Bono: 'U2 owe David Bowie a lot'

U2's Bono has revealed that the band owe much of their success to David Bowie.

The group's frontman admitted that Bowie introduced the band to a new style of singing and stage production, which has seen their success continue for over 30 years.

He told Rolling Stone: "U2 owe him a lot. He introduced us to Berlin and Hansa Studios; to collaborating with Brian Eno.

"It's the high singing, beyond your 'man' voice into the feminine. And there's the staging, the attempt to be innovative.

"Bowie wasn't afraid to use scale, to dramatise things. His setlist was not just a jukebox he could run through. It was drama."

The 'Vertigo' star also described Bowie as a UK version of Elvis, because he caused a "radical shift" in the music scene.

He continued: "It's not exaggerating to say what Elvis meant to America, David Bowie meant to the UK and Ireland. It was that radical a shift in consciousness.

"The first time I saw him was singing 'Starman' on television it was like a creature falling from the sky. Americans put a man on the moon. We had our own British guy from space - with an Irish mother."