George Ivan Morrison (generally known as Van Morrison) (born , ) is a from , . He plays a variety of instruments, including the , , , , and . 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 has gone so far as to say 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 band, , penning their seminal 1964 hit " ". 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 and , such as the popular " ", " ", " " and " ". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of tradition, , and narrative, such as his classic album and lesser known works such as and .
The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".
Morrison's career, spanning some four decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. In he was inducted into the and the in 2003.
In , Morrison ranked number 25 on American cable music channel 's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, ranked #42 on their list of . . He currently lives in in , .
George Ivan (Van) Morrison was born and grew up at 125 Hyndford Street in Bloomfield, as the pampered, of George, a worker and Violet, a . Morrison was exposed to music from an early age, as his father, having spent time working in , collected , and albums. His father's taste in music was passed on to him and he grew up listening to artists such as , , and .
In a article he said, "Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now."
In a taped 1969 interview, his mother said that he was listening to from the age of two, when he would tug at her apron strings urging her to play more records.
(His grandmother) "used to come up and take turns, because he'd have you play them morning, noon and night." There were always sing-songs in the house on Saturday nights with family and friends and although shy, the young Morrison would always sing upon request. He gave his first as a child with a rendition of Lead Belly's " ".
He would perform this same song years later with another of his boyhood idols, on his album, The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998.
Young Morrison's father, noting his son's genuine interest, bought him his first , at the age of twelve and Van learned to play rudimentary , while studying the , The Carter Family Style. He soon formed a named the Sputniks with school friends.
They played at some of the local and even at this young age, Van was already taking the lead and doing most of the singing and arranging. At fourteen, he formed another modified skiffle band called Midnight Special and played at a school . This band soon broke up though and he wanted to join the Thunderbolts.
They turned him down because they already had a guitar player. After talking his father into buying him a , he learned to play by practicing unremittingly for a month. He then played with the Thunderbolts, in church and hospitals around town.
The young Morrison was already noted for his uncommunicative nature and his inadequate , by his fellow band members, who said his parents were remarkably patient with their only child. His mother said she took him aside one day to tell him he needed to learn to talk to people. According to his mother, "Van said to me that it wasn't that he didn't want to talk but tunes were running through his head all the time.
He said he didn't know whether he'd been blessed or cursed because the words and music wouldn't leave him."
When Morrison finished school at fourteen, coming from a hard working family, he was expected to get a regular full-time job. After several short positions, he settled into a job as a , referenced in the songs, "Cleaning Windows" and "St.
Dominics's Preview". Young Morrison also played with the Harry Mack Showband, the Great Eight with his older workplace friend, Geordie Sproule. He was later to name Sproule as one of his biggest influences.
Morrison was drinking regularly by the age of fifteen and learned an outlandish and attention-getting stage act by watching Sproule.
Many of the places of Morrison's childhood, such as " ", Fitzroy, Hyndford Street, Sandy Row and " ", (the boys' school he attended) would find their way into the lyrics of some of his most famous songs. His contented and self-absorbed would be an important factor in the nostalgic and searching tone of much of his music throughout his long career.
After the death of his father in 1988, Van would honour his father's memory with the song, "Choppin' Wood", which he often performs in concert.
Morrison left home at seventeen to tour with the group the Monarchs alongside his boyhood friend, , who later founded the showband . Upon return to , the Monarchs disbanded.
Morrison formed the group, , in April 1964 and came to prominence fronting the band. The band had a number of chart hits, most notably the rock standard, " ", subsequently covered by many artists, including , and . In June 1966, while Them was headlining a three-week stint at the famed , and The Doors was the opening act on the last week.
Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was noted by , in his book, Riders On The Storm. "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the during instrumental breaks." On the last night the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".
Morrison and the other Them band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid them on the two month west coast tour. He returned to Belfast, intending to quit the music business. Them’s one-time producer, , persuaded him to return to New York and record solo for the label.
From these early sessions emerged one of his best-known songs, " " (which reached No.10 in the US charts in 1967). Master session , Gary Chester, played on that song.
The album that came from those sessions was . Morrison later admitted he wasn't pleased with the results, claiming in a Rolling Stone interview in 1969, "It came out wrong and they released it without my consent." Recordings from these sessions have been occasionally re-released by Bang and in bootleg form, under various names.
Most of these recordings were remixed and repackaged in 1991 as the . The compilation included an alternate take of "Brown Eyed Girl" as well as early versions of "Beside You" and " ", songs that would appear with slightly different chord changes, instrumentation and lyrics on Morrison's second album.
Whereas Astral Weeks was a sorrowful and vulnerable album, Moondance was a much more optimistic and cheerful affair. The , though never released in the US as a single, was heavily played in many . The evocative song, " ", has also gained a wide following over the years.
The single released was "Come Running" which reached the . Moondance was both well received and favourably reviewed. Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus had a combined full page review in Rolling Stone Magazine, stating Morrison now had, "the striking imagination of a consciousness that is visionary in the strongest sense of the word.
" "That was the type of band I dig," Morrison said of the Moondance sessions. "Two horns and a - they're the type of bands that I like best." He produced the album himself as he felt like nobody else knew what he wanted.
Moondance was listed at #65 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's .
Over the next few years, he released several acclaimed albums, among them a second one in 1970. had a freer, more relaxed sound than Moondance, ( but not the perfection, in many critics' opinions), and contained the hit single, "Domino".
The last song, "Street Choir", took on a more serious tone.
In 1971, he moved with his family to a hilltop home in and released another popular album, . This album produced the hit single, " ", and the catchy title song that has a very feel about it.
It ended with another country tune, "Moonshine Whisky". Morrison said he originally intended to make an all country album. His co-producer, was impressed with Morrison's ability as a , and , describing it at the time as the "scariest thing I've ever seen.
When he's got something together, he wants to put it down right away with no overdubbing." He claimed later, "I'd never work with Van Morrison again as long as I live, even if he offered me two million dollars in cash. I aged ten years producing three of his albums.
"
Released in 1972, , was an indication that Morrison was breaking away from the more accessible style of the last three albums and moving back towards the more daring, adventurous, meditative aspects of Astral Weeks. The combination of two styles of music gave it a versatility that had been lacking before. Two of the songs, "Listen to the Lion" and "Almost Independence Day" were ten and eleven minutes long and employed the same poetic imagery not heard since Astral Weeks.
It was his highest charting album ever.
By 1972, despite being a performer for nearly 10 years, he began experiencing when performing for audiences of thousands, as opposed to the hundreds, he experienced in his early career. He became anxious on stage and would have difficulty establishing eye contact with the audience.
He once said in an interview about performing on stage, "I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there." After a brief break from music, he started performing in clubs, regaining his ability to perform live, albeit with smaller audiences. He then formed the backing group, and ventured on a three month US tour with them.
The tour was captured for posterity on the live , , regarded as one of the great in rock history. Soon after recording the album, Morrison restructured the Caledonia Soul Orchestra into a smaller unit, the Caledonia Soul Express. For many years, his parents, George and Violet, owned a record store in Fairfax, California named Caledonia Records.
In 1973, Morrison divorced his wife of five years, and , Janet (Planet) Rigsbee, with whom he had a daughter, the singer-songwriter, . Shana has appeared on stage with her father on several occasions and has duetted with him on his albums, A Night in San Francisco and Days Like This. Morrison then released the introspective and poignant album, , in 1974.
Though it attracted little attention at the time of its release, its critical stature has grown over the years, and Veedon Fleece is now considered one of Morrison's best works. "You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River", one of the album's side closers, exemplifies the long, hypnotic, cryptic Morrison, with its references to visionary poet and to the apparently -like Veedon Fleece object.
Morrison would not release a follow-up album for the next three years.
After ten years without taking time off, he said in an interview, that he just needed to get away from music completely and even ceased listening to it for several months. Also suffering from , he later confessed that he seriously considered leaving the music business for good. During this time, he lived in isolation, "far from the beaten path.
" Greil Marcus said that he drove by on the road one time and there was this big sign that said, Van Morrison's Self-Improvement Camp. "I have no idea if someone put it up there as a prank or if he'd put it up (nor whether) you went there to improve yourself or whether you went there to improve him, but it somehow struck me as very appropriate." A new album was often rumoured to be ready for release under such titles as Mechanical Bliss, Naked in the Jungle and Stiff Upper Lip.
Morrison later was to say the project was nothing more than an extended jamming session.
In November 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for , which took place on . It was his first live performance in quite some time and Morrison considered skipping his appearance until the last minute, even refusing to go on stage when his name was called.
His manager, , said he "literally kicked him out there." Morrison was on good terms with The Band. They were near-neighbours in and they had shared experience of .
At the concert, Van performed two songs, one of them being, " ", from his 1970 album, Moondance, which was described by as "a rousing performance." Greil Marcus was even more impressed and wrote that "Van Morrison turned the show around..
.singing to the rafters and ..
.burning holes in the floor. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg into the air out of sheer exuberance and he kicked his way right offstage like a rocket.
The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left." The concert was filmed and later issued in 's film, , which is considered a landmark concert film.
Morrison, in 1977, finally released , a collaboration with , who also appeared at The Last Waltz.
It received a mild critical reception and began a very prolific period of song making. The following year, Morrison released ; It was the fastest selling album of his career, at the time, and soon went . The engaging title track became a modest hit and peaked at #42.
The opening track, "Kingdom Hall", about Morrison's own childhood experience around , also foreshadowed the religious turn in Morrison's next album, .
This album for the first time alludes to the healing power of music, which had become an abiding interest of Morrison's, and would dominate his music from this point on. " " was a joyful, uplifting song that would appear on the of the popular movie, .
With his next album, the new decade saw Morrison following his own into uncharted territory and merciless reviews.
In 1980, he took a group of musicians with him to Super Bear, a studio in the , on the site of a former , to record his "most daring and unclassifiable" album since Astral Weeks. The album, , consisted of only six songs of varying lengths. The longest - "Summertime In England" was fifteen and one-half minutes long and ended with the words,"Can you feel the silence?
" magazine's, Graham Locke, called the album: "colossally smug and cosmically dull; an interminable, vacuous and drearily egotistical stab at spirituality." Even Greil Marcus, who had formerly supported Morrison, said: "It's Van acting the part of the 'mystic poet' he thinks he's supposed to be." Morrison insisted that the album was never "meant to be a commercial album.
" But perhaps stung by the harsh reviews, "he would not attempt anything so ambitious again." Later the critics would reassess the album more favourably with the success of "Summertime in England" and other tracks that seem to take on new meaning in live performance. Lester Bangs wrote in 1982, "Van was making holy music even though he thought he was, and us rock critics had made our usual mistake of paying too much attention to the .
"
Morrison's next album, , was released in 1982 and saw him returning once again to his Belfast roots. It was well received by the critics and public, producing a popular single, "Cleaning Windows", that documented one of Morrison's first jobs after leaving school. Several other songs on the album, "Vanlose Stairway", "She Gives Me Religion" and the instrumental, "Scandinavia", on which Morrison plays , show the presence of a new physical muse, a Danish agent, who would share Morrison's spiritual interests and serve as a steadying influence on him throughout most of the 1980s.
He had quit drinking alcohol, sometime during the years of 1973 or 1974, and now drank " " of a day, according to friends. He was to once again have , beginning later in the decade, after his father's sudden death.
In the early 1980's, Morrison moved back to Europe and at first settled in the area of .
Later, he moved to , where he bought Wool Hall Studios. He became increasingly more in control of the music which he produced.
Much of the music Morrison released throughout the 1980s continued to focus on themes of and faith as Morrison's compositions steered towards territory.
He gave a special thanks to on his 1983 album, , although he has never been formally associated with or any other Church.
In 1985, he released a new album, , that contained the opening track, "Tore Down A La Rimbaud". Morrison said he had been reading about in 1974, when he was suffering through a period of .
He then carried this song around with him for eight years, before he could complete it.
Morrison's 1986 release, , earned enthusiastic reviews from many, but not all critics. During the recording, the artist's characteristic deep growl was in grand form and the album featured some of the grittiest arrangements since the days of Astral Weeks, but not all critics were comfortable with the increasingly religious content.
Unflustered, Morrison was slightly less gritty and more with the well received 1987 album, , considered to be one of his highlights of the 1980s. The romantic ballad, " ", from this album was featured in the soundtrack of several popular movies, including 1995's and, in 2001, both and .
In 1988, he released with the Irish group, .
It was a popular-selling album, which demonstrated the full range of Morrison's unique vocal power on a collection of traditional Irish folk songs. Morrison played drums on this album.
In 1989, Morrison released an even more popular seller, , which featured the hit duet with , "Whenever God Shines His Light", and the , " " (also popularised by ).
This is often said to be his most spiritual album, but it also contained the sensual song, "Daring Night": "It deals with full, blazing sex, whatever it's churchy organ and gentle lilt suggest." Showing again, Morrison's preoccupation with the erotic/religious theme. He can be heard calling out the change of in the ending of this song, indicative of his belief that music should be spontaneous.
He often completed albums in two days time, with first takes being the norm.
Morrison was able to capitalise on the success of Avalon Sunset with the release of , in 1990. Not to be mistaken with a similarly-titled , released in 1967, (and long out of print), this was the first collection ever to survey his entire career.
Compiled by Morrison himself and focusing on his hit singles, it became a multi-platinum success and was one of the best selling albums of the 1990s.
In 1990, Morrison joined many other guests for ' of in . He sang " " with Roger Waters, and his friends from the Band, , and .
This version of the song was included in the soundtrack of 's 2006 film, .
In January 1993, Van Morrison was inducted into the . He did not attend the award ceremony, and instead his friend from , accepted the award for him.
Although Morrison's commercial success would continue throughout the 1990s, the critical reception to his work began to decline. 1990's yielded one hit single, "Real Real Gone", (first recorded ten years earlier), and 1991's double-CD, , was one of his most ambitious works, but 1993's and 1995's had large sales even though the critical reviews were not always favourable.
In contrast, the live double album, (1994), was a "tour-de-force", showing Morrison's talents and his influences in equal measure.
On , , Van Morrison was awarded the for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music. He was presented with the award by former Beirut hostage, who testified to the importance of Morrison's song, "Wonderful Remark":
.a song that he wrote more than twenty years ago, which was very important to us.
This period was also marked by a number of side projects, including the live, jazz performances of 1996's , 1997's , and 2000's , all of which found Morrison paying tribute to his long-time favourites.
In 1997, Morrison released . The following year, Morrison finally released some of his unissued studio recordings in a warmly received two-disc set, .
His next release, 1999's , was a modest success, being his highest charting album in the US since 1978's .
In September 1999, Morrison became the first musician to be inducted into the newly opened . presented Morrison with the award saying, "I believe there is only one genius in Irish music, and that's Van Morrison.
"
During this decade, Morrison developed a close association with two vocal talents at opposite ends of their careers. , with whom Morrison had already worked occasionally, lent his voice and skills; and 's vocals complimented the grizzled voice of Morrison, both in studio and live performances.
Taking this concept of association a stage further, the 1990s saw an upsurge in Morrison's collaborations with other artists, a trend that has continued into the new .
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