Van Morrison
Influential singer/song writer with a musical career spanning 3 decades and over 30 studio recordings. Van Morrison was born in Belfast, but grew up listening to the American music his father collected. Music such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Jelly Roll Martin. Taking up guitar and saxaphone, Van played in various bands during highschool, finally forming the group "Them" in 1964. The group recorded two albums "Them" and "Them Again". Two singles from those albums reached the UK top 10, two other Morrison compositions "Gloria" and "Mystic Eyes" charted in the US. "Them" disbanded in 1966.
Morrison then signed with U.S. "Bang" records and his song "Brown Eyed Girl" hit the U.S. top 10 in 1967. When the record company went on to release records with no input from Morrison, he moved on to sign with Warner and released "Astral Weeks" in 1968. He went on to release 14 records with Warner, then moved to Polygram in 1984, releasing 15 more including his latest "Back on Top", which came out in 1999.
The introspective, often intense music with an R&B tinge, coupled with mystical and visionary lyrics in Van Morrison's songs have inspired and influenced several generations of musicians, including, The Wallflowers. The Wallflowers have covered Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Crazy Love".
