As a member of the band, he has been involved in philanthropic causes throughout his career, including Amnesty International. As a member of U2, Mullen has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked Mullen the 96th-greatest drummer of all time.

In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked Mullen the 96th-greatest drummer of all time.

Mullen’s film debut was in a film by Phil Joanou called Entropy where he played himself alongside bandmate Bono. He played a thief in Man on the Train, which starred Donald Sutherland. Filmed in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, Man on the Train was released in 2011. The following year, it was announced that Mullen would appear in his second film, A Thousand Times Goodnight, starring Juliette Binoche. On 3 September 2013 the film won Special Grand Prix of the Jury at Montreal World Film Festival.

During the recording of the album Pop in 1996, Mullen suffered from severe back problems. Recording was delayed due to surgery. When he left the hospital, he arrived back in the studio to find the rest of the band experimenting more than ever with electronic drum machines, something driven largely by guitarist The Edge’s interest in dance and hip-hop music, and, given his weakness after the operation, he relented, allowing The Edge to continue using drum machines, which contributed heavily to the album’s electronic feel.

Mullen and Adam Clayton contributed to the soundtrack to the 1996 movie Mission: Impossible, which included recording the theme song, whose time signature was changed from the original 5/4 time signature to an easier and more danceable 4/4 time signature. The “Theme from Mission: Impossible” reached number 8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist) in 1997. Mullen worked with producer Daniel Lanois on his album Acadie.

Mullen has admitted his bass drum technique is not one of his strengths and has used a floor tom to his left to create the effect he wants (since The Unforgettable Fire era), using it for accents or in songs such as “With or Without You”, “In God’s Country”, “One” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)”. Speaking in 1995, he said, “When it came to recording ‘Pride’ for The Unforgettable Fire album, Danny [Lanois] was able to pick up from me that I had some interesting ideas but here was a slight lack of focus. My kick drum technique was then, as it is now, completely underdeveloped and I never got a chance to practice and learn like most people would. In the marching bands, I only used a snare and when I first got a kit, I never learned how to properly use all the elements together. So I went and listened to a basic demo of ‘Pride’ and tried to play a beat just using the kick and snare. But I couldn’t get the kick to do what I wanted, so I got a floor tom down and did what I’d done in the past, which was if I couldn’t physically do what was necessary, I’d find another way around it. I couldn’t do what most people would consider a normal beat for the song, so I chose alternatives.”

Mullen met his partner, Ann Acheson, in their first year in Mount Temple. The two have been together for over 40 years and they have three children. He is a first cousin of Irish actor Conor Mullen. As U2 became increasingly successful, Larry Mullen had to add the suffix “Junior” to his surname to avoid confusion with his father, who was receiving large tax bills meant for his son. In 1995, Mullen had surgery on his back because he had been carrying an injury since The Joshua Tree tour. He and Clayton own houses near Bono and The Edge in Southern France to make it easier to record with U2 in the south of France.

He prefers to let the other band members take the spotlight at interviews. He has played synthesiser or keyboards on several songs, including “United Colours” from Passengers’ 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1, an album that Mullen has always disliked. In the 1980s, The Prunes gave him the nickname of “The Jam Jar’”.

Mullen and Clayton collaborated with Mike Mills and Michael Stipe from R.E.M. to form the one-performance group Automatic Baby, solely for the purpose of performing “One” for Bill Clinton’s inauguration at MTV’s 1993 inaugural ball. The group’s name refers to the titles of both bands’ latest albums, Achtung Baby and Automatic for the People. He performed on Underworld’s song “Boy, Boy, Boy” from their 2007 album, Oblivion with Bells. Ten years later he appeared on Alice Cooper’s 2017 album Paranormal.

Mullen has worked on many solo projects in his career, including collaborations with Maria McKee, Nanci Griffith, and U2 producer Daniel Lanois. In 1990, Mullen co-wrote and arranged an official Irish national football team song “Put ‘Em Under Pressure” for the FIFA World Cup. He played drums on many of the songs on Emmylou Harris’ 1995 album, Wrecking Ball.

Mullen left school in 1978, having taken his Intermediate Certificate exams. The school offered him the chance to complete his Leaving Certificate exams. He and his sister Cecilia worked for an American company in Dublin, involved in oil exploration off the coast of Ireland. Mullen worked there for a year in the purchasing department, with the prospect of becoming a computer programmer in their geology section.

Mullen was born and raised in Dublin, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where he co-founded U2 in 1976 after posting a message on the school’s notice board. A member of the band since its inception, he has recorded 14 studio albums with U2. Mullen has worked on numerous side projects during his career. In 1990, he produced the Ireland national football team’s song “Put ‘Em Under Pressure” for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1996, he worked with U2 bandmate Adam Clayton on a dance re-recording of the “Theme from Mission: Impossible”. Mullen has sporadically acted in films, most notably in Man on the Train (2011) and A Thousand Times Good Night (2013).

Mullen’s father suggested that he place a notice on the Mount Temple bulletin board, saying something to the effect of “drummer seeks musicians to form band.” U2 was founded on 25 September 1976 in Mullen’s kitchen in Artane.

Mullen Jr. used the money he had saved and with his father’s help bought a drum kit, made by a Japanese toy company, which his sister Cecilia’s friend was selling. He set up the kit in his bedroom and his parents allotted him certain times to practice. His father then got him into the Post Office Workers Band, which played orchestral melodies with percussion, along with marching band standards. He attended Scoil Colmcille, Marlborough Street, Dublin. He took the exams for Chanel College and St. Paul’s, two Catholic schools his father wanted his son to attend. After the accidental death of Larry’s younger sister in 1973, his father gave up the idea of pushing his son into those schools and sent Larry to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, the first interdenominational school in Ireland.

Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr. (/ˈ m ʊ l ə n / ; born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician and actor, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2. Mullen’s distinctive, almost military drumming style developed from his playing martial beats in a childhood marching band, the Artane Boys Band. Some of his most notable contributions to the U2 catalogue include “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Pride (In the Name of Love)”, “Where the Streets Have No Name”, “Zoo Station,” “Mysterious Ways”, and “City of Blinding Lights”.

Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr., the middle child and only son of Lawrence Joseph Mullen Sr. and Maureen (née Boyd) Mullen, was born on 31 October 1961 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, and lived there, on Rosemount Avenue, until his twenties. His father was a civil servant and his mother a homemaker. He has an elder sister, Cecilia, and had a younger sister, Mary, who died in 1973. He attended the School of Music in Chatham Row to learn piano at the age of eight and then began drumming in 1971 at the age of 9, under the instruction of Irish drummer Joe Bonnie. After Joe’s death, Bonnie’s daughter, Monica, took over from him but Mullen gave up the lessons and started playing by himself. His mother died in a car accident in 1976.