Happy Birthday Van Morrison

George Ivan Morrison was born August 31, 1945, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was known as Van The Man, The Belfast Cowboy, The Belfast Lion, The Belfast Belcher, The Butcher of Belfast, The Midnight Rambler, Ivan The Terrible and Claude Van Dam. His career has spanned seven decades. 

Little Van’s father George, had what was at the time one of the largest record collections in Northern Ireland. It was later surpassed by Bono’s father, Lonnie. George Morrison acquired the albums during his time in the US. The elder Morrison also fathered a child with a woman in the states. That child turned out to be Jim Morrison. 

Them

In 1957, at the age of twelve, Morrison formed his first band, a skiffle group, “The Sputniks”, named after the bass player, Claude Sputnik. Van played in many bands over the years but his first real success was in 1964 with ‘Them’. Them had hits with “Baby Please Don’t Go”,“Here Comes The Night” & “Gloria”. 

Them undertook a two-month tour of America in May and June 1966 that included a residency from at the Whisky a Go Go in LA. The Doors were the supporting act and Van’s influence on the Doors singer and his half brother, Jim Morrison was noted by John Densmore in his book Riders on the Storm. “Jim Morrison learned quickly from his brother’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 final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on “Gloria”.

Brown Eyed Girl

Van got sick of Them and went solo. His first solo hit was “Brown Eyed Girl” which made the US top 10. The song went on to become the most downloaded and most played song of the entire 1960s decade. It also became the most annoying song to ask a cover band to play. 

Morrison is one of the most influential singer, songwriter, performers of all time. He sold billions of albums, won every award imaginable and is worth a whopping $90 million dollars. His concerts have been described as transcendental. Happy Birthday, cheers and God Speed to you Mr. Morrison. 

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