Van Morrison

Van Morrison

Van Morrison OBE (born August 31, 1945 as George Ivan Morrison) is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, 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 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 Northern Irish band, Them, penning their seminal 1964 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", "Domino" and "Wild Night". 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. In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2000, Morrison ranked number 25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him 42nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He currently lives in Killiney in South Dublin, Ireland.

Biography

Early life

George Ivan (Van) Morrison was born and grew up at 125 Hyndford Street in Bloomfield, East Belfast as the pampered, only child of George, a shipyard worker and Violet, a singer. Morrison was exposed to music from an early age, as his father, having spent time working in Detroit, Michigan collected American jazz, country and western, and blues albums. His father's taste in music was passed on to him, and he grew up listening to artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Ray Charles, Lead Belly and Solomon Burke. In a 2005 Rolling Stone article he said that "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 recordings 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 performance as a child with a rendition of Lead Belly's "Goodnight Irene". He would perform this same song years later with another of his boyhood idols, Lonnie Donegan on his album, The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998.

Young Morrison's father, noting his son's genuine interest, bought him his first guitar, at the age of twelve, and Van learned to play rudimentary chords, while studying the songbook, The Carter Family Style. He soon formed a skiffle band named the Sputniks with school friends. They played at some of the local cinemas 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 concert. 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 saxophone (and learning to play by practicing non-stop for a month) he then played with the Thunderbolts, in church dance halls and hospitals around town. The young Morrison was already noted for his uncommunicative nature and his inadequate social skills, 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 apprenticeship positions, he settled into a job as a window cleaner, referenced in the autobiographical songs "Cleaning Windows" and "St. Dominics's Preview".

Many of the places of his childhood, such as "Cyprus Avenue", Fitzroy, Hyndford Street, Sandy Row and "Orangefield", (the boys' school he attended) would find their way into the lyrics of some of his most famous songs. His contented and self-absorbed childhood 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, he would honour his memory, with the song "Choppin' Wood", which he often performs in concert.

1960s

Morrison left home at age 17, to pursue a music career. He played in several local skiffle and rock 'n' roll bands, including playing saxophone for Clubsound during practise sessions, before joining the group, The Monarchs and touring across Europe. He formed the group, Them in April 1964 and came to prominence fronting the band. The band had a number of chart hits, most notably the rock standard, "Gloria", subsequently covered by many artists, including The Doors, Shadows of Knight and Jimi Hendrix. In June 1966, while Them were headlining a three-week stint at the famed Whiskey-a-Go-Go, Jim Morrison and The Doors were the opening act on the last week. Van's influence on Jim's developing stagecraft was noted by John Densmore, 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 bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the last night the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria". Van Morrison said years later in an interview, "Of my whole career, the shining moment was when I sang "Gloria" on stage with Jim Morrison.

Morrison and the other Them band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Decca Records Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid them on the two month United States of America west coast tour. He returned to Belfast, intending to quit the music business. Them’s one-time producer, Bert Berns, persuaded him to return to New York and record solo for the Bang Records label. From these early sessions emerged one of his best-known songs, "Brown Eyed Girl" (which reached No.10 in the US charts in 1967). Master session drummer Gary Chester played on that song. The album that came from those sessions was Blowin' Your Mind!. 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 Bang Masters. The compilation included an alternate take of "Brown Eyed Girl" as well as early versions of "Beside You" and "Madame George", songs that would appear with slightly different chord changes, instrumentation, and lyrics on Morrison's second album.

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Morrison's seminal 1968 album Astral Weeks

After Berns’ death in 1967, Morrison was involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow which prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area. The song "Big Time Operators" released in 1991 chronicled his dealings with the New York music business during this time period. He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts. He was soon confronted with personal and financial problems. He had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding gigs. However, through the few gigs he could find, he regained his professional footing and started recording with the Warner Bros. label. The record company was able to buy out his contract with Bang Records and Morrison fulfilled a highly unusual clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year, by recording thirty-two nonsense songs in one session.

His first album for Warner Bros. was Astral Weeks (which he had already performed in several clubs around Boston), a mystical song cycle considered by many to be his best work. Morrison has said "When Astral Weeks came out, I was starving, literally." Released in 1968, the album was critically acclaimed, but received an indifferent response from the public. To this day, it remains in an unclassifiable genre and has been described as hypnotic, meditative and having a unique musical power. It has been compared to French Impressionism and mystical Celtic poetry. Perhaps the best known review in rock history was written by the influential music journalist, Lester Bangs, in 1979, describing the effect that Astral Weeks had on his life. It has often been placed on the most authoritative lists of best albums of all time. In the 1995, MOJO list of 100 Best Albums, it was listed as #2, and was #19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.

1970s

Van Morrison in concert, mid 70s.

Morrison then moved to Woodstock, New York, ostensibly to be close to the area where Bob Dylan was residing, and released his next album, Moondance in 1970, which reached #29 on the Billboard charts. The style of this album was in great contrast to that of Astral Weeks. Whereas Astral Weeks was a sorrowful and vulnerable album, Moondance was a much more optimistic and cheerful affair. The title track, though never released in the US as a single, was heavily played in many radio formats. The evocative song "Into the Mystic" has also gained a wide following over the years. The single released was "Come Running" which reached the US Top 40. Moondance was both well received and favourably reviewed. Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus even had a joint full page review in Rolling Stone 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 rhythm section - 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 the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Over the next few years, he released several acclaimed albums, among them a second one in 1970. His Band and the Street Choir 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 Fairfax, California and released another popular album, Tupelo Honey. This album produced the hit single, "Wild Night", and the catchy title song that has a very country and western 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 at the time Ted Templeton, was impressed with Morrison's ability as a musician, arranger and producer, 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."

1972's Saint Dominic's Preview 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.

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Van Morrison, early 70s

By 1972, despite being a performer for nearly 10 years, he began experiencing stage-fright 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, The Caledonia Soul Orchestra and ventured on a three month US tour with them. The tour was captured for posterity on the live double album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, regarded as one of the great live albums 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 seven years, actress and model, Janet (Planet) Rigsbee, with whom he had a daughter, the singer-songwriter Shana Morrison. 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 Veedon Fleece 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 William Blake and to the apparently Grail-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. He later confessed that he seriously considered leaving the music business for good. During this time, however, he was able to write and record a number of new songs, and in a KSAN radio interview in 1974, Van indicated plans to release a new album, Mechanical Bliss a mere four or five months after Veedon Fleece. The projected February 1975 street date came and went without a release as Morrison continued to work on the album. During this time the album title underwent a number of changes (at one time, it was to be called Stiff Upper Lip, another time it was retitled Naked In The Jungle), and the painter Larry Zox was commissioned to create the sleeve artwork. The project was ultimately abandoned, and much of the work done would have to wait until 1998's Philosopher's Stone to see official release.

In 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for The Band, which took place on Thanksgiving Day. 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, Harvey Goldsmith, said he "literally kicked him out there." Morrison was on good terms with The Band. They were near-neighbours in Woodstock and they had shared experience of stage-fright. At the concert, Van performed two songs, one of them being "Caravan", from his 1970 album, Moondance which was described by All Movie Guide 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 Martin Scorsese's 1978 film, The Last Waltz, which is considered a landmark concert film.

In 1977, Morrison finally released A Period of Transition, a collaboration with Dr. John, 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 Wavelength; It was the fastest selling album of his career at the time and soon went gold. The engaging title track became a modest hit and peaked at #42. The opening track, "Kingdom Hall", about Morrison's own childhood experience around Jehovah's Witnesses, also foreshadowed the religious turn in Morrison's next album, Into the Music.

The album's last four songs, "Angeliou", "When the Healing Has Begun", and "It's All in the Game/You Know What They're Writing About" are a veritable tour de force with Morrison summoning every vocal trick at his disposal from "Angeliou"'s climactic shouts to the sexually-charged, half-mumbled monologue in "When the Healing Has Begun" to the barely audible whisper that is the album's final sound.

— Scott Thomas Review

Released in 1979, Into the Music was hailed as a masterpiece: "An erotic/religious cycle of songs that culminates in the greatest side of music Morrison has created since Astral Weeks". 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. Bright Side of the Road was a joyful, uplifting song that would be appear on the soundtrack of the popular movie, Michael.

1980s

With his next album, the new decade saw Morrison following his own muse into uncharted territory and merciless reviews. In 1980, he took a group of musicians with him to Super Bear, a studio in the French Alps on the site of a former abbey, to record probably his "most daring and unclassifiable" album to date. The album, Common One consisted of only six songs of varying lengths. The longest - Summertime In England was fifteen and a half minutes long and ended with the words: Can you feel the silence? NME 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 re-assess 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 lyrics."

Morrison's next album, Beautiful Vision was released in 1982 and saw him returning once again to his Belfast roots. It was well received by the critics and public and produced 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 piano, show the presence of a new physical muse, a Danish Public Relations agent who would share Morrison's spiritual interests and serve as a steadying influence on him throughout most of the 80's. He had quit drinking alcohol around 1973 and now drank "gallons" of coffee a day according to friends. He was to once again have problems with alcohol, 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 Notting Hill Gate area of London. Later, he moved to Bath, 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 spirituality and faith as Morrison's compositions steered towards New Age territory. He gave a special thanks to L. Ron Hubbard on his 1983 album, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, although he has never been formally associated with Scientology or any other Church.

In 1985 he released a new album, A Sense Of Wonder that contained the opening track, "Tore Down A La Rimbaud". Morrison said he had been reading about Rimbaud in 1974, when he was suffering through a period of writer's block. He then carried this song around with him for eight years before he could complete it.

Morrison's 1986 release, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher 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 acoustic 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 adult contemporary with the well received 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose, considered to be one of his highlights of the 1980s. The romantic ballad, "Someone Like You" from this album was featured in the soundtrack of several popular movies, including 1995's French Kiss and, in 2001, both Someone Like You and Bridget Jones's Diary.

In 1988, he released Irish Heartbeat with the Irish group, The Chieftains; a popular-selling record, 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, Avalon Sunset, which featured the hit duet with Cliff Richard, Whenever God Shines His Light; and the ballad, Have I Told You Lately (also popularised by Rod Stewart). 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 might suggest", showing again Morrison's preoccupation with the erotic/religious theme. He can be heard calling out the chord changes 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 its success with the release of The Best of Van Morrison, in 1990. Not to be mistaken with a similarly-titled compilation 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 remains the most popular item in Van Morrison's catalogue.

1990s

In 1990, Morrison joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin. He sang "Comfortably Numb" with Roger Waters, old friend Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. This version of the song was included in the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's 2006 film, The Departed.

Although Morrison's commercial success would continue throughout the 1990s, the critical reception to his work began to decline. 1990's Enlightenment yielded one hit single, Real Real Gone (first recorded ten years earlier), and 1991's double-CD Hymns to the Silence was one of his most ambitious works, but 1993's Too Long in Exile and 1995's Days Like This were not well received by some music critics.

In contrast, the live double album "A Night in San Francisco" (1994) was a "tour-de-force", showing Morrison's talents and his influences in equal measure.

On February 14th, 1994, Van Morrison was awarded the Brit Award for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music. He was presented with the award by former Beirut hostage, John McCarthy 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.

— John McCarthy

In June 1996, Morrison was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his service to music.

This period was also marked by a number of side projects, including the live, jazz performances of 1996's How Long Has This Been Going On, 1997's Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, and 2000's The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast 1998, all of which found Morrison paying tribute to his long-time favourites.

In 1997, Morrison released The Healing Game, arguably his best album of the 1990s. The following year, Morrison finally released some of his unissued studio recordings in a warmly received two-disc set, The Philosopher's Stone. His next release, 1999's Back on Top, was a modest success, being his highest charting album in the US since 1978's Wavelength.

In September 1999, Morrison became the first musician to be inducted into the newly opened Irish Music Hall of Fame. Bob Geldof 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. Georgie Fame, with whom Morrison had already worked occasionally, lent his voice and Hammond organ skills; and Brian Kennedy's vocals complimented the grizzled voice of Morrison, both in studio and live performances.

Taking this concept of association a stage further, the 90s saw an upsurge in Morrison's collaborations with other artists, a trend that has continued into the new millennium.

These include:

• with blues legend John Lee Hooker on Hooker's 1997 album, Don't Look Back .
  • The title track from this album would go on to win a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 1998.
  • This was not the first time the two had worked together; Morrison appeared on Hooker's albums Never Get Out of These Blues Alive in 1972, "Born In Mississippi, Raised Up In Tennessee" in 1973 and "Chill Out" in 1995.
• with singer Tom Jones on the 1999 album Reload
• with Mark Knopfler on his 2000 album Sailing to Philadelphia
• with musical legend Ray Charles on his 2004 album Genius Loves Company
• with British jazz singer George Melly on his 2006 album "The Ultimate Melly"

2000s

Van Morrison continued to record and tour in the 2000s, performing two or three times a week. Playing fewer of his well-known songs in concert than almost any other artist from his era, Morrison refuses to be relegated into a nostalgia act.

In July 2001, Morrison received an honourary degree as a doctor of music from Queen's University in his hometown of Belfast. Nine years earlier, in 1992, he had received an honourary doctorate in literature from the University of Ulster - at the time being the only other university in his native Northern Ireland.

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Clinton Heylin's biography of Morrison, Can You Feel the Silence?, published in 2003.

In 2000, Morrison released a collaboration with Linda Gail Lewis (Jerry Lee Lewis's sister), You Win Again. Another side project, this time focusing on R&B and country-and-western standards, Lewis proved to be an excellent duet partner, and the project set the stage for Morrison's next album, Choppin' Wood. Clinton Heylin's book, Can You Feel the Silence?, discusses this period in great detail, but due to legal issues surrounding the matter, not everything could be divulged. By the end of 2000, the album was essentially finished when Lewis and Morrison had a falling out.

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The cover of the May 2005 edition of Wavelength, a magazine dedicated to Van Morrison

As a result, Morrison went back and re-recorded and/or remixed most of the tracks, removing Lewis's contributions in the process. A few songs were removed from the final running order and more new ones were added in. The result was released in 2002 as Down the Road. Arguably Morrison's strongest release since Avalon Sunset, Heylin contends that the original version, Choppin' Wood, would have been a true return to form. It is doubtful if that notion will ever be put to the test because the original recordings have yet to circulate, privately or publicly.

"In recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century," Van Morrison was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony in New York City, in June 2003. Ray Charles presented the award, following a performance in which the pair performed Morrison's Crazy Love from the album, Moondance. Morrison's admiration for Charles was evident in the award ceremony and he later wrote an article published in Rolling Stone Magazine in 2004, describing Ray Charles' influence on music and on him personally.

In the same year, Morrison released What's Wrong with This Picture? on the legendary jazz record label, Blue Note Records. The album would later receive a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

In 2004, his song Bright Side of the Road from his 1979 album, Into the Music was featured in the UNESCO advertisements for World Press Freedom Day.

Morrison still remains popular with the public; his 2005 album, Magic Time debuted at #25 on the US Billboard 200 charts upon release in May 2005, some forty years after first entering the public's eye as the frontman of Them.

Later in the year, Morrison also donated a previously unreleased studio track to a charity album, Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now, which raised money for relief efforts intended for Gulf Coast victims devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The song, "Blue & Green", was composed by Morrison and featured the late Foggy Lyttle on guitar.

Van appeared in The Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway Outer Hebrides in the summer of 2005, where he was a headline act at the growing international Celtic music festival.

He released an album with a country music theme, entitled Pay the Devil on March the 7th, 2006. On the day of it's release, Van Morrison Day was declared in Nashville by the Mayor, and Morrison appeared for the very first time, at the historic Ryman Auditorium that evening, to a sold-out crowd. In fact, the entire Ryman was sold out twelve minutes after the tickets went on sale. Pay the Devil debuted at No.26 on The Billboard 200 and peaked at No.7 on Top Country Albums. The country album was listed at No.10 on Amazon Best of 2006 Editor's Picks in Country in December 2006.

In August 2006, Van and his longtime girlfriend, Michelle Rocca, Miss Ireland 1980, were reported to be the parents of a seven month old daughter, Aibhe Rocca Morrison. "The brown eyed girl" was born in Dublin, Ireland. Barry Egan published an article in the Sunday Independent on the 20th of August, 2006, revealing that the pregnancy was kept a secret by Michelle wearing baggy clothes and seldom leaving the house. Morrison, who is a notoriously private person, began a close and initially highly publicised relationship with Ms. Rocca in 1993. In recent years, they have seldom been seen in public together, although they are reportedly sharing a home in Dublin.

In September 2006, Morrison was the headline act on first night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Rolling Stone Magazine reviewed this performance as one of the top 10 shows of the 2006 festival. In November 2006, a limited edition album, Live at Austin City Limits Festival was issued that is sold only at Van Morrison concerts and at the official website.

In October 2006, Live at Montreux 1980/1974 was the first ever DVD released by Morrison. This two DVD set illustrates how his songwriting evolved over this period, and includes some of his best loved tracks including "Moondance", " Street Choir", "Tupelo Honey", "Ballerina" and other classics. Pee Wee Ellis, Mark Isham and David Hayes are among some of the well-known musicians featured in the 1980 show. The 1974 show has a line-up that features Pete Wingfield, Dallas Taylor and Jerome Rimson.

In November 2006, CNN published their list of The All-Time 100 Albums. Two of Van Morrison's albums, 1968's Astral Weeks and 1970's Moondance were on the list of 100.

On February 22nd, 2007, Morrison is to be honoured at the Second Annual Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film Pre-Academy Awards Party, in Los Angeles, California for his contribution to over fifty films. He will be presented with the award by Al Pacino. Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits, a new nineteen song album, will be released by Morrison's record label ManhattanEMI on February 13th, 2007 to coincide with this event.

Influence

Morrison's influence can readily be 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"), Jim Morrison, Joan Armatrading, Rickie Lee Jones, Rod Stewart, Tom Petty, 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).

Morrison expressed some grudges in the 1980's, regarding his pervasive influence on some of the artists, admitting that he was "flattered by the compliment" but "felt ripped off, in an academic context, because there are just people who don't know."

On his 1986 album, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, he included the song, "A Town Called Paradise" which begins with the words: "Copycats ripped off my words/ Copycats ripped off my songs/ Copycats ripped off my melody" but then goes on to say: "It doesn't matter what they say/ It doesn't matter what they do."

Overall, Morrison has typically been supportive of other artists and has often shared the stage with them during his concerts. On the live album, A Night in San Francisco, he had as his special guests, among others, his childhood idols, Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lee Hooker and Junior Wells. He seems to lose his famous "grumpy" persona when performing with others and often has been known to smile and joke around. Although he often expresses his displeasure (in interviews and songs) with the music industry and the media in general, he has been instrumental in promoting the careers of many other musicians and singers, such as Brian Kennedy and James Hunter. In an interview with Jazziz, he was generous with his praise of artists that have covered his work, and the many artists that have influenced him.

John Minihan

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.

Awards and Recognition

Grammy Awards:

• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1996, "Have I Told You Lately" (with The Chieftains)
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1998, "Don't Look Back" (with John Lee Hooker)
• Hall of Fame, 1999, Astral Weeks
• Hall of Fame, 1999, Moondance
• Hall of Fame, 1999, "Gloria"
• Hall of Fame, 2007, "Brown Eyed Girl"

Other recognition:

• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1993
• Brit Award:Outstanding contribution to Music, 1994
• OBE award, 1996
• First Musician inducted into the Irish Music Hall of Fame, 1999
• Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2003

Discography

Albums

1. Blowin' Your Mind! (1967) #182 US
2. Astral Weeks (1968) Did Not Chart
3. Moondance (1970) #29 US
4. His Band and the Street Choir (1970) #32 US
5. Tupelo Honey (1971) #27 US
6. Saint Dominic's Preview (1972) #15 US
7. Hard Nose the Highway (1973) #27 US
8. It's Too Late to Stop Now (1974) #53 US
9. Veedon Fleece (1974) #53 US
10. A Period of Transition (1977) #43 US
11. Wavelength (1978) #28 US
12. Into the Music (1979) #43 US
13. Common One (1980) #73 US
14. Beautiful Vision (1982) #44 US
15. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983) #116 US
16. Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984)
17. A Sense of Wonder (1985) #61 US
18. No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986) #70 US
19. Poetic Champions Compose (1987) #90 US
20. Irish Heartbeat (1988); with The Chieftans #102 US
21. Avalon Sunset (1989) #91 US
22. Enlightenment (1990) #62 US
23. Hymns to the Silence (1991) #99 US
24. Too Long in Exile (1993) #29 US
25. A Night in San Francisco (1994) #125 US
26. Days Like This (1995) #33 US
27. How Long Has This Been Going On (1996) #55 US
28. Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996) Did Not Chart
29. The Healing Game (1997) #32 US
30. Back on Top (1999) #28 US
31. The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast 1998 (2000; with Lonnie Donegan) Did Not Chart
32. You Win Again (2000) #161 US
33. Down the Road (2002) #25 US
34. What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003) #32 US
35. Magic Time (2005) #25 US
36. Pay the Devil (2006) #26 US

Compilations

1. The Best of Van Morrison (1990)
2. The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two (1993)
3. The Philosopher's Stone (1998)
4. Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits (2007)

Limited Editions

1. Live at Austin City Limits Festival (2006)

DVDs

1. Live at Montreux 1980/1974 (2006)

Selected Singles

1. "Brown Eyed Girl" (1967) #10 US
2. "Moondance" (1970) #92 US
3. "Sweet Thing" (1968) #? US
4. "Come Running" (1970) #39 US
5. "Domino" (1970) #9 US
6. "Blue Money" (1971) #23 US
7. "Call Me Up In Dreamland" (1971) #95 US
8. "Wild Night" (1971) #28 US
9. "Tupelo Honey" (1972) #48 US
10. "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)" (1972) #61 US
11. "Redwood Tree" (1972) #98 US
12. "Wavelength" (1978) #42 US
13. "Have I Told You Lately" (1989) #12 US
14. "Real Real Gone" (1990) #18 US

Notes

• Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
• Hinton, Brian (2000). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Santuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
• Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831
• Turner, Steve (1993). Too Late to Stop Now, Viking Penguin, ISBN 0-670-85147-7
• Yorke, Ritchie (1975). Into The Music, London:Charisma Books , ISBN 0-85947-013-X

See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

• Official Van Morrison website
• The Van Morrison Website:Unofficial
• Van Morrison News Blog
• Wavelength: Unofficial Fan Magazine
• Into the Music: The Best of Van Morrison in Concert
• All Music: Van Morrison
• Rolling Stone Artists: Van Morrison
• Songwriter's Hall of Fame:Van Morrison
• Van Morrison News and Complete Discography
• Van Hispano - Van Morrison Spanish Fanclub
• 1972 Rolling Stone Interview
• 1977 Hot Press interview
• Van Morrison - Spiritual Rock Star Article
• Van the Poet