Benjamin franklin and albert einstein, this is the exclusive biography of steve jobs

Billboard
chart. Bono told the press afterward that he had done the commercial 
without charge because “U2 will get as much value out of the commercial as Apple will.” Jimmy 
Iovine added that it would allow the band to “reach a younger audience.”
What was remarkable was that associating with a computer and electronics company was the 
best way for a rock band to seem hip and appeal to young people. Bono later explained that not all 
corporate sponsorships were deals with the devil. “Let’s have a look,” he told Greg Kot, the 
Chicago Tribune
music critic. “The ‘devil’ here is a bunch of creative minds, more creative than a 
lot of people in rock bands. The lead singer is Steve Jobs. These men have helped design the most 
beautiful art object in music culture since the electric guitar. That’s the iPod. The job of art is to 
chase ugliness away.”
Bono got Jobs to do another deal with him in 2006, this one for his Product Red campaign that 
raised money and awareness to fight AIDS in Africa. Jobs was never much interested in 
philanthropy, but he agreed to do a special red iPod as part of Bono’s campaign. It was not a 
wholehearted commitment. He balked, for example, at using the campaign’s signature treatment 
of putting the name of the company in parentheses with the word “red” in superscript after it, as in 
(APPLE)
RED
. “I don’t want Apple in parentheses,” Jobs insisted. Bono replied, “But Steve, that’s 
how we show unity for our cause.” The conversation got heated—to the F-you stage—before they 
agreed to sleep on it. Finally Jobs compromised, sort of. Bono could do what he wanted in his ads, 
but Jobs would never put Apple in parentheses on any of his products or in any of his stores. The 
iPod was labeled (PRODUCT)
RED
, not (APPLE)
RED
.
“Steve can be sparky,” Bono recalled, “but those moments have made us closer friends, 
because there are not many people in your life where you can have those robust discussions. He’s 
very opinionated. After our shows, I talk to him and he’s always got an opinion.” Jobs and his 
family occasionally visited Bono and his wife and four kids at their home near Nice on the French 
Riviera. On one vacation, in 2008, Jobs chartered a boat and moored it near Bono’s home. They 
ate meals together, and Bono played tapes of the songs U2 was preparing for what became the 
No 
Line on the Horizon
album. But despite the friendship, Jobs was still a tough negotiator. They 
tried to make a deal for another ad and special release of the song “Get On Your Boots,” but they 
could not come to terms. When Bono hurt his back in 2010 and had to cancel a tour, Powell sent 
him a gift basket with a DVD of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, the book 
Mozart’s 
Brain and the Fighter Pilot
, honey from her beehives, and pain cream. Jobs wrote a note and 
attached it to the last item, saying, “Pain Cream—I love this stuff.”
Yo-Yo Ma
There was one classical musician Jobs revered both as a person and as a performer: Yo-Yo Ma, 
the versatile virtuoso who is as sweet and profound as the tones he creates on his cello. They had 
met in 1981, when Jobs was at the Aspen Design Conference and Ma was at the Aspen Music 
Festival. Jobs tended to be deeply moved by artists who displayed purity, and he became a fan. He 
invited Ma to play at his wedding, but he was out of the country on tour. He came by the Jobs 
house a few years later, sat in the living room, pulled out his 1733 Stradivarius cello, and played 
Bach. “This is what I would have played for your wedding,” he told them. Jobs teared up and told 
him, “You playing is the best argument I’ve ever heard for the existence of God, because I don’t 
really believe a human alone can do this.” On a subsequent visit Ma allowed Jobs’s daughter Erin 
to hold the cello while they sat around the kitchen. By that time Jobs had been struck by cancer, 
and he made Ma promise to play at his funeral.

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