Historical Figure
Van Morrison
b. 1945
Northern Irish musician (born 1945)
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Biography
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison is a Northern Irish musician, singer and songwriter whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK Top 40, as well as internationally, including in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Timeline
The story of Van Morrison, told in moments.
Over 40 studio albums. Knighted in 2015. His music merges Celtic soul, blues, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness poetry into something that doesn't have a name. He still performs. He still won't talk about it.
Born George Ivan Morrison in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father was an electrician at the Harland and Wolff shipyard with an enormous record collection. Blues, jazz, country. Van was listening to Leadbelly and Hank Williams before he was 10.
Formed Them in Belfast. "Gloria" became a garage rock standard, covered by hundreds of bands. Morrison was 19, playing R&B in a city that had no R&B scene. He created one.
Released "Brown Eyed Girl" as a solo artist. It reached number 10 in the U.S. He earned $2,500 total from the recording. The song has been played over 10 million times on American radio.
Recorded Astral Weeks in two three-hour sessions with jazz musicians he'd never met. The album sold poorly on release. It's now considered one of the greatest albums ever made.
Moondance brought commercial success. "Into the Mystic" and "Crazy Love" became staples. Morrison settled in Woodstock, New York, played local bars unannounced, and refused most interviews.
In Their Own Words (20)
When I started studying tenor saxophone as a kid in Belfast, I did so with a guy named George Cassidy, who was also a big inspiration
As quoted in Van Morrison: No Surrender (2005) by Johnny Rogan, 2005
The odd time something happens and you go into some kind of enchantment (on stage). But you have to work very hard to get that. Most of the time you're just playing and singing the songs, and there's no guarantee that you are going to get anywhere....
As quoted in Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography (2003) by Clinton Heylin, 2003
Someone once described me as a maverick and that's what I would say. I'm a maverick not by choice but by conviction.
As quoted in Too Late to Stop Now (1993) by Steve Turner, 1993
Music to me is spontaneous, writing is spontaneous and it's all based on not trying to do it. From beginning to end, whether it's writing a song, or playing guitar, or a particular chord sequence, or blowing a horn, it's based on improvisation and spontaneity.
Interview by Dermot Stokes in Hot Press (March 1978), 1978
I can hear her heart beat from a thousand milesAnd the heavens open every time she smilesAnd when I come to her that's where I belongYet I'm running to her like a river's song.
Crazy Love, 1970
Artifacts (15)
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