Van Morrison Biography

Van Morrison (born August 31, 1945 as George Ivan Morrison) is a singer and songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl — a unique mix of throaty folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences — Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll. Famed critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to note that "No white man sings like Van Morrison."

Known as "Van the Man" by his fans, Morrison first rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band Them, penning their seminal 1965 hit "Gloria". A few years later, Morrison left the band for a successful solo career.

Morrison has pursued an idiosyncratic musical path. Much of his music is tightly structured around the conventions of American soul and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Moondance", and "Domino". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as his classic album Astral Weeks and lesser known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".

Morrison's career, spanning some four decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2000, Morrison ranked number 25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll. He lives in Dublin, Ireland..

Morrison's influence can be readily seen in the music of many major artists, including U2 (much of The Unforgettable Fire), Bruce Springsteen ("Spirit in the Night", "4th of July (Sandy)", "Backstreets"), John Mellencamp ("A Little Night Dancin'", a cover of Morrison's "Wild Night"), Joan Armatrading, Rickie Lee Jones, Rod Stewart, Patti Smith (her poetic-proto-punk "Gloria" most explicitly), Elvis Costello (who later toured with Morrison), Graham Parker, Daryl Hall, Thin Lizzy, Bob Seger ("I know Springsteen was very much affected by Van Morrison, and so was I." - interview in Creem), Dexys Midnight Runners, Jimi Hendrix ("Gloria"), Jeff Buckley ("The Way Young Lovers Do", "Sweet Thing") and numerous others, including Counting Crows (the "sha-la-la" sequence in Mr Jones, is a tribute to Morrison).

Over the years, Morrison has expressed some grudges regarding his pervasive influence. In 1984, Bill Flanagan asked Van Morrison, "so many artists imitate you... but among the people obviously in your debt are some who are fine artists in their own rights. Do you take their borrowings as a compliment or a rip-off?"^[13]

Morrison replied, "Well, it's both. And I'm flattered by the compliment. Especially since a lot of these people have said it. Springsteen's acknowledged it, and he's doing his own thing. Seger's acknowledged it. But at the same time you feel sort of ripped off – not in the way one would think you would feel, but in the way that there's just people who 'don't know.' That's the way you feel ripped off – in an academic context."

In a later interview taken for the August 1985 edition of New Age magazine, Van Morrison gave a more negative reaction when Stephen Davis asked a similar question. "You see, for a long time I'd never even heard of these people, because I don't really listen to pop radio or any of that," Morrison said. "I have my own preferences for music and my own albums that I play. So I'm not really influenced by what the media are running through. For years people have been saying to me...'have you heard this guy Springsteen? You should really check him out!' I just ignored it. Then four or five months ago I was in Amsterdam, and a friend of mine put on a video. Springsteen came on the video, and that was the first time I ever saw him, and he's definitely ripped me off. There's no doubt about that...he's even ripped my movements off as well. My seventies movements, you know what I mean? 'This' stuff [demonstrates]...I feel pissed off now that I know about it. I'd never seen it before, so I didn't know." ^[14]

A year later in 1986, Morrison referenced this topic on No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. One of the album's songs, "A Town Called Paradise", opened with the words, "Copycats ripped off my words / Copycats ripped off my songs / Copycats ripped off my melody..."

The best known pictures of Morrison were taken by Irish photographer John Minihan, who has photographed him since the mid 1960s and developed such a good relationship with the singer that he has become, in effect, his official photographer.

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