The Early Years Of Van Morrison, In To The Mystic

By Violet Demora

George Ivan Morrison AKA Van Morrison, OBE, was born on 31 August 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the only child of George Morrison, a shipyard worker and Violet Stitt Morrison, a singer and tap dancer in her youth. Morrison's father had one of the largest record collections in Ulster and the young Morrison grew up listening to artists such as Ray Charles, Lead Belly and Solomon Burke.

He is renowned for being stubborn, but is critically acclaimed with a devoted fan base and he often gives astounding live performances. His albums Astral Weeks and Moondance are often rated as being some of the best records recorded.

Fortuitously, his father bought him an acoustic guitar for his eleventh birthday, and he rapidly learned some basic chords from a guitar book. Van Morrison started performing in the late 1950s playing the harmonica, guitar, keyboards, and saxophone in a range of Irish bands covering popular hits of the day.

Morrison formed his first band "The Sputniks", named after the recently launched Soviet satellite, Sputnik 1. In 1958, the band played at some of the local cinemas, and Morrison took the lead, contributing most of the singing and arranging. His father was ever supportive and he talked him into buying a saxophone, and took lessons in tenor sax and music reading.

Not particularly academic, and having no time for school, he left in 1960 with no qualifications. Coming from a working class background he was expected to get a full-time job to contribute to the family upkeep. After a series of unsuccessful soirees into traditional apprenticeships, he finally settled for window cleaning as a stop gap. He later wrote about his experiences in a number of his songs. Morrison had been evolving his musical interests from an early age and was driven to his unique musical direction.

At age seventeen, he toured Europe for the first time with the Monarchs, now calling themselves the International Monarchs. This Irish showband, with Morrison playing saxophone, guitar and harp, in addition to back-up duty on bass and drums, toured steamy clubs and US Army bases in Scotland, England, and Germany, often playing five sets a night. While in Germany, the band recorded a single, "Boozoo Hully Gully"/"Twingy Baby", under the name Georgie and The Monarchs. This was Morrison's first recording, taking place in November 1963 at Ariola Studios in Cologne with Morrison on saxophone; it made the lower reaches of the German charts.

In the mid-1960s he was the lead singer with Them and recorded the classic "Gloria", one of the favorites in his sets. When he returned to Belfast the group disbanded and he began his solo career.

While being managed by Bert Berns, Van Morrison released the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. Warner Brothers bought out his contract shortly after due to the death of his manager. He recorded Astral Weeks in 1968 which was critically acclaimed, but sales were initially poor, although it has now grown to become an all-time classic. The album established him as a major recording artist, and throughout the 1970s he built his reputation. Van Morrison continues to tour, record and collaborate with other artists, producing albums and live performances that are well received, returning to live performances of Astral Weeks in 2008 and in to 2009.

Van Morrison is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and appears on "Greatest Artists" lists as well as receiving six Grammy Awards. - 18780

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There is some great information about the latest Van Morrison music dates available at the official Van Morrison concerts site. Extensive news and official reviews are also available here.