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Biography
Van Morrison was born as George Ivan Morrison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1945. His father was a working-class man, his father a jazz singer. At the age of 13, he took up soprano saxophone, guitar and harmonica. At 15, he left school and joined the country-rock band Deanie Sands & The Javelins. A year later, he toured with the Monarchs. He sang mostly blues, country and jazz. He had a part in the obscure movie Glide and recorded the single Twingy Baby with The Monarchs before, at the end of 1963, the formed the group Them, together with Chris Andrews' support group. With Mystic Eyes and Gloria, the r&b group Them had notable hits. In 1967, Morrison was invited to New York by producer Bert Berns and recorded his first single, Brown Eyed Girl (US#7), which sold over 750,000 copies in the US alone. After Berns' death in December 1967, Morrison joined Warner Brothers and, in 1968, released Astral Weeks, one of his best albums ever. Its mix of folk, rock, gospel and blues was to become his trademark. In 1970, he released several albums: Moondance (US#44), His Band And The Street Choir (US#20) and Tupelo Honey (US#21), a mix of Curtis Mayfield's sweet, romantic soul and Fats Domino's New Orleans sound (Rolling Stone). Among his successful singles were Domino (US#6) and Blue Money (US#14). In 1972 came the album Saint Dominic's Preview (US#12), another milestone, but not written for a wider audience. The double album It's Too Late To Stop Now was released in 1973 (US#60), with r&b standards and more. Hard Nose The Highway followed soon afterwards. In December 1974, Veedon Fleece (US#93) testified to Morrison's roots in Irish and Celtic folk music. Among his later albums are 1984's A Sense of Wonder (US#61, UK#14, Germany#53), another masterpiece. In 1986, Van Morrison distanced himself from religious sects - he had previously been close to Scientology. In 1990, he was part of Roger Waters' (Pink Floyd) performance of The Wall in Berlin. The same year, his album Enlightenment (US#62, UK#5, Germany#43) was released. In 1991, he composed four songs for Tom Jones' album Carrying A Torch. In 1993, Van Morrison entered the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame. In recent years, "Van The Man" has unfortunately produced no other substantial album.
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