Celebrities Van Morrison, Birthday: 31 August 1945, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

[on the artists he grew up listening]: If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be wh...Show more »

[on the artists he grew up listening]: If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be where I am today. Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now. Show less «

[on the first song he wrote that was originally supposed to be 'Brown-Skinned Girl']: That was just ...Show more »

[on the first song he wrote that was originally supposed to be 'Brown-Skinned Girl']: That was just a mistake. It was a kind of Jamaican song. Calypso. It just slipped my mind. I changed the title. After we'd recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn't even notice that I'd changed the title. I looked at the box where I'd lain it down with my guitar and it said 'Brown Eyed Girl' on the tape box. It's just one of those things that happen. Show less «

[Who talked about the changes in his approach to singing]: The approach now is to sing from lower do...Show more »

[Who talked about the changes in his approach to singing]: The approach now is to sing from lower down [the diaphragm] so I do not ruin my voice. Before, I sang in the upper area of my throat, which tends to wreck the vocal cords over time. Singing from lower in the belly allows my resonance to carry far. I can stand four feet from a mic and be heard quite resonantly. Show less «

I do not consciously aim to take the listener anywhere. If anything, I aim to take myself there in m...Show more »

I do not consciously aim to take the listener anywhere. If anything, I aim to take myself there in my music. If the listener catches the wavelength of what I am saying or singing, or gets whatever point whatever line means to them, then I guess as a writer I may have done a day's work. Show less «

I don't relate to all this any differently than if I was a clerk. I wouldn't be telling some guy fro...Show more »

I don't relate to all this any differently than if I was a clerk. I wouldn't be telling some guy from a magazine what I did when I went home, so why should I in this business. Show less «

I don't really have a hero. I don't even believe in them. To me, a hero is something out of a comic ...Show more »

I don't really have a hero. I don't even believe in them. To me, a hero is something out of a comic - Batman, maybe! Show less «

[on false claims placed on web site by hackers about a 4th child being born to him at 64 by Gigi Lee...Show more »

[on false claims placed on web site by hackers about a 4th child being born to him at 64 by Gigi Lee] For the avoidance of all doubt and in the interests of clarity, I am very happily married to Michelle Morrison with whom I have two wonderful children. Show less «

[If he continues to perform]: I don't really tour. This is another misconception. I stopped touring ...Show more »

[If he continues to perform]: I don't really tour. This is another misconception. I stopped touring in the true sense of the word in the late 1970s, early 1980s, possibly. I just do gigs now. I average two gigs a week. Only in America do I do more, because you can't really do a couple of gigs there, so I do more, 10 gigs or something there. Show less «

There's always got to be a struggle. What else is there? That's what life is made of. I don't know a...Show more »

There's always got to be a struggle. What else is there? That's what life is made of. I don't know anything else. If there is, tell me about it. Show less «

[on reissuing 'Moondance']: I did not endorse this, it is unauthorized and it has happened behind my...Show more »

[on reissuing 'Moondance']: I did not endorse this, it is unauthorized and it has happened behind my back. My management company at that time gave this away 42 years ago and now I feel as though it's being stolen from me again. Show less «

Music is spiritual. The music business is not.

I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there.

[Who only became aware of his very 1st solo album's release, when a friend brought up on the phone c...Show more »

[Who only became aware of his very 1st solo album's release, when a friend brought up on the phone call that he already purchased a copy of it]: I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it. Show less «

[If he disliked pop music]: It's just never been my music, because I've always heard the real stuff,...Show more »

[If he disliked pop music]: It's just never been my music, because I've always heard the real stuff, y'know? I grew up in a household where I heard all the real music, so when I heard pop I didn't have to rush out... I loved Little Richard and Fats Domino and that, but I had the background of hearing this other music since I was three! So it wasn't such a big injection, like with rebellious teenagers when they heard rock'n'roll. Because I'd already heard similar music that was called rhythm'n'blues, which is where rock'n'roll came from. So it wasn't any big diversion. I just liked all of it, pop music as well, but my preference was more for black music. I think when myself and Eric Burdon [of The Animals] came out of that group thing, we were the ones into black music in a big way. A lot of people who said they were into black music really weren't, but I was and I think Burdon was, and I still am. But I think a lot of the other people who came from that era, it went into something else, their image was very white. Show less «

[When asked if he had any kind of music in the house, listening to, growing up]: Everything. I heard...Show more »

[When asked if he had any kind of music in the house, listening to, growing up]: Everything. I heard a lot of blues records; we always had that. And I heard a few street players, street singers and dancers; and my parents played music. We lived in a pretty funky neighborhood. I mean, it wasn't a white-collar district, let me put it that way. The people weren't involved in any other place but Belfast. If you lived in London, you could relate to a whole different scene, but when you lived in Belfast, you'd just relate to that scene. Either you'd accept that, or you'd go somewhere else. But it's not like any other place in the world. Like Boston and New York, they're different places on the map . You'd have to be there to really get an idea of what I'm talking about. If I took you to some of these places and you hung out and met the people, you'd understand. But I can't even scratch the surface now because it's so delicate. Show less «

There have been many lies put out about me and this finally states my position. I have never joined ...Show more »

There have been many lies put out about me and this finally states my position. I have never joined any organization, nor plan to. I am not affiliated to any guru, don't subscribe to any method and for those people who don't know what a guru is, I don't have a teacher either. Show less «

[In 1970]: We get it both live and from records. Memphis Slim has been in Belfast; Jesse Fuller, Cha...Show more »

[In 1970]: We get it both live and from records. Memphis Slim has been in Belfast; Jesse Fuller, Champion Jack Dupree, John Lee Hooker's been there. They've got folk clubs and rock clubs there, but it's got nothing to do with the English scene. In fact I'd go so far as to say it doesn't have much to do with the Irish scene either; it's just Belfast. It's got its own identity, its own people . . . it's just a different race, a different breed of people. There's a lot of changes here, too. Like the McPeaks [a family group of traditional Irish singers] on one hand, and some others of us on the other hand, and they're open to all kinds of music, not just one thing. Maybe a third of the people that are into R&B would go to hear the McPeaks. Show less «

[When he thought R&B was his first genre of music playing in bands]: There was a group called The Mo...Show more »

[When he thought R&B was his first genre of music playing in bands]: There was a group called The Monarchs and that's primarily where I started doing R&B. And then with Them I was recording, but that's what it was called then. I had an R&B club in Belfast. It definitely wasn't pop music, that's for sure, because we weren't playing pop music. But I think when we recorded that Bert Berns song, Here Comes The Night, that was a poppy sort of song to begin with, the production. I think that's where everything went wrong! Show less «

[Who talked about his 35th album in 2015]: It's the reality of working the catalog, having fun but b...Show more »

[Who talked about his 35th album in 2015]: It's the reality of working the catalog, having fun but being practical, too. Because nobody else is working it. Show less «

Into the Music was about the first album where I felt, I'm starting here...the Wavelength thing, I d...Show more »

Into the Music was about the first album where I felt, I'm starting here...the Wavelength thing, I didn't really feel that was me. That's when I got back into it. That's why I called it Into the Music. Show less «

[who gives the impression of 'The Healing Game']: I think that's true. You lose touch with it. For i...Show more »

[who gives the impression of 'The Healing Game']: I think that's true. You lose touch with it. For instance, some people find it incredible when I tell them that people used to sing and play music in the street. It just didn't happen where they came from. I think there's a whole oral tradition that's disappeared. The Healing Game is about the time when people used to sing on street corners. It came from America where they had the doo-wop groups. That's the general idea of the song, and also coming to a point where you've always been already. You've never really moved from this position. You took a lot of detours but you're still back on the corner. Show less «

In order to win, you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing.

I'd go so far as to say that some of the people who talk about me are actually mentally unstable.

I played trumpet and jazz guitar and piano. In about 1933 through to about 1947. We did shows in the...Show more »

I played trumpet and jazz guitar and piano. In about 1933 through to about 1947. We did shows in the army, ENSA saw us and offered us 20 pounds a week when we got demobbed. So we became the rage of Italy, went round for two years. Then we came back here and nothing happened, so I just dropped it, worked in a bar and became a scriptwriter. Show less «

[As to how he started singing]: I just got into it by accident, started off in skiffle groups when t...Show more »

[As to how he started singing]: I just got into it by accident, started off in skiffle groups when that was happening, went through showbands, whatever was happening. I was just a professional musician, I joined the union, and they'd knock on your door, Can you play in County Mayo on Saturday night for 40 quid? My peer group that I came from, they were into playing, they weren't into making records. Pop music wasn't even reality to me, I had this R&B club, doing in Belfast what Ken Collier was doing here. And then this bloke came over from Decca Records and the whole thing got wound up from there, and we went in the studio, and got involved in the music business. It became like pop. People were telling you, You must do this, or that. All manipulation. Show less «

Van Morrison

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