Bono: 'I Want to Change the World'

Inside the headquarters of Vanity Fair magazine, it's an amazing thing to watch Bono, the rock star and philanthropist, interact with the magazine's editor, Graydon Carter.

(Courtesy Vanity Fair)

It is a romance of sorts -- the editor and the rock star, both at the top of their games. The editor is as highly regarded in his field as the rock star is in his, and they're working together to produce the July issue of the venerated magazine. (Click here to visit the Vanity Fair Web site for much more on this special issue.)

Carter, the legendary control freak, has handed the reins of his magazine to the rock star … well, sort of.

For the first time in Vanity Fair's history, Carter has decided to let a guest editor work alongside him. Both men say the arrangement is authentic, not a mere publicity stunt. Bono assigned many of the stories, and the rock star has also rolled up his shirt sleeves and edited them as well.

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"It was my idea," said Bono. "I think if I wasn't a singer in a band, I probably would have been a journalist." The star said he has always been a storyteller, and in this instance, the story he wants to tell, and the story he has been telling around the world, is about Africa.

For the past decade, Bono has worked tirelessly to get the world's attention focused on the problems plaguing the continent of Africa. This means getting the world's major economic powers to cancel much of Africa's debt.

Africa: An Adventure

Bono, who has also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the needy, said to really help transform Africa he knows he needs to open minds. Hence, the job at Vanity Fair.

"I said I want to do an issue about Africa where the sense is Africa: an opportunity, Africa: an adventure," he said. "Not just a burden, which is the way people normally see it."

"Africans themselves wince, understandably, when they see pictures of their brothers and sisters with flies buzzing around their face," he continued. "They're very noble people, very proud people, very entrepreneurial people."