Bono turned 60 years old on Sunday, and he’s celebrating by writing 60 separate fan letters to his musical heroes, everyone from the Beatles and the Ramones to Beyoncé and Billie Eilish. “These are some of the songs that saved my life,” he wrote. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.”

“I wanted to thank the artists and everyone who helped make them,” he continued. “They were doing the same for me… I am writing a fan letter to accompany each song to try and explain my fascination.”

U2 wrapped up their Joshua Tree 2019 tour on December 15th at Mumbai, India’s Patil Stadium, just a few months before COVID-19 shut down the entire concert industry. Bono has been locked down in Dublin, but in March he uploaded the new song “Let You Love Be Known” as a tribute to the people of Italy that were trapped in their homes. —RS Editors

Editor’s Note: Due to their unique nature, we retained Bono’s syntax, spelling, and grammar choices from his typewritten letters rather than change them to match Rolling Stone’s style guide.