Van Morrison

On tour

Pictures

Listen to, buy or share

Buy

Buy on Amazon Amazon Expand purchase options
  • Digital download
  • Amazon Amazon
  • 7digital 7digital
  • iTunes iTunes
  • Physical media
  • Amazon Amazon Search
  • eBay eBay Search
  • 21,415,025
    scrobbles
  • 1,278,388
    listeners

Tags

Everyone’s tags

Biography

Belfast, Northern Ireland (1958 – present)

George Ivan Morrison (generally known as Van Morrison) (born 31 August 1945) is a Grammy Award-winning artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He’s a singer, songwriter, author, poet, and multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional musician since 1958. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl - a unique mix of folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences - Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll.

Known as “Van the Man” by his fans, Morrison first rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band Them, writing their 1964 hit “Gloria”. A few years later, Morrison left the band for a successful solo career, starting with the album Astral Weeks.

Morrison has pursued an idiosyncratic musical path. Much of his music is tightly structured around the conventions of American soul and R&B, such as the popular singles “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Moondance”, “Domino”, and “Wild Night”. An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as his classic album Astral Weeks and lesser known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as “Celtic Soul,” and Morrison rejects the characterization of his genre of music as Rock, citing Elvis Presley as a non-influence.
Read more… Edit bio

Top Albums

Events

Add event

Listening Trend

1,278,388listeners all time
21,415,025scrobbles all time
#388 in last week’s chart
Recent listeners trend:

Start scrobbling and track your listening history

Last.fm users scrobble the music they play in iTunes, Spotify, Rdio and over 200 other music players.

Create a Last.fm profile

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up.

  • c0c0butter

    Let Van take you on a journey to astral weeks.

    11 May 8:42pm Reply

  • Irryco

    Check out Veedon Fleece after you're done with Astral Weeks. It has a similar "master-piece"-feeling over it. : )

    29 Apr 10:09am Reply

  • PlzDontBan

    I guess it just really pales in comparison, but yeah there's far worse songs out there

    27 Apr 4:24pm Reply

  • Irryco

    Never judge a guy by his biggest hit. ; ) Van himself has said that he's made at least 500 songs better than Brown Eyed Girl. Though, I don't think it sucks. : )

    27 Apr 10:21am Reply

  • PlzDontBan

    I'm very surprised but I actually liked Astral Weeks a lot. That number 1 song on this chart is an embarrassment to his career in comparison (and overall actually, that song sucks tbh)

    27 Apr 5:51am Reply

  • TheGreatChupon

    And that's a lovely image! Apt, too.

    14 Apr 12:54am Reply

  • ralfsu

    His voice is like gold in candlewax.

    13 Apr 8:42pm Reply

  • saltyknuckles

    Featured on SaltyKnuckles ~ Oldies №18 - http://oldies.saltyknuckles.net/2013-13/

    29 Mar 9:52am Reply

  • SilentPoet82

    The Irish Rock League is waiting for your votes to decide the next winners!

    25 Mar 6:39pm Reply

  • LittleGib

    I'll have to try and track down Common One. Cheers!

    16 Mar 6:44pm Reply

  • Carlo_Mure

    He stoned me! :)

    16 Mar 6:28pm Reply

  • Irryco

    If you like Astral Weeks or Veedon Fleece, Common One is a must. : )

    16 Mar 12:33pm Reply

  • LittleGib

    Nice to read positive comments about Van's lesser loved albums. I was hesitant to step outside of his 60's/70's work, but now feel more willing to give them a chance.

    15 Mar 2:08pm Reply

  • ympa

    Philosopher's stone!!!! it's brilliant!

    15 Mar 10:25am Reply

  • TheGreatChupon

    And Irryco, I never thanked you for those posts. I haven't seen Live at Montreux but I'll definitely be on the lookout for it now.

    14 Mar 1:24pm Reply

  • TheGreatChupon

    Moondance is a gem among albums! You may want to try Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview, and/or Into the Music.

    14 Mar 1:22pm Reply

  • njokmo413

    any suggestions? i just listened the moondance album... one of the best albums i've heard recently

    14 Mar 9:11am Reply

  • KasparovDeepBlu

    Feel king

    8 Mar 11:27pm Reply

  • Irryco

    Shout 2: Yeah, I've heard his albums. Ehm. Top five is tough because of the competition. Not every album is great of course, and there are some weak ones, but he has a remarkable discography in general. At the moment I'd probably say: 1) Astral Weeks, 2) Veedon Fleeece, 3) Saint Dominic's Preview, 4) Common One 5) No Guru, No method, No Teacher. With honoroable mentions going to Hard nose the highway, Moondance and Hymns to the silence. This changes though, but Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece are consistent as number one and two.

    8 Mar 3:56pm Reply

  • Irryco

    Hi! Really nice talking to a fellow Van-fan. : ) Yeah, take your time with the albums. Certainly no need in hurrying. : ) I understand. Common One was a "wow"-experience for me too. It seems to divide the fans somewhat. Either you unconditionally love it, or you hate it. For me it's the album where Van dared to go furthest away from the "mainstream", reaching for emotional truths deep within us all. In that way, it's his bravest album. Misunderstood when it came, though. Have you seen his Live in Montreux performance released on DVD? It's from 1980 and he plays many songs from Common One on the concert. It's terrific. : )

    8 Mar 3:50pm Reply
    • All 771 shouts

Listening Now

Top Listeners

Email Newsletter

Universal Music Group Get exclusive tour, release & promotion updates on Van Morrison from Universal Music.