U2 frontman Bono: Extinction event - near death experience

U2 frontman Bono has revealed he had a "near-death" experience while making the band's new album Songs of Experience but declined to go into the details.

The experience was like an "extinction event" that influenced the music on the new album and made him realise he is "not a tank", the 57-year-old musician and activist told Rolling Stone magazine in a wide-ranging interview.

There have been several reports of Bono grappling with a serious health condition during the recording of the album but this is the first time the singer has spoken about it.

Though he was initially reluctant to talk about the incident, Bono told the magazine's found Jann Wenner: "It's just a thing that...people have these extinction events in their lives; it could be psychological or it could be physical. And, yes, it was physical for me, but I think I have spared myself all that soap opera."