It’s a few days late to tie in with St. Patrick’s Day, but U2 are the first Irish songwriters to be named Ivors Academy Fellows. They are the second group to receive the honor, following Bee Gees.
Ivors Academy Fellows is the highest honor that the organization, best known for their annual Ivor Novello Awards, bestows. The award will be presented at this year’s The Ivors with Amazon Music event at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday May 22. This year’s Ivor Novello Award nominees will be announced on Wednesday April 23.
With U2’s inclusion, the total number of Fellows rises to 32. This counts U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.) as four individuals and Bees Gees (Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb) as three. Most of the honorees (see full list at the end of this story) have hailed from Britain, though the roster also includes American composer/conductor John Adams, American rock singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen and French composer/conductor Pierre Boulez.
Formed in Dublin in 1978, U2 is one of the greatest songwriting partnerships and most influential bands of all time. The band has amassed eight No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. U2 is the only band to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in four consecutive decades (the 1980s through the 2010s).
U2 has won 22 Grammy Awards, far more than any other group in history. This tally includes four wins in songwriting categories: two for song of the year (for “Beautiful Day” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”) and two for best rock song (for “Vertigo” and “City of Blinding Lights”).
In addition, the band members have received two Oscar nominations for best original song, for “The Hands That Built America” (from Gangs of New York) and “Ordinary Love” (from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom).
U2 has won four Ivor Novello Awards – the Special Award for International Achievement in 1994, Best Song Musically and Lyrically for “Walk On” in 2002, Outstanding Song Collection in 2003 and International Hit of the Year for “Vertigo” in 2005.
Other prized songs by U2 include “I Will Follow,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With or Without You”
and “One.”