The man who isn't there

In some strange twisted way, it's only apt that an article on The Edge begins with a nod to Keith Richards. You see, Richards is the totem rock 'n' roll guitarist – hell-raiser guitar hero, creative engine, the flamboyant axe-man who launches into a searing guitar solo while a cigarette burns on the turning pegs of his Fender Telecaster.

Over the years, guitarists have been the perennial bad boys of rock 'n' roll. Richards, Jimmy Page, Slash, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Perry – you don't want to be on the other side of a confessional box with any of them.

And then there's David Evans – The Edge, as the rest of the world knows him. The anti-guitar hero in the boring skull cap – no outlandish costumes, no bad haircuts, no self-indulgent lengthy guitar solos, no rockstar tantrums, not even bad press.

Yet he remains the man behind the distinct sound of arguably the most successful band in the history of music, U2. If this was any other line-up, he could have been the star or at least had equal billing – like Page and Plant, Lennon and McCartney, Tyler and Perry, Gilmour and Waters.

But, what do you do when your vocalist is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, a rabble-rousing political activist in wraparound shades who gets audiences with the presidents of the world's most powerful countries?

In an interview with a music magazine long ago, The Edge sort of explained the situation saying, "It's a challenge to make sure the music doesn't become a sideshow to what Bono is doing. He's taken on a lot of it [the activism] over the last few years himself, because he's had the opportunity to do it and he's very good at it. If all of us were up to it, there'd never be any records or anything made."

The early years

Evans was born in Barking, Essex in 1961 to Welsh parents but moved to Dublin when he was just a year old. In 1976, as a student of Dublin's Mount Temple Comprehensive High School, he responded to a flyer left by Larry Mullen Jr. on the school notice board asking for prospective band mates.
At Mullen's house, he met Adam Clayton and Bono and the foursome would eventually go on to form U2.

Though hugely influenced by the punk-era bands like The Clash, the young men were also devout Catholics and their religious beliefs almost stood in the way of their rock 'n' roll lifestyle. The Edge almost quit on the band, but was persuaded to stay by Bono.

There are various theories to how Evans ended up with his now famous nickname. While some suggest that Bono re-baptised him 'The Edge' because of his sharp, angular features, some suggest the nickname sat because of his razor sharp mental abilities and the fact that he always observed things from the edge.

The engine room

While singer Bono has been the band's face, the guy who wrote politically-charged songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet the Blue Sky, The Edge has been the technician who has put it all together musically.

His style of guitar play – minimalist, devoid of guitar solos but relying on guitar effects – was quite a departure from the showmanship of guitar heroes like Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore in the '70s. But the shimmering sound that he created, the delay effect, as heard on songs like Where the Streets Have No Name became a trademark sound that sustained for more than 30 years.

Apart from the Rolling Stones and probably Aerosmith, no other band has had that kind of longevity.

Bob Dylan put it succinctly when he said this about The Edge's delay-ridden riffs: "Everybody's going to remember your songs, it's just that nobody's gonna be able to play them."

Obviously, his peers think highly of him. Bono rates The Edge among the most influential guitarists around. He told Rolling Stone magazine, "The Edge finds some new colours for the spectrum of rock. It's his palette we're painting from. He is the most influential guitarist since Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend and Neil Young."

Incidentally, Rolling Stone slots the U2 guitarist at number 24 in their all-time list of the 'Greatest Guitarists Ever' with Jimi Hendrix (who else?) taking the top slot.

Bands like Muse and Radiohead have cited The Edge's unique style as a source of inspiration in the past.

The Edge burst onto the scene at a time when things were moving on from the established Blues-inspired guitar play of the '70s. The punk-inspired sound that he strived for was a little more abstract – using effects and delays.

In the '90s, on albums like Zooropa and Pop, the band did explore a more European techno-inspired sound – a phase that produced some of their dullest albums – but the band marked a return to their roots with All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Interestingly, unlike Bono who has basically campaigned tirelessly to reduce Africa's debt, The Edge's social activism has been pretty low-key.

After he visited the hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans in 2005, he co-founded Music Rising, a charity that helps purchase instruments for the musicians of New Orleans.

"Providing replacement instruments through Music Rising will not only help the professional musicians to regain a foothold on their future, but will also ensure that one of the Gulf Coast's greatest assets – its music – will rise again," said The Edge at the launch of the charity.

The new album

No Line on the Horizon, the band's 12th studio album is set for a March 2 release. The pre-release buzz is that this is a back-to-basics album, more in line with the U2 we adored on Achtung Baby.

The Edge told Q magazine that he thinks this could be their best album. "The album could be a bringing-to-bear of all those eureka moments from the past," he said.

Their last album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was released in 2004 and won eight Grammy Awards including best Rock Song for City of Blinding Lights and Best Album and sold more than 10 million copies.

The Edge may not fit the stereotype of the typical rockstar but, as he showed with the Music Rising charity, he knows a thing or two about tapping in to his superstardom for a cause.

For the rest of the time, he seems to remain content with the thing that he loves doing the most – playing the guitar. He once told a guitar magazine, "I find it to be an ongoing challenge to keep the guitar from becoming too traditional. I'm constantly trying to find uncharted territories by looking for sounds and tones that inspire new feelings and stop me from becoming too staid."

U2's new album No Line on the Horizon is out this March.

The fellowship of two

The guitarist-vocalist combo usually ends up being the creative engine of most bands. Just like The Edge and Bono form the slightly one-sided yet formidable songwriting duo of U2, here's five of the greatest songwriting duos in the history of rock 'n' roll.

1. Lennon-McCartney
Arguably the most influential songwriting duo ever, John Lennon and Paul McCartney would sometimes skip school in the late 50s to write songs together. Their collaboration was the bedrock of The Beatles' success in the next decade. They had somewhat contrasting styles – McCartney was the romantic, while Lennon was a little more pessimistic in his songwriting.

2. Jagger-Richards
Keith Richards' brilliance with the guitar was the ideal foil for Jagger's feverish intensity bending the mike. Their collaboration produced some of the Rolling Stones' biggest hits – Sympathy for the Devil, Satisfaction (I can't get no), Angie… The duo, sometimes published under the pseudonym The Glimmer Twins, remain one of rock's most engimatic partnerships.

3. Page-Plant
Back in the 70s, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were the two demi-gods who strutted the rock 'n' roll scene. Led Zeppelin's music set the template for heavy metal and hard rock. Their collaboration on songs like Stairway to Heaven, Kashmir and Battle of Evermore was rich, textured and propelled the band to dizzy heights in the industy.

4. Gilmour-Waters
As most die-hard Pink Floyd fans will tell you, everything went downhill from Final Cut, the last album that David Gilmour and Roger Waters worked on together. The duo's creative inputs peaked on The Dark Side of the Moon and in songs like Comfortably Numb. Gilmour wrote the music on this song. When Waters heard it, he wrote the lyrics to fit the surreal soundscapes that Gilmour created.

5. Tyler-Perry
Referred to as the 'Toxic Twins' because of their wild ways, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry are one of rock music's enduring partnerships. The duo wrote most of Aerosmith's big hits including Walk this Way, Toys in the Attic and Crazy and have performed together on many occasions without the rest of the Aerosmith line-up.