable cash donation to charity. Adam has battled alcohol abuse, culminating in him being too unwell to play with the band in Sydney in 1993; the only performance missed by a U2 member since the late-1970s. He nolonger drinks._________________________________________________U2's
sound is essentially built around The Edge's effects-laden guitar work and Bono's poetic lyrics. While Adam Clayton will probably never be confused with Cream's Jack Bruce or The Who's John Entwistle, Clayton's often uncomplicated bass playing serves as a solid foundation for U2's songs. Part of the reason that Clayton's basslines are so uncomplicated is due to the fact that upon joining the band, he could scarcely play bass at all. It was not until 1996 that he actually began taking professional bass guitar lessons. [citation needed]Even on songs where the basslines are busier and more up front in the mix (as it is on "Gloria", "The Three Sunrises", "One", and "Bullet the Blue Sky"), Adam Clayton's playing is a study in tasteful restraint and how to play for the song. Clayton switches between finger-style and pick-style with ease, and occasionally throws in some funk-style slapping and popping. In the 1980s and 1990s, Adam used various effects on his bass such as chorus, flangers, distortion and phasers. Now he tends to prefer a clean bass tone. In a recent interview with Bass Player Magazine, he said "We used to have a rule—it’s probably a good one—that only one instrument could have an effect on it at any time. It’s usually Edge".Lead vocalist Bono describes Adam as the "jazz man" of the band in an interview on 60 Minutes in November 2005. Elaborating on the unpredictability of Adam's nature, Bono says "(You) never know what he's going to say, but more importantly, you never know what he's going to play". Bono proceeds to cite the band's hit song, "Bullet the Blue Sky", as a song with a weird sounding bassline, citing that Clayton is playing in a different key from the rest of the band (while Bono states his source as none other than The Edge himself, this is mistaken - as the record clearly demonstrates, the vocal melody line, Clayton's bass riff are in E flat minor while The Edge is playing D flat).Clayton's stage style was a major, positive surprise during the Vertigo Tour. The bassist would walk along the catwalk during at least one song per concert, generally "Where the Streets Have No Name" (during the chorus of which he plays a lead bassline reminiscent of Peter Hook's style, who Clayton has said he admires, [1]), and his excursions away from the stage would be warmly cheered by the crowd.The main bass guitars used by Clayton throughout his career on stage are the Fender Jazz Bass and the Fender Precision Bass. More recently, he has also used Lakland basses, Joe Osborne Signature and Darryl Jones Signature models. In his earlier career with the band, he has been seen with an Ibanez bass guitar. In the studio, he also also used Gibson Thunderbird and Les Paul Basses. He also endorses Ashdown amplifiers and uses blue Herdim picks, as does fellow band member, The Edge.In 1983 Adam made a rare singing appearance on "Endless Deep", a b-side to U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" single.Adam and Bono, lead singer of U2, contributed to the 1984 African famine charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?." Adam played bass.On the 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1, Adam can be heard speaking the last verse on the song "Your Blue Room."In 1996 Adam co-arranged, and spoke on, "Tomorrow ('96 Version)", a rerecording of a U2 song originally featured on the October album.Adam was winner of the Best Bassist award in the Orville H. Gibson Guitar Award in both 2001 and 2002.Though he is the bass player for one of the biggest bands in the world, Clayton did not have any formal music training until 1996.For the song "40," when played live, Adam and The Edge traded instruments, with Adam playing guitar and The Edge playing the bass.When "City of Blinding Lights" is performed live, Adam plays the keyboard intro._____________________________________________His solo projects:Adam played bass on Robbie Robertson's 1987 self-titled album. Adam has also performed live with Maria McKee.Adam Clayton played bass on "Still Water" and "Jolie Louise" on Daniel Lanois 1989 album Acadie.In 1994 Adam contributed to Nanci Griffiths 1994 album "Flyer" on the following songs - "These Days in an Open Book", "Don't Forget About Me", "On Grafton Street" and "This Heart". Larry Mullen Jr also contributed to these songs.Adam and Larry Mullen Jr recorded soundtrack, including the theme song, for the 1996 film remake of the television series Mission: Impossible. In 1997 The "Theme From Mission: Impossible" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category. The song also became a popular hit, reaching the #8 on the Billboard chart in the US.---------------------------
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