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lawrence joseph mullen
born 31 october, 1961
dublin, ireland
5'7" / blue eyes / blonde hair

siblings: cecilia and ?.
parents: maureen and larry.

wife: none; girlfriend anne acheson (dating since high school)
children: aaron elvis and ava.

attended: mount temple comprehensive school

instruments: drums.

the only son of maureen and larry mullen was born on october 31, 1961 in harmonstown, dublin, the middle child of three. as a child he attended his local school for one year before going to the scoil colmcille in marlborough street where gaelic was the primary language. larry began to learn the piano when he was eight but after a year decided that he would prefer to play the drums. his sister, cecilia, bought him his first drum kit in 1973 for £17. he was taught at first by joe bonnie and later by joe's daughter, monica. by 1974 he had joined the artane boys band but due to their rules about length of hair he didn't stay long. through the efforts of his father, he got a place in the post office workers union band which meant playing at concerts and fairs all over the country.
it was at his secondary school, mount temple comprehensive, that he decided that he would like to play in his own pop group just like the ones he watched on top of the pops each thursday evening. this is when he put the famous note on the notice board at mount temple asking for musicians who were interested in forming a band to come to his house after school, david evans and his brother dick, adam clayton, paul hewson, peter martin, and ivan mccormick all took up the invitation. the last two were gradually eased out. dick evans stayed in the band initially called feedback and then the hype until 1978 before joining the virgin prunes. although being in feedback was enjoyable - the band took part in a talent contest at school - progress was slow at first and larry took a job as a messenger. this led to the others having to wait around for him at practice times and him almost being fired before he quit his daytime job.
gradually the larry mullen band (as larry has often called his group!) gained more experience and started to flourish, gaining a following in dublin, then london and eventually a recording contract with island records. like bono and the edge, larry joined the shalom christian group and was the only one of U2 who came from a conventional catholic background.
as the drummer in the band, larry has not been without his problems. before a show in san francisco in march 1985, larry was rushed to the hospital with acute pain in his left hand. he was diagnosed as having tendonitis, which should have stopped him from playing for a few weeks. but instead, he wore a special plaster and took pain killers for the rest of the tour. he now uses specially designed drumsticks to counteract this problem.
larry is a big fan of country and western music and this influence can be seen in the joshua tree documentary outside it's america. he is also a big elvis presley fan as shown in rattle and hum, where he visits graceland and sits astride one of elvis' motorbikes - another of his loves. he once rode over 10,000 miles on his beloved harley davidson between dates on the zoo tv tour and received a special award for doing so from the road crew. another special award he won was the rory gallagher musician award at the irish rock music awards in dublin in 1997.
within the U2 organisation larry has a special interest in the merchandising side, personally over-seeing what items should be sold on a particular tour. his no-nonsense approach is well known both within and outside the U2 organisation. whilst he might be the most private of the four members of U2, he still enjoys a spot of karaoke and playing the odd trick on unsuspecting members of the road crew. he has remained committed to his long-time partner, ann acheson, since the early 1980s. they have a son called elvis aaron mullen born on 1995, a daughter called ava in 1998, and another son born in february 2001.

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