Larry Mullen Jr. was born 31st of October 1961 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland and is best known as the drummer for the Irish rock outfit known as U2.
Raised in Artane, a suburb of Dublin City located on the north side of the city, Larry was the only son of three children fo Larry Mullen Snr. and Maureen Mullen who was killed in a car accident in 1978.
As a child, Larry’s parents decided it would be a good idea for their only son to take up a musical instrument and thus began his first foray into music which began with pain lessons, however it did not take very long for Larry to realise he preferred being behind a drum kit than a piano. So, at the age of 9, Larry received his first drum kit.
In 1971, Larry had begun to take drum lessons from one of Ireland’s best known drummers, Joe Bonnie as well as his daughter Monica. In the mid 70’s Larry would join the Artane Boys Band, a military-style wind and percussion band which would play a key part in creating Larry’s signature drumming sound. The marching military sound made him develop a drumming style that to this day is characteristic for the music of U2, can be heard in such classics like “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. After being forced to leave the band because of his refusal to cut his hair, Larry began to take a keen interest in Jazz music and began applying this to his drumming.
In 1976, Larry Mullen posted an advertisement on the school message board of Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin: “Drummer seeks musicians to form band.” Amongst the teenagers congregating in his kitchen were Paul Hewson (Bono), Dave Evans (The Edge), and Adam Clayton. It would be the birth of U2 and the road to global stardom for Larry and indeed the other members.
After the formation of U2, Larry’s drumming style and technique evolved and changed with every album. Still rooted in a combination of his military style Artane drummer influence and his jazz interest. In the beginning, his contributions to the band were somewhat limited however as time went on and his experience grew Larry became very much an integral part of the band and he is now credited as being the backbone of U2.