Van Morrison
Northern Irish musician
Why Is Van Morrison Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison is a singer-songwriter and musician from Northern Ireland whose recording career spans seven decades. Morrison began performing as a teenager in the late 1950s, playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Belfast R&B band Them, with whom he wrote and recorded "Gloria", which became a garage band staple. His solo career started under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought Morrison's contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks . While initially a poor seller, the album has become regarded as a classic. Moondance established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances.
