Music Rising was launched in 2005 following the catastrophic hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The organization’s mission was to rescue the musical culture of the Gulf South region of the United States in their aftermath by replacing musical instruments that were lost or destroyed in the deluge. Co-founded by U2’s The Edge and legendary producer, Bob Ezrin—along with a host of music industry partners—the organization provided instruments to thousands of musicians and students as well as to many churches, community, and cultural programs in the Gulf Region and across the United States.
Over the years Music Rising has assisted over 3,000 musicians. The organization has helped schools, cultural organizations and churches with replacement instruments. Tulane University’s The New Orleans Center for the Gulf South was provided a Music Rising grant for the coordinate major “Music Rising-The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South. Schools and musicians were supported when the floods of 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee and in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. In 2022 Music Rising created a musical instrument auction which benefitted musicians who suffered through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The massive fires that destroyed everything in its path in Lahaina gives rise to another effort Music Rising is committed to supporting. Music Rising Lahaina will help give hope and provide assistance to many musicians and gig workers affected by this natural disaster.
Music Rising is the recipient of a Gold Halo Award for Cause Marketing, a Billboard Humanitarian Award, a PRISM Award, and the recipient of close to $1 million from the Clinton Global Initiative. Music Rising has also been honored with the prestigious Jazz Foundation of America Medal of Honor.
Meet Our Co-Founders
The Edge
Guitarist with U2, The Edge was born David Howell Evans in East London. A year later, he and his family moved to Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple School and met Larry Mullen, Bono and Adam Clayton. In 1978 U2 was formed.
The Edge is the band’s lead guitarist, keyboard player and backing vocalist, as well as one of the principle songwriters and occasional lead vocal contributor. Described as one of the most innovative and influential guitar players of his generation, The Edge’s guitar playing is the hallmark of U2’s music and one of the most original and distinctive guitar styles in rock and roll history.
Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 have toured the globe countless times, released 14 studio albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys®, an Oscar nomination and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award.
The Edge has also written extensively for other projects, often in collaboration with Bono and U2, including music for movies (Captive, Gangs of New York, Golden Eye, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom); for animation (Batman – TV series); for the stage (A Clockwork Orange by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark).In 2005, The Edge co-founded Music Rising, a charity initiative which provides musical instruments for the musicians, schools and churches of the Gulf Region. The Edge is chairperson of the board for Endeavor Ireland, the global not-for-profit organisation that aims to support entrepreneurs. He also sits on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, as well as the advisory board of MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and is a former board member of MIT Media Lab Europe.
Bob Ezrin
In a legendary career as a music and entertainment producer that has spanned over 50 years, Toronto-born Bob Ezrin has worked around the world on recordings, TV, film and live event production with a wide variety of artists including U2, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Andrea Bocelli, Alice Cooper, KISS, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith, The Hollywood Vampires, Deftones, Rod Stewart and Nine Inch Nails among many others.
He is a multiple Juno Award winner, an inductee in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame, a Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and The Royal Society Of Arts in London, England. He is an Officer of The Order Of Canada.
A serial activist and philanthropist, he is a member of the boards of directors of the AJA Foundation in Las Vegas, The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation in Los Angeles and The Canadian Journalism Foundation in Toronto; a Leadership Circle member of MusiCounts in Toronto, Canada; Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership and a guest lecturer on Media and The Environment at Trent University.
Bob studied Elua Lima, the Hawaiian martial art, learned to scuba dive in Lahaina and he and his family considered West Maui their second home.
