Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison, OBEis a Northern Irish singer, songwriter and musician. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016 he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth31 August 1945
CityBelfast, Northern Ireland
You learn to read the audiences after a while, and there are all different kinds of gigs.
When I started studying tenor saxophone as a kid in Belfast, I did so with a guy named George Cassidy, who was also a big inspiration.
The first piece of music that captured my imagination was probably Ray Charles Live At Newport.
I just wanted to have a look at my whole musical career, get right back to when I started and why I started doing it in the first place.
Skiffle was a name that was attached to what was, in essence, American folk music with a beat.
I'd love to live in Ireland but I'd like to live as me, not what someone thinks I am. People don't understand - I lived there before I was famous.
See the man on the TV with a phony smile. Bring you up, bring you down, he can turn your head around.
For a long time, I couldn't actually deal with playing concerts; it was a totally alien concept to me, 'cause I was used to playing in clubs and dance halls.
The Eternal Kansas City song came from a dream sequence. It was actually kind of weird. I had this dream about a Kansas City type of thing while I was up at Stevie Winwood's place near Cheltenham, in Britain. I went into this small town and I was walking along and this dream thing was still in my head.
I shall drive my chariot down your street and cry hey it's me.
Common one, my illuminated one, oh my high in the art of suffering. Take a walk with me.
If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over.
I felt kind of bored at the prospect of writing some more of my own songs because I really wasn't saying what I wanted to say.
When I think of that dear rugged cross where the dear Saviour gave his all... When I feel like I'm on my last go round, see me through.