Van Morrisson

Sir Van Morrison OBE
Morrison performing in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, in August 2015
Background information
Birth name	George Ivan Morrison
Also known as	Van the Man The Belfast Cowboy
Born	(1945-08-31) 31 August 1945 (age 71) Bloomfield, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Genres	Rock rhythm and blues folk blues soul celtic jazz country gospel
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals guitar harmonica saxophone keyboards drums tambourine ukulele
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Decca Bang Warner Bros. London Mercury Exile/Polydor Verve Point Blank Virgin Universal Blue Note Lost Highway Listen to the Lion/EMI Manhattan RCA
Associated acts	Them
Website	vanmorrison.com

Sir George Ivan Morrison, OBE (born 31 August 1945), known as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter with a reputation for being at once stubborn, idiosyncratic, and sublime. His studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are acclaimed as among the greatest recorded. In 2016, he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland.

Known as "Van the Man", Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially a poor seller; Moondance (1970), however, established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and the Chieftains. In 2008, he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.