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Van Morrison music biography continued...

rock and roll. He was born George Ivan Morrison in Belfast, Ireland on August 31, 1945, and took to music almost immediately. In a taped 1969 interview, Morrison's mother said that he was listening to recordings from the age of two, when he would tug at her apron strings urging her to play more records. Morrison formed his first band when he was twelve and learned to play many instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. His first taste of success came with the group, Them, for which Morrison penned the classic tune "Gloria." In 1967, Morrison, in the United States, recording for Bang Records, wrote "Brown Eyed Girl," a Top Ten smash in the summer of that year. Morrison and his signature growl --a unique mix of folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences --never looked back.
Morrison's career, spanning some five decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2000, Morrison ranked #25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Van Morrison 42nd on their list of The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Paste Magazine ranked him 20th in their list of 100 Greatest Living Songwriters in 2006 and Q Magazine ranked him 22nd on their list of 100 Greatest Singers in April 2007. Van Morrison songs are eclectic in nature, ranging from conventional American soul and R&B to loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical adventures that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative. Despite his enormous fame, Van the Man remains an enigmatic performer, known for his reluctance to grant interviews and moody stage demeanor, but there's no denying that he is an immense talent who has inspired the loyalty of millions of classic music fans.