Bill Gates Picks U2, Ed Sheeran & David Bowie For Desert Island Discs

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has revealed his eight song choices, in the unlikely event he ever gets stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere.

The billionaire spoke on a recent episode of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme 'Desert Island Discs', sharing his most treasured tracks.

Gates' picks included the likes of U2, David Bowie, Ed Sheeran and the Beatles.

David Bowie and Queen - 'Under Pressure'. "In my 20s and 30s I worked a lot, but a few Fridays and Saturdays we'd go out and dance, so this kind of reminds me of those disco days with a little bit of weekend freedom," Gates said.

The Beatles - 'Two Of Us'. "Steve [Jobs] was really into music, he loved the Beatles and so did I. And he actually mentioned the song 'Two of Us' saying that was kind of like this journey we'd been on where we'd been competing and working together. Only we understood how intense and what great memories came out of that."

Rodgers & Hammerstein - 'How Can Love Survive?'. "Melinda [Gates] and I both love The Sound of Music, and later as I met Warren Buffett, he and his first wife Susie sang a song from The Sound of Music and in fact this was one we’d never heard of because it was in the Broadway musical and not in the movie. It’s kind of a cute song."

Willie Nelson - 'Blue Skies'. "My wife and I love Willie Nelson, and so as a surprise gift for her I had him show up the night before we got married. We were on a beach in Hawaii and he kind of walked down the beach with his guitar and I said "let's let this guy sing some songs for us." It was kind of dark and it wasn't until he got up on stage that everyone realise Willie Nelson had come to sing."

Hamilton musical - 'My Shot'. "I love musicals and one of the best I’ve ever seen is Hamilton that’s now on Broadway. This is one of many great songs from it, and it's about a young person saying, 'Hey I'm going to take a risk, I'm going to get out there and try something new and different.'"

Ed Sheeran - 'Sing'. Gates did admit that this particular choice was made by his 13-year-old daughter Phoebe.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - 'Are You Experienced?'. “[Microsoft cofounder] Paul Allen was far more into music than I was and the musician that he loved the most was Jimi Hendrix. And because I was younger, he would sometimes taunt me with the title of this song - 'Are You Experienced?' - because I had gotten drunk or other various things, so this was one of our favourites."

U2 - 'One'. "As the [Bill & Melinda Gates] Foundation was just getting started around 2000, Paul [Allen] told me that I should meet Bono. And I didn't prioritise it because I thought a musician is not really going to understand this global health stuff. But we finally did get to meet and I was amazed about how he had thought about it, read about it, so it started a partnership, and he's been absolutely amazing."