Joe Camilleri
Joe Camilleri at Mordialloc Festival, March 2006 Photo: Mandy Hall
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Vincent Camilleri
Also known as	Jo Jo Zep, Joey Vincent
Born	(1948-05-21) 21 May 1948 (age 64)
Origin	Malta
Genres	Rock, R&B, Blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Saxophone, Vocalist
Years active	1964 through present
Associated acts	Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons Black Sorrows Adderley Smith Blues Band
Website	Joe Camilleri.com.au

Joseph Vincent "Joe" Camilleri,^[1] (born 21 May 1948 in Malta) aka Jo Jo Zep or Joey Vincent, is an Australian vocalist, songwriter and saxophonist.^[2][3] Camilleri has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows.^[2][4] Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons highest charting single was "Hit & Run" from June 1979, which peaked at #12;^[5] Jo Jo Zep's "Taxi Mary peaked at #11 in September 1982;^[5] and The Black Sorrows top single, "Chained to the Wheel", peaked at #9 in March 1989.^[6]

Camilleri has also produced records for The Sports, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Paul Kelly & the Dots, The Black Sorrows, Renée Geyer and Ross Wilson.^[4] Australian music journalist, Ian McFarlane, described him as "one of the most genuinely talented figures in Australian music",^[3] and, as a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Camilleri was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2007.^[7][8]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Joe Camilleri was born the third of ten children in Malta in 1948. The family migrated to Australia when he was two.^[9] Camilleri grew up in Port Melbourne and listened to rock music on the radio.^[9] His mother called him Zep and he became known as Jo Zep. Camilleri began his music career in 1964 when literally thrown onstage to sing with The Drollies.^[9] He played blues and R&B in the mid-1960s with The King Bees,^[4][9] and was then a member of Adderley Smith Blues Band.^[4][10][11] In 1968, lead singer for the band, Broderick Smith had been conscripted for National Service during the Vietnam War.^[9] Camilleri lasted a year with Adderley Smith, and enjoyed working with the band including guitarist Kerryn Tolhurst (later in The Dingoes with Smith).^[9] According to Australian music journalist Ed Nimmervoll, Camilleri was sacked for sounding too much like Mick Jagger and upstaging other band members.^[10] After Adderley Smith, Camilleri was a member of various bands, including The Pelaco Brothers during 1974–1975.^[4][9]

Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons: 1975–1983, 2001-2003[link]

Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons formed in 1975 and Camilleri gained national prominence as the group's lead singer, co-songwriter and saxophonist.^[2] Other members (from 1976 on) included Jeff Burstin (guitar, vocals), John Power (bass guitar, vocals), Gary Young (drums), Tony Faehse (guitar, vocals) and Wilbur Wilde on sax.^[2][4] Incorporating influences from blues, R&B, soul, punk rock, New Wave and reggae, the group achieved considerable commercial and critical success in Australia.^[2] Hit singles for Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons included "Shape I'm In" and "Puppet on a String"; their highest charting single was "Hit & Run" from June 1979 which peaked at #12.

In 1981, most of The Falcons left the group, and the act's name was shortened to Jo Jo Zep. "Taxi Mary", credited to Jo Jo Zep, peaked at #11 in September 1982.^[5] The Jo Jo Zep ensemble became unwieldy with, at its peak, a roster of 11 members and disbanded in 1983.^[2]

The classic 1976-1981 group reformed in 2001 for a one-off gig, but stayed together to release an album of new material, Ricochet, in 2003.^[9][12] As a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Camilleri was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2007.^[7][8]

The Black Sorrows: 1984–current[link]

After the demise of Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons in 1983, Camilleri achieved his greatest success with another long-running group The Black Sorrows, which began in 1984 as an informal semi-acoustic band playing blues, R&B and zydeco.^[3] The Black Sorrows had a shifting line-up and at various points included three ex-Falcons: Jeff Burstin, Wayne Burt, and Gary Young.^[3] Later additions to the band included sisters Vika and Linda Bull on vocals, and backing vocalist and lyricist Nick Smith. Camilleri himself has been the only constant member of the group.

The Black Sorrows developed a strong fan following and garnered wide critical acclaim for their recordings and superb live performances.^[3] After starting life as an acoustic cover band, they evolved into a full electric ensemble that wrote their own material, releasing a string of commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums in the 1980s and 1990s. These albums included A Place in the World, Dear Children (an Australian Top 20 album in 1987),^[5] Hold on to Me (peaked at #7, 1988), Harley & Rose (peaked at #3, 1990), Better Times (peaked at #13, 1992) and compilation The Chosen Ones - Greatest Hits (peaked at #4, 1993).^[6] Top 30 hit singles by the band were "Chained to the Wheel" (which peaked at #9 in 1989), "Harley & Rose" (1990) "Never Let Me Go" (1990), and "Snake Skin Shoes" (1994).^[6]

For the first several years the band was in existence, Camilleri performed under the pseudonym "Joey Vincent" (a name he had previously used for a solo single), although he wrote and produced material for the group using his real name. The "Joey Vincent" persona was finally dropped in time for the release of 1990's Harley & Rose.

With a number of different line-ups, the band has continued to release material through the 1990s and 2000s. Their most recent release of original material was Roarin' Town in 2006,^[9][12] followed by a live-in-the-studio album of newly recorded versions of older songs called 4 Days In Sing Sing (2009).

Other projects[link]

The Revelators[link]

While with The Black Sorrows, Camilleri also performed with The Revelators (originally, as least for the first few gigs, The Delta Revelators). The Revelators returned to the Black Sorrows roots of playing mostly covers of country/R&B style music, and had virtually the same line-up as The Black Sorrows. They released their first album in 1991, and followed it up with two others, including the self-tiled The Revelators in 2002.^[3][9][12]

Bakelite Radio[link]

Bakelite Radio was another side project from the early 2000s. This particular group focussed on more acoustically-oriented music, though still in a country/R&B mold. The group has released four albums: in order of release, they are Bakelite Radio Volume II (2003), Bakelite Radio Volume III (2004) Bakelite Radio Volume IV (2007), and Bakelite Radio Volume I (2009).^[12]

Camilleri/Bomba[link]

Limestone, released in 2005, was a collaboration between Camilleri and Bomba's Nicky Bomba.^[9][12]

Solo releases[link]

Camelleri has only infrequently released material with solo billing. A 1980 single credited to "Joey Vincent" was his first solo project; two singles from the 1980s and a 1995 EP called All Saint's Hotel are his only other solo releases of original material.^[4] (Note that a few CD 'best-of' releases, which compile material by Jo Jo Zep, The Black Sorrows and Joe's other bands, are credited to Joe Camilleri.)

Production and session work[link]

Beginning in the late 1970s, Camilleri also produced recordings for other artists including The Sports, Paul Kelly & the Dots, Renée Geyer and Ross Wilson.^[4] He can also be heard as a session musician and/or vocalist on recordings by dozens of Australian recording acts, including Skyhooks, Tim Finn, Icehouse and Mondo Rock.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Joe Camilleri at Australian Rock Database by Magnus Holmgren

Jimmy Barnes
Barnes in 2006
Background information
Birth name	James Dixon Swan
Born	(1956-04-28) 28 April 1956 (age 56) Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Hard rock, blues-rock, soul, rhythm and blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active	1972–present
Labels	Mushroom Records, Geffen Records
Associated acts	Cold Chisel, Fraternity, Tin Lids, Johnny Diesel, Living Loud, INXS, David Campbell, Tina Turner
Website	Official website

James Dixon Swan (born 28 April 1956), better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at the time. His career as both a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. The combination of 14 Australian Top 40 albums for Cold Chisel and 13 charting solo albums, including nine No. 1s, gives Barnes the highest number of hit albums of any Australian artist.^[1][2]

Jimmy Barnes was born in Glasgow, Scotland and arrived in Adelaide, South Australia as a 4-year old on 7 January 1961 with his parents Jim and Dorothy Swan and siblings John, Dororthy, Linda, Lisa & Alan. They eventually settled in Elizabeth. Shortly afterward, Barnes' parents divorced. His mother Dorothy soon remarried, to a clerk named Reg Barnes. After her daughter Lisa was teased by a schoolmate about being adopted, Dorothy encouraged her children to change their surname to Barnes.^{[citation needed]} All of them did except for the oldest brother John, who would go on to be much better known as Swanee, eventually recording a series of albums under that name from the 1980s. This would later cause confusion about Jimmy Barnes and Swan; many thought them to be half- or stepbrothers.

Barnes was raised a Protestant, and considers himself a Buddhist, although in September 2009 he revealed that he has Jewish ancestry, his maternal grandmother having been Jewish.^[3]

The Cold Chisel years (1973–1983)[link]

Barnes took an apprenticeship in an iron smelter with the South Australian railways in 1973 but the love he and his brother had for music led him to join a band. Swanee was now playing drums with Fraternity, who had just parted ways with singer Bon Scott. Barnes took over the role but his tenure with the band was brief and before long he had joined a harder-edged band called Orange, featuring organist and songwriter Don Walker, guitarist Ian Moss, drummer Steve Prestwich and bass player Les Kaczmarek. Within a short time the group had changed its name to Cold Chisel and began to develop a strong presence on the local music scene. Barnes' relationship with the band was often volatile and he left several times, leaving Moss to handle vocal duties until he returned. After a temporary move to Armidale, New South Wales while Walker completed his engineering studies there, Cold Chisel moved to Melbourne in August 1976 and then three months later shifted base to Sydney. Progress was slow and Barnes announced he was leaving once again in May 1977 to join Swanee in a band called Feather. However, his farewell performance with Cold Chisel went so well he changed his mind and a month later the band was signed by WEA.

By 1980 Cold Chisel was the biggest band in Australia and Barnes had developed a notorious reputation as a hard-drinking wild man who reportedly drank more than two bottles of vodka a day, much of it onstage during performances.

While in Canberra in November 1979 however, he met Jane Mahoney (born Jane Dejakasaya, in Bangkok, Thailand, 1958) the stepdaughter of an Australian diplomat. Barnes began a relationship with her and they started living together but in March 1980 she began to feel overwhelmed by the rock lifestyle and followed her family to Tokyo where her father was posted. Barnes wrote the song "Rising Sun" about this, which would appear on the album East. The pair married in Sydney on 22 May 1981 and Jane soon gave birth to their first child Mahalia, named after Mahalia Jackson, on 12 July 1982.^[4] The couple now have four children (Mahalia Barnes, Eliza-Jane Barnes, Elly-may Barnes and Jackie Barnes who formed the group Tin Lids). Barnes was already the father of a son, David Campbell, who, due to the young age of his parents at the time of his birth, was being raised by his grandmother. While Barnes maintained contact with him, Campbell did not become aware that Barnes was his father and not merely a family friend until the mid-1980s.

The singer had never been careful with money and the increasing pressure on him to provide for his young family caused even more tension between him and the rest of Cold Chisel. Despite being hugely successful in Australia, the group had still not been able to crack the market internationally and a disastrous tour of the United States in 1981 pulled them even further apart. While the 1982 album Circus Animals provided Cold Chisel with its second consecutive No. 1 album, Barnes returned from the band's German tour in 1983 virtually broke. He asked for a $10,000 advance from the band's management but was refused, as the terms of the group's contract meant that if one member was given such a sum, the rest of them were entitled to the same amount.^[5] At a meeting in August, it was decided that Cold Chisel should split up. The group had already begun to fragment, with Ray Arnott having replaced Steve Prestwich earlier in the year. Sessions for the final album were spread across different studios as various members refused to work together but at the end of the year The Last Stand farewell tour (with Prestwich back in the band) became the highest-grossing concert series by an Australian band ever. The group's final performance was in Sydney on 12 December 1983, reportedly precisely ten years after its original formation. The resultant film of that show remains the best-selling live concert film of any Australian band.

Barnes had recorded seven albums with Cold Chisel between 1978 and 1983, including two live albums (the second of which, Barking Spiders Live 1983, was released in 1984), and was arguably now Australia's highest-profile rock singer.

Solo career[link]

1980s[link]

Barnes launched his solo career less than a month after Cold Chisel's Last Stand tour came to an end. He assembled a band that included Arnott, former Fraternity bass player Bruce Howe and guitarists Mal Eastick (ex-Stars) and Chris Stockley (ex-The Dingoes) and began touring and writing for a solo album. Signing to Mushroom Records, Barnes released his first solo album Bodyswerve. He was now billing himself as Jimmy Barnes, instead of merely 'Jim Barnes' as he had been credited during his Cold Chisel days. The album was immediately successful, entering the Australian charts at Number One on 8 October. This was the first of a remarkable run of top charting albums for Barnes, as each of his first six solo albums all debuted in the Number One position, a feat that no other Australian musical artist is likely to match. His list of Number One albums now totals eleven, including three Cold Chisel albums. His total of nine No. 1 albums as a solo performer is matched by no other Australian recording artist. The final Cold Chisel studio album 20th Century and the live album Barking Spiders Live were also released in 1984. 20th Century peaked at No. 1 on 23 April.

On 22 December 1984, days after Barnes had begun that year's Barnestorming tour, his second daughter Eliza-Jane was born.

Early in his solo career, Barnes was determined to break into the US market and signed to Geffen Records for release there. His second album For the Working Class Man was tailored in this direction, featuring remixed songs from Bodyswerve plus five new tracks including "Working Class Man" that was written by Journey musician Jonathan Cain and would become Barnes' signature tune. Several US musicians worked on the album including Cain, Charlie Sexton, singer Kim Carnes and British drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The album was released as a double vinyl set and shifted 250,000 copies in twelve months in Australia. Like its predecessor, For the Working Class Man debuted on the national chart at No. 1 on 16 December 1985. It remained at No. 1 for seven weeks. Titled simply Jimmy Barnes in the US, the album was issued in February to tie in with the release of the Ron Howard film Gung Ho which featured "Working Class Man". Because of this, Gung Ho was released as Working Class Man in Australia.

The Jimmy Barnes band that toured Australia in support of the album featured Howe and Arnott, plus keyboardist Peter Kekell, former Rose Tattoo guitarist Robin Riley and American guitarist Dave Amato. With the release of the album in America, Barnes headed off with a band of Canadian musicians hand-picked by his North American management team and toured with ZZ Top. It was the first time since 1981 that he had toured without his family as part of his entourage as Jane was pregnant. Shortly after their son Jackie (named after Jackie Wilson) was born on 4 February 1986 she and the children joined him in the US for the rest of the tour.

In 1986, Jimmy Barnes recorded two songs with INXS, an Easybeats cover "Good Times" and "Laying Down The Law", which he co-wrote with INXS members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence. "Good Times" was used as the theme song for the Australian Made series of concerts that toured the country in the summer of 1986–87. Australian Made was the largest touring festival of Australian music talent that had ever been attempted to that point. Barnes and INXS headlined and the rest of the line-up featured Mental as Anything, Divinyls, Models, The Saints, I'm Talking and The Triffids. The shows began in Hobart, Tasmania on 26 December and concluded in Sydney on Australia Day, 26 January 1987. A concert film of this event was made by Richard Lowenstein and released later that year.^[6] "Good Times" peaked at No. 2 on the Australian chart and several months later was featured in the Joel Schumacher film The Lost Boys, allowing it to chart Top 40 in the US.

The "Good Times"/"Laying Down the Law" release was the first in a long line of songs Barnes would record with other well known singers and artists. In 1991 he recorded a version of "When Something is Wrong With My Baby" with John Farnham as a single and centerpiece track for his Soul Deep album. The following year he released a version of "Simply The Best" as a duet with Tina Turner that was used as the theme song for that year's Australian Rugby League advertising campaign. It peaked at #13 in Australia. His 1993 album Flesh and Wood also featured several duets, including songs with Joe Cocker, Archie Roach, Tommy Emmanuel and a version of The Band's "The Weight" with The Badloves.

The next album release Freight Train Heart (1987) again featured contributions from a range of US musicians including Huey Lewis, Journey members Randy Jackson and Neal Schon and former Babys and Rod Stewart drummer Tony Brock, who would later accompany Barnes on tour. The recording process was deeply problematic however, as Barnes fought with producer Jonathan Cain over artistic control and Geffen Records wanted to feature a solo by Robert Cray in the track "Too Much Ain't Enough Love" in place of the one laid down by Schon. In the end, Barnes claimed the masters and returned to Sydney to rework the recording with English producer Mike Stone. Most of the songs were remixed, with parts added by Peter Kekell, Rick Brewster from The Angels, and Johnny Diesel, the 20-year old guitarist and frontman of Perth band Johnny Diesel and the Injectors, who had just begun to make a name for themselves. Jon Farriss from INXS and ex-Angels bassist Chris Bailey also played on the album. Diesel, Kekell, Brock, Bailey and Dave Amato were kept on as Barnes' touring band, which hit the road in November just ahead of the release of the first single, "Too Much Ain't Enough Love" in December 1987. It became Barnes' first No. 1 hit single. The album followed the trend set by the previous two, and debuted in the No. 1 slot on 21 December.

Freight Train Heart found moderate success outside of Australia and as recently as 2003 was named as one of the top 100 rock albums of all time by British magazine Powerplay. His problems with Geffen during the recording process caused him to sever his relations with them and he eventually signed to Atlantic in 1990.

In Australia, Jimmy Barnes' success remained virtually unmatched. The Number One success of his first three albums continued with the live album Barnestorming, recorded during the promotional tour of the same name and peaking at No. 1 for three weeks from 5 December. A version of the Percy Sledge standard "When A Man Loves A Woman" lifted from the album was a No. 3 hit. His next tour brought controversy by being underwritten by Pepsi, which allowed him to expand the production and increase promotion, and at the end of the tour he made a $25,000 donation to the Children's Hospital in Camperdown, Sydney.

In the middle of 1989, Jane Barnes went into Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney with pregnancy complications; Elly-May Barnes was born almost three months prematurely on 3 May. Her father held off all further writing and recording until she was released from a humidicrib several months later.

1990s[link]

Barnes signed to Atlantic for worldwide release in mid-1990 and immediately headed into the studio with producer Don Gehman to record Two Fires. The album featured songwriting contributions from the likes of Desmond Child, Diane Warren and Holly Knight, whose track became the title of his record and vocal contributions from Brian Setzer, and from his wife and children. Collectively known as the Tin Lids (after Glaswegian rhyming-slang for "kids"), the four Barnes children later recorded three albums of their own. Two Fires combined live drums with synthesised drum machines and contained the hits "Lay Down Your Guns", "Make it Last All Night", "When Your Love is Gone" and "Little Darling". It had a slight funk influence and an even more polished sound than his previous albums but this proved no barrier to it becoming his fifth consecutive Australian No. 1 album.

The following year he released Soul Deep, an album of soul covers. Barnes had long fostered a love for soul and black music, naming his children after influential black artists and including songs by Sam Cooke and Percy Sledge on previous albums. He and Gehman had discussed the idea during the sessions for Two Fires and both had apparently decided that it would be "a fun thing to do". Soul Deep went on to become Jimmy Barnes' most successful album ever, spawning the No. 3 single "When Something is Wrong With My Baby", a duet with John Farnham. Re-releases of the album were issued in special gatefold sleeves with embossed gold lettering, collector cards and extra live tracks. It remains one of the best-selling Australian albums of all time.

The 1993 album Heat saw Barnes return to hard rock. Influenced by the then-current grunge trend and the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Heat was an attempt to move back to Barnes' raw rock'n'roll roots after the polished sound of Soul Deep and Two Fires. While described as his most interesting album,^[7] it broke his run of Number One releases (it peaked at #2) but did contain the hit "Stone Cold", written by former Cold Chisel bandmate Don Walker. It marked the first time Jimmy Barnes had worked with any member of his old band for almost a decade. The pair teamed up for an acoustic version of the track for an unplugged album Flesh and Wood, which appeared later the same year. Flesh and Wood reached #1 on the Australian album chart. It included a version of The Band's "The Weight", recorded with The Badloves, which became a hit. Also in 1993, Barnes teamed up with Tina Turner for a duet version of The Best in the form of a TV promotion for rugby league's Winfield Cup. The single reached the top ten that year.

Following this, in the mid-1990s, Jimmy Barnes' career suffered a slump. The singer faced financial ruin as his music publishing company Dirty Sheet Music and his wife's children's fashion label both went broke. He was pursued by both the ANZ Bank and the Australian Taxation Office for amounts exceeding $1.3 million. The family sold their property in Bowral, New South Wales and settled for some time in Aix-en-Provence, France, attracting some adverse publicity when he assaulted a television crew from Channel 7.^[8] While there, Barnes did considerable live work throughout Britain and toured with the Rolling Stones. His 1995 album Psyclone reached number 2 in Australia and featured the top ten hit "Change of Heart", but it did not sell as well as previous albums. In 1996 the greatest hits compilation Hits returned Jimmy Barnes to the top of Australian charts, along with the hit single "Lover Lover". It was the beginning of a comeback that was hastened by the reformation of Cold Chisel in 1998.

In March 1999 he performed the 1978 Sylvester hit "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" live onstage at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras' annual party.

Later that year Barnes released the heavy rock single "Love and Hate", followed by its parent album Love and Fear. An autobiographical record combining hard rock with electronic music, Love and Fear was Barnes' first album to miss the Australian top ten.

2000s[link]

The comeback was continued with another string of solo releases, including a second album of soul tunes, Soul Deeper (ARIA #3, 2000), and two live albums, the first an acoustic performance and the second a performance of his soul songs. He appeared live on stage with INXS at some shows throughout Australia between 1999 and 2001, but the reception to this was not encouraging. He also performed at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000.^[9]

In 2004, Barnes recorded an album with Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, bass player Bob Daisley and keyboard player Don Airey under the name Living Loud. The self-titled album featured a number of songs originally written and recorded with Ozzy Osbourne by Kerslake, Daisley and Airey.

Double Happiness, released in July 2005, reaffirmed his popularity, debuting at #1 on the ARIAnet Albums Chart, his seventh album to do so. Double Happiness was a complete album of duets, including several with his children, daughters Mahalia and Elly-May, son Jackie and oldest son, entertainer David Campbell. Roachford, Smoky Dawson, Ian Moss and Tim Rogers of You Am I are among others who appear. After its initial success, it was re-released as a double CD/DVD package featuring many of his duets from previous albums, including those with INXS, John Farnham, Joe Cocker and Tina Turner. Double Happiness was followed in 2006 by karaoke DVD version that featured many of his songs minus the vocal track.^[10]

Jimmy Barnes was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on 23 October 2005 for his solo career efforts, and coupled with Cold Chisel's 1993 induction, Barnes has entered into the Hall of Fame twice.^[11]

In late 2006, Barnes became patron of the Choir of Hard Knocks, a choral group formed by Jonathon Welch and consisting of homeless and disadvantaged people in Melbourne. The formation of the choir was documented by the ABC as a five-part series aired in May 2007. Barnes took an active part in the teaching of the choir despite his health problems and has even busked with them. Barnes or a member of his extended family have regularly performed "Flame Trees" with the Choir at their concerts including those at Melbourne Town Hall on 24 June and the Sydney Opera House 17 July 2007.

He underwent heart surgery in February 2007 and then in May, the boxed CD set 50 was released, featuring remastered versions of all his studio albums and a double CD of rare tracks. The collection was limited to 5000 copies.

On 7 July 2007 Barnes was a presenter at the Australian leg of Live Earth. In August he became a regular presenter on The Know, a pop culture program on the pay TV channel MAX and has also been a presenter of the Planet Rock program on the Austereo network.

In September 2007 he started recording his 13th studio album, Out In The Blue. Produced by Nash Chambers, it was released on 14 November and debuted in the ARIA chart at #3. The songs were written while he recovered from his heart surgery, and displayed a more subdued mood than much of his previous output. "When Two Hearts Collide" was a duet with Kasey Chambers. The album was promoted with a performance at the Sydney Opera House, which was released on CD and DVD.

Barnes with Guy Sebastian, 6 March 2008 State Theatre

He continues to recognise and give support to young bands and artists in Australia. In a January 2007 interview with The Bulletin, Barnes spoke passionately about Australian rock musicians saying: "Australian bands for me will always have the grunt. Grunt is what gives you longevity, strength, the power to believe in yourself. We have great bands here because they play live, they cut their teeth playing to people.".^[12] In March 2008, Barnes appeared as a special guest during soul singer Guy Sebastian's tour.

In September 2008 he undertook a tour of Europe. November saw the release of a duet with son David Campbell, a cover of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" that featured on Campbell's album Good Lovin. In September the following year his fifteenth studio album The Rhythm and the Blues was released, immediately becoming his ninth No. 1 charting solo release, thus giving him more No. 1 albums than any other Australian artist. The same week, after hinting about the possibility during his appearance on Good News Week, it was announced that Cold Chisel would play at the V8 Supercars race in Sydney on 5 December 2009.

2010s[link]

Cold Chisel will perform live at the Deniliquin ute muster in October 2010, slated to be their only performance of the year followed by Jimmy touring with Vanessa Amorosi at A Day At The Green concerts. The band is rumoured to be working on new material for the first time since 1998, with a possible tour in 2011.

Barnes released Rage and Ruin on 27 August 2010, his first album of original material since 2007. He has stated that the ideas for most of the lyrics and song themes came from a journal he kept during a period in his life (late 1990s to early 2000s) when he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. Two singles have been released from the album: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" and "God or Money". The album debuted at number 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart on 5 September 2010. Three weeks later, on 27 September, it was revealed that Barnes has two adult daughters he had never previously met.^[13]

On 14 March 2011 he planted a flame tree, made famous in Cold Chisel's 1984 song Flame Trees, at the National Arboretum Canberra.^[14] He then headlined at Celebrate in the Park, playing a 90 minute set which included his solo hits and some Cold Chisel greats. He was joined by daughter Mahalia in a soulful rendition of "When the War Is Over", which he dedicated to the memory of Steve Prestwich.

Discography[link]

Cold Chisel[link]

For complete solo discography see Jimmy Barnes discography

Studio Albums[link]

• Bodyswerve (1984)
• For the Working Class Man (1985)
• Freight Train Heart (1987)
• Two Fires (1990)
• Soul Deep (1991)
• Heat (1993)
• Flesh and Wood (1993)
• Psyclone (1995)
• Love and Fear (1999)
• Soul Deeper (2000)
• Double Happiness (2005)
• Out in the Blue (2007)
• The Rhythm and the Blues (2009)
• Rage And Ruin (2010)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Who's Who of Australian Rock – Chris Spencer, Paul McHenry, Zbig Nowara, 2002. ISBN 1-86503-891-1
• Say it Loud with Alan Whiticker, Published by Gary Allen, Australia, September 2002. – ISBN 1-875169-90-3
• Icons of Australian Music: Jimmy Barnes – Scott Podmore. Published by Hyperactive Inc. 2008 ISBN 978-0-9804495-0-1

External links[link]

• Official Jimmy Barnes website
• Unofficial Jimmy Barnes website dedicated to collecting everything JB related

Van Morrison
Van Morrison at Marin Civic Center, 2007
Background information
Birth name	George Ivan Morrison
Also known as	Van the Man The Belfast Cowboy
Born	(1945-08-31) 31 August 1945 (age 66)
Origin	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Genres	Rock, blues, rhythm and blues, folk, blue-eyed soul, celtic, rock and roll, jazz fusion, country, soft rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, saxophones, keyboards, drums, tambourine, ukulele
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Decca Bang Warner Bros. London Mercury Exile/Polydor Verve Point Black Virgin Universal Blue Note Lost Highway Listen to the Lion/EMI Manhattan
Associated acts	Them
Website	www.vanmorrison.com

Van Morrison, OBE (born George Ivan Morrison; 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental^[1][2][3] and inspired;^[4][5][6] while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely viewed as among the greatest ever made.^[7][8][9]

Known as "Van the Man" to his fans,^[10] Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks in 1968.^[11] Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received; however, the next one, Moondance, established Morrison as a major artist,^[12] and throughout the 1970s he built on his reputation with a series of critically acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and The Chieftains. In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.

Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", "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 Astral Weeks and lesser-known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One.^[13][14] The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".^[15]

Morrison has received considerable acclaim, including six Grammy Awards, being inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and appearing on several "Greatest Artists" lists.

Life and career[link]

Early life and musical roots: 1945–64[link]

George Ivan (Van) Morrison was born on 31 August 1945, at 125 Hynford Street, Bloomfield, East Belfast, Northern Ireland as the only child of George Morrison, a shipyard electrician, and Violet Stitt Morrison, a singer and tap dancer in her youth.^[16] Van Morrison's family roots descend from the Ulster Scots population that settled in Belfast.^[17][18][19] From 1950 to 1956, Morrison, who began to be known as "Van" during this time, attended Elmgrove Primary School.^[20] Morrison's father had what was at the time one of the largest record collections in Ulster (acquired during his sojourn in Detroit, Michigan in the early 1950s),^[21] and the young Morrison grew up listening to artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Ray Charles, Lead Belly, and Solomon Burke;^[20][22] of whom Morrison later said, "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."^[23] His father's record collection exposed him to various musical genres, such as the blues of Muddy Waters; the gospel of Mahalia Jackson; the jazz of Charlie Parker; the folk music of Woody Guthrie; and country music from Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers,^[20] while the first record he ever bought was by blues musician Sonny Terry.^[24] When Lonnie Donegan had a hit with "Rock Island Line", written by Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), Morrison felt he was familiar with and able to connect with skiffle music as he had been hearing Lead Belly before that.^[25][26]

Morrison's father bought him his first acoustic guitar when he was eleven, and he learned to play rudimentary chords from the song book, The Carter Family Style, edited by Alan Lomax.^[27] A year later, when he was twelve years old, Morrison formed his first band,^[28] a skiffle group, "The Sputniks", named after the recently launched Soviet satellite, Sputnik 1.^[29] In 1958, the band played at some of the local cinemas, and Morrison took the lead, contributing most of the singing and arranging. Other short-lived groups followed – at fourteen, he formed Midnight Special, another modified skiffle band and played at a school concert.^[27] Then, when he heard Jimmy Giuffre playing saxophone on "The Train and The River", he talked his father into buying him a saxophone,^[30] and took lessons in tenor sax and music reading.^[31] Now playing the saxophone, Morrison joined with various local bands, including one called Deanie Sands and the Javelins, with whom he played guitar and shared singing. The line-up of the band was lead vocalist Deanie Sands, guitarist George Jones and drummer, vocalist Roy Kane.^[32] Later the four main musicians of the Javelins, with the addition of Wesley Black as pianist, became known as the Monarchs.^[33]

Morrison attended Orangefield High School, leaving in July 1960 with no qualifications.^[34] As a member of a working-class community, it was expected that he would get a regular full-time job,^[33] so after several short apprenticeship positions, he settled into a job as a window cleaner— later alluded to in his songs, "Cleaning Windows" and "Saint Dominic's Preview".^[35] However, he had been developing his musical interests from an early age and continued playing with the Monarchs part-time. Young Morrison also played with the Harry Mack Showband, the Great Eight, with his older workplace friend, Geordie (G. D.) Sproule, whom he later named as one of his biggest influences.^[36]

At age 17, he toured Europe for the first time with the Monarchs, now calling themselves the International Monarchs. This Irish showband,^[37] with Morrison playing saxophone, guitar and harp, in addition to back-up duty on bass and drums, toured steamy clubs and US Army bases in Scotland, England, and Germany, often playing five sets a night.^[32] While in Germany, the band recorded a single, "Boozoo Hully Gully"/"Twingy Baby", under the name Georgie and The Monarchs. This was Morrison's first recording, taking place in November 1963 at Ariola Studios in Cologne with Morrison on saxophone; it made the lower reaches of the German charts.^[38][39]

Upon returning to Belfast in November 1963, the group disbanded,^[40] so Morrison connected with Geordie Sproule again and played with him in the Manhattan Showband along with guitarist Herbie Armstrong. When Armstrong auditioned to play with Brian Rossi and the Golden Eagles, Morrison went along and was hired as a blues singer.^[41]

Them: 1964–66[link]

The roots of Them, the band that first broke Morrison on the international scene, came in April 1964 when Morrison responded to an advert for musicians to play at a new R&B club at the Maritime Hotel – an old dance hall frequented by sailors.^[42] The new R&B club needed a band for its opening night; however, Morrison had left the Golden Eagles (the group with which he had been performing at the time), so he created a new band out of The Gamblers, an East Belfast group formed by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison, and Alan Henderson in 1962.^[43][44] Eric Wrixon, still a schoolboy, was the piano player and keyboardist.^[45] Morrison played saxophone and harmonica and shared vocals with Billy Harrison. They followed Eric Wrixon's suggestion for a new name, and The Gamblers morphed into Them, their name taken from the Fifties horror movie Them!.^[46]

The band's strong R&B performances at the Maritime attracted attention. Them performed without a routine and Morrison ad libbed, creating his songs live as he performed.^[47] While the band did covers, they also played some of Morrison's early songs, such as "Could You Would You", which he had written in Camden Town while touring with The Manhattan Showband.^[48] The debut of Morrison's "Gloria" took place on stage here. Sometimes, depending on his mood, the song could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has stated that "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel," believing that the band did not manage to capture the spontaneity and energy of their live performances on their records.^[49] The statement also reflected the instability of the Them lineup, with numerous members passing through the ranks after the definitive Maritime period. Morrison and Henderson would remain the only constants, and a highly unsuccessful version of Them even soldiered on after Morrison's departure.^[50]

Dick Rowe of Decca Records became aware of the band's performances, and signed Them to a standard two-year contract. In that period, they released two albums and ten singles, with two more singles released after Morrison departed the band. They had three chart hits, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1964), "Here Comes the Night" (1965), and "Mystic Eyes" (1965),^[51] though it was the b-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go", the garage band classic, "Gloria",^[52] that went on to become a rock standard covered by Patti Smith, The Doors, Shadows of Knight, Jimi Hendrix and many others.^[53]

	"Gloria" noicon Morrison's garage rock classic was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. As described by Paul Williams: "Van Morrison's voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind."[54]
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Building on the success of their singles in the United States, and riding on the back of the British Invasion, Them undertook a two month tour of America in May and June 1966 that included a residency from 30 May to 18 June at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles.^[55] The Doors were the supporting act on the last week,^[56] and Morrison's influence on The Doors singer, Jim Morrison, was noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm. Brian Hinton relates how "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks."^[57] On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".^[58][59][60]

Toward the end of the tour the band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Decca Records' Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid to the band; that, coupled with the expiry of their work visas, meant the band returned from America dejected. After two more concerts in Ireland, Them split up. Morrison concentrated on writing some of the songs that would appear on Astral Weeks, while the remnants of the band reformed in 1967 and relocated in America.^[61]

Start of solo career with Bang Records and "Brown Eyed Girl" – 1967[link]

	"Brown Eyed Girl" noicon Morrison's classic 1967 hit single which appeared on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. In 2007, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[62]
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Bert Berns, Them’s producer and composer of their 1965 hit, "Here Comes the Night", persuaded Morrison to return to New York to record solo for his new label, Bang Records.^[63] Morrison flew over and signed a contract he had not fully studied.^[64] Then, during a two-day recording session at A & R Studios starting 28 March 1967, eight songs were recorded, originally intended to be used as four singles.^[65] Instead, these songs were released as the album Blowin' Your Mind! without Morrison being consulted. He said he only became aware of the album's release when a friend mentioned on a phone call that he had just bought a copy of it. He later commented to Donal Corvin in a 1973 interview: "I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it."^[66]

However, from these early sessions emerged "Brown Eyed Girl". Captured on the 22nd take on the first day,^[67] this song was released as a single in mid-June 1967,^[68] reaching number ten in the US charts in 1967. "Brown Eyed Girl" became Morrison's most played song and over the years it has remained a classic; forty years later in 2007, it was the fourth most requested song of DJs in the US.^[69]

Following the death of Berns in 1967, Morrison became involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow that prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area.^[70] The song "Big Time Operators", released in 1993, is thought to allude to his dealings with the New York music business during this time period.^[71] He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and was soon confronted with personal and financial problems; he had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding concert bookings.^[72] However, through the few gigs he could find, he regained his professional footing and started recording with the Warner Bros. Records label.^[73][74] The record company managed to buy out his contract with Bang Records. Morrison fulfilled a clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year to Web IV Music, Berns' music publishing company, by recording thirty-one songs in one session; however, Ilene Berns thought the songs "nonsense music ... about ringworms" and didn't use them.^[75][76] The throwaway compositions would come to be known as the "revenge" songs.^[77]

[edit] Astral Weeks – 1968

"Astral Weeks is about the power of the human voice – ecstatic agony, agonising ecstacy. Here is an Irish tenor reborn as a White Negro – a Caucasian Soul Man – pleading and beseeching over a bed of dreamy folk-jazz instrumentation: acoustic bass, brushed drums, vibes and acoustic guitar, the odd string quartet – and of course flute."

Barney Hoskyns – Mojo^[78]

	Astral Weeks noicon The 1968 title song featuring the opening lines of the album: "If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream". His early voice was described as "flinty and tender, beseeching and plaintive".[79]
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His first album for Warner Bros. Records was Astral Weeks (which he had already performed in several clubs around Boston), a mystical song cycle, often considered to be his best work and one of the best albums of all time.^[80][81] Morrison has said, "When Astral Weeks came out, I was starving, literally."^[82] Released in 1968, the album eventually achieved critical acclaim, but it originally received an indifferent response from the public. To this day, it remains in an unclassifiable music genre and has been described variously as hypnotic, meditative, and as possessing a unique musical power.^[80] It has been compared to French Impressionism and mystical Celtic poetry.^[83][84][85] A 2004 Rolling Stone magazine review begins with the words: "This is music of such enigmatic beauty that thirty-five years after its release, Astral Weeks still defies easy, admiring description."^[86] Alan Light would later describe Astral Weeks as "like nothing he had done previously—and really, nothing anyone had done previously. Morrison sings of lost love, death, and nostalgia for childhood in the Celtic soul that would become his signature."^[15] It has been placed on many lists of best albums of all time.^[7] In the 1995 Mojo list of 100 Best Albums, it was listed as number two and was number nineteen on the Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.^[87][88] In December 2009, it was voted the top Irish album of all time by a poll of leading Irish musicians conducted by Hot Press magazine.^[89][90]

[edit] From Moondance to Into the Music: 1970–79

Morrison's third solo album, Moondance, which was released in 1970, became his first million selling album and reached number twenty-nine on the Billboard charts.^[91][92][93] The style of Moondance stood in contrast to that of Astral Weeks. Whereas Astral Weeks had a sorrowful and vulnerable tone, Moondance restored a more optimistic and cheerful message to his music.^[94] The title track, although not released in the US as a single until 1977, received heavy play in FM radio formats.^[95] "Into the Mystic" has also gained a wide following over the years.^[96][97] The single released was "Come Running", which reached the American Top 40.^[98] Moondance was both well received and favourably reviewed. Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus had a combined full page review in Rolling Stone, stating that Morrison now had "the striking imagination of a consciousness that is visionary in the strongest sense of the word."^[99] "That was the type of band I dig," Morrison said of the Moondance sessions. "Two horns and a rhythm section – they're the type of bands that I like best." He produced the album himself as he felt like nobody else knew what he wanted.^[100] Moondance was listed at number sixty-five on the Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[88] In March 2007, Moondance was listed as number seventy-two on the NARM Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "Definitive 200".^[101]

Over the next few years, he released a succession of albums, starting with a second one in 1970. His Band and the Street Choir had a free, more relaxed sound than Moondance, but not the perfection, in the opinion of critic Jon Landau who felt like "a few more numbers with a gravity of 'Street Choir' would have made this album as perfect as anyone could have stood."^[102] It contained the hit single "Domino", which charted at number nine in the Billboard Hot 100.^[103]

In 1971, he released another well-received album, Tupelo Honey.^[104] This album produced the hit single "Wild Night" that was later covered by John Mellencamp. The title song has a notably country-soul feel about it^[105] and the album ended with another country tune, "Moonshine Whiskey". Morrison said he originally intended to make an all country album.^[106] The recordings were as live as possible – after rehearsing the songs the musicians would go into the studio and play a whole set in one take.^[107] His co-producer, Ted Templeman, described this recording process as the "scariest thing I've ever seen. When he's got something together, he wants to put it down right away with no overdubbing."^[108]

Released in 1972, Saint Dominic's Preview, revealed Morrison's break from the more accessible style of his previous three albums and moving back towards the more daring, adventurous, and meditative aspects of Astral Weeks. The combination of two styles of music demonstrated a versatility not previously found in his earlier albums.^[109] Two songs, "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" and "Redwood Tree", reached the Hot 100 singles chart.^[98] The songs "Listen to the Lion" and "Almost Independence Day" are each over ten minutes long and employ the type of poetic imagery not heard since Astral Weeks.^[109][110] It was his highest charting album in the US until his Top Ten debut on Billboard 200 in 2008.^[111]

He released his next album Hard Nose the Highway in 1973 receiving mixed, but mostly negative, reviews. The album contained the popular song "Warm Love" but otherwise has been largely dismissed critically.^[112] In a 1973 Rolling Stone review, it was described as: "psychologically complex, musically somewhat uneven and lyrically excellent."^[113]

During a three-week vacation visit to Ireland in October 1973, Morrison wrote seven of the songs that would make up his next album, Veedon Fleece.^[114] Though it attracted scant initial attention, its critical stature grew markedly over the years—with Veedon Fleece now often considered to be one of Morrison's most impressive and poetic works.^[115][116] In a 2008 Rolling Stone review, Andy Greene writes that when released in late 1974: "it was greeted by a collective shrug by the rock critical establishment" and concludes: "He's released many wonderful albums since, but he's never again hit the majestic heights of this one."^[117] "You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River", one of the album's side closers, exemplifies the long, hypnotic, cryptic Morrison with its references to visionary poet William Blake and to the seemingly Grail-like Veedon Fleece object.^[118]

Morrison would not release a follow-up album for another three years. After a decade without taking time off, he said in an interview, he needed to get away from music completely and ceased listening to it for several months.^[119] Also suffering from writer's block, he seriously considered leaving the music business for good.^[120] Speculation that an extended jam session would be released either under the title Mechanical Bliss, or Naked in the Jungle, or Stiff Upper Lip, came to nothing,^[121] and Morrison's next album was A Period of Transition in 1977, a collaboration with Dr. John, who had appeared at The Last Waltz concert with Morrison in 1976. The album received a mild critical reception and marked the beginning of a very prolific period of song making.

	"Wavelength" noicon Morrison sings the opening lines in falsetto and synthesizers mimic the sounds of the short wave radio stations that he listened to as a boy.
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Into the Music: "The album's last four songs, "Angelou", "And the Healing Has Begun", and "It's All in the Game/You Know What They're Writing About" are a veritable tour-de-force with Morrison summoning every vocal trick at his disposal from "Angelou's climactic shouts to the sexually-charged, half-mumbled monologue in "And the Healing Has Begun" to the barely audible whisper that is the album's final sound." (Scott Thomas Review')

The following year, Morrison released Wavelength; it became at that time the fastest-selling album of his career and soon went gold.^[122] The title track became a modest hit, peaking at number forty-two. Making use of 1970s synthesizers, it mimics the sounds of the shortwave radio stations that he listened to in his youth.^[123] The opening track, "Kingdom Hall" evoked Morrison's own childhood experiences attending church with his mother^[122] and foretold a religious theme that would be more evident in his next album, Into the Music.^[124]

Considered by Allmusic as "the definitive post-classic-era Morrison",^[125] Into the Music, was released in the last year of the 1970s. Songs on this album for the first time alluded to the healing power of music, which would become an abiding interest of Morrison's.^[126] "Bright Side of the Road" was a joyful, uplifting song that would appear on the soundtrack of the movie, Michael.^[127]

[edit] Common One to Avalon Sunset: 1980–89

With his next album, the new decade found Morrison following his muse into uncharted territory and merciless reviews.^[128][129] In February 1980, Morrison and a group of musicians traveled to Super Bear, a studio in the French Alps, to record (on the site of a former abbey) what is considered to be the most controversial album in his discography; later "Morrison admitted that his original concept was even more esoteric than the final product."^[130][131] The album, Common One, consisted of six songs, each of varying length. The longest, "Summertime in England", lasted fifteen and one-half minutes and ended with the words,"Can you feel the silence?". NME magazine's Paul Du Noyer called the album "colossally smug and cosmically dull; an interminable, vacuous and drearily egotistical stab at spirituality: Into the muzak."^[130] Even Greil Marcus, whose previous writings had been favourably inclined towards Morrison, said: "It's Van acting the part of the 'mystic poet' he thinks he's supposed to be."^[128] Morrison insisted that the album was never "meant to be a commercial album."^[128] Biographer Clinton Heylin concludes: "He would not attempt anything so ambitious again. Henceforth every radical idea would be tempered by some notion of commerciality."^[131] Later the critics would reassess the album more favourably with the success of "Summertime in England".^[131] Lester Bangs wrote in 1982, "Van was making holy music even though he thought he was, and us [sic] rock critics had made our usual mistake of paying too much attention to the lyrics."^[128]

Morrison's next album, Beautiful Vision, released in 1982, had him returning once again to the music of his Northern Irish roots.^[132] Well received by the critics and public, it produced a minor UK hit single, "Cleaning Windows", that referenced one of Morrison's first jobs after leaving school.^[133] Several other songs on the album, "Vanlose Stairway", "She Gives Me Religion", and the instrumental, "Scandinavia" show the presence of a new personal muse in his life: a Danish public relations agent, who would share Morrison's spiritual interests and serve as a steadying influence on him throughout most of the 1980s.^[134] "Scandinavia", with Morrison on piano,^[135] was nominated in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.^[136]

Much of the music Morrison released throughout the 1980s continued to focus on the themes of spirituality and faith. His 1983 album, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart was "a move towards creating music for meditation" with synthesisers, uilleann pipes and flute sounds and four of the tracks were instrumentals.^[137] The titling of the album and the presence of the instrumentals were noted to be indicative of Morrison's long-held belief that "it's not the words one uses but the force of conviction behind those words that matters."^[135] During this period of time, Morrison had studied Scientology and gave "Special Thanks" to L. Ron Hubbard on the album's credits.^[138]

A Sense of Wonder, Morrison's 1985 album, pulled together the spiritual themes contained in his last four albums, which were defined in a Rolling Stone review as: "rebirth (Into the Music), deep contemplation and meditation, (Common One); ecstasy and humility (Beautiful Vision); and blissful, mantra like languor (Inarticulate Speech of the Heart)."^[139] The single, "Tore Down a la Rimbaud" was a reference to Rimbaud and an earlier bout of writer's block that Morrison had encountered in 1974.^[140] In 1985, Morrison also wrote the musical score for the movie, Lamb starring Liam Neeson.^[141]

Morrison's 1986 release, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, was said to contain a "genuine holiness...and musical freshness that needs to be set in context to understand."^[142] Critical response was favourable with a Sounds reviewer calling the album "his most intriguingly involved since Astral Weeks" and "Morrison at his most mystical, magical best."^[143][144] It contains the song, "In the Garden" that, according to Morrison, had a "definite meditation process which is a 'form' of transcendental meditation as its basis. It's not TM".^[142] He entitled the album as a rebuttal to media attempts to place him in various creeds.^[145] In an interview in the Observer he told Anthony Denselow:

There have been many lies put out about me and this finally states my position. I have never joined any organisation, 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.^[146]

After releasing the "No Guru" album, Morrison's music appeared less gritty and more adult contemporary with the well-received 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose, considered to be one of his recording highlights of the 1980s.^[147] The romantic ballad from this album, "Someone Like You", has been featured subsequently in the soundtracks of several movies, including 1995's French Kiss, and in 2001, both Someone Like You and Bridget Jones's Diary.^[127][148]

In 1988, he released Irish Heartbeat, a collection of traditional Irish folk songs recorded with the Irish group, The Chieftains, which reached number 18 in the UK album charts. The title song, "Irish Heartbeat", was originally recorded on his 1983 album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.^[149]

The 1989 album, Avalon Sunset, which featured the hit duet with Cliff Richard "Whenever God Shines His Light" and the ballad "Have I Told You Lately" (on which "earthly love transmutes into that for God."(Hinton),^[150] reached 13 on the UK album chart. Although considered to be a deeply spiritual album,^[151] it also contained "Daring Night" which "deals with full, blazing sex, whatever it's churchy organ and gentle lilt suggest."(Hinton)^[152] Morrison's familiar themes of "God, woman, his childhood in Belfast and those enchanted moments when time stands still" were prominent in the songs.^[153] He can be heard calling out the change of tempo at the end of this song, repeating the numbers "1 – 4" to cue the chord changes (the first and fourth chord in the key of the music). He often completed albums in two days, frequently releasing first takes.^[154][155]

[edit] The Best of Van Morrison to Back on Top: 1990–99

The early to middle 1990s were commercially successful for Morrison with three albums reaching the top five of the UK charts, sold-out concerts, and a more visible public profile; but this period also marked a decline in the critical reception to his work.^[156] The decade began with the release of The Best of Van Morrison; compiled by Morrison himself, the album was focused on his hit singles, and became a multi-platinum success remaining a year and a half on the UK charts. Allmusic determined it to be "far and away the best selling album of his career."^[96][157] After Enlightenment which included the hit singles "Real Real Gone" and the title cut in 1990, an ambitious double album "Hymns to the Silence" was released the following year, his only double studio album. Another compilation album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two was released in January 1993, followed by Too Long in Exile in June, another top five chart success.^[158] The 1994 live double album A Night in San Francisco received favourable reviews as well as commercial success by reaching number eight on the UK charts.^{[159][160][161][162]} 1995's Days Like This also had large sales – though the critical reviews were not always favourable.^[163] This period also saw a number of side projects, including the live jazz performances of 1996's How Long Has This Been Going On, from the same year Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, and 2000's The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast 1998, all of which found Morrison paying tribute to his early musical influences.

In 1997, Morrison released The Healing Game. The album received mixed reviews, with the lyrics being described as "tired" and "dull",^[164] though critic Greil Marcus praised the musical complexity of the album by saying: "It carries the listener into a musical home so perfect and complete he or she might have forgotten that music could call up such a place, and then populate it with people, acts, wishes, fears."^[165] The following year, Morrison finally released some of his previously unissued studio recordings in a two-disc set, The Philosopher's Stone. His next release, 1999's Back on Top, achieved a modest success, being his highest charting album in the US since 1978's Wavelength.^[166]

Recent years: 2000 - present[link]

Van Morrison continued to record and tour in the 2000s, often performing two or three times a week.^[167] He formed his own independent label, Exile Productions Ltd, which enables him to maintain full production control of each album he records, which he then delivers as a finished product to the recording label that he chooses, for marketing and distribution.^[168]

The album, Down the Road released in May 2002, received a good critical reception and proved to be his highest charting album in the US since 1972's Saint Dominic's Preview.^[111] It had a nostalgic tone, with its fifteen tracks representing the various musical genres that Morrison had previously covered—including R&B, blues, country and folk;^[169] one of the tracks was written as a tribute to his late father George, who had played a pivotal role in nurturing his early musical tastes.^[20]

Morrison's 2005 album, Magic Time, debuted at number twenty-five on the US Billboard 200 charts upon its May release, some forty years after Morrison first entered the public's eye as the frontman of Them. Rolling Stone listed it as number seventeen on The Top 50 Records of 2005.^[170] Also in July 2005, Morrison was named by Amazon as one of their top twenty-five all-time best-selling artists and inducted into the Amazon.com Hall of Fame.^[171] Later in the year, Morrison also donated a previously unreleased studio track to a charity album, Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now, which raised money for relief efforts intended for Gulf Coast victims devastated by hurricanes, Katrina and Rita.^[172] Morrison composed the song, "Blue and Green", featuring Foggy Lyttle on guitar. This song was released in 2007 on the album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 and also as a single in the UK. Van Morrison was a headline act at the international celtic music festival, The Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway Outer Hebrides in the summer of 2005.^[173]

He released an album with a country music theme, entitled Pay the Devil, on 7 March 2006 and appeared at the Ryman Auditorium where the tickets sold out immediately after they went on sale.^[174] Pay the Devil debuted at number twenty-six on The Billboard 200 and peaked at number seven on Top Country Albums.^[175][176] Amazon Best of 2006 Editor's Picks in Country listed the country album at number ten in December 2006. Still promoting the country album, Morrison's performance as the headline act on the first night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on 15 September 2006 was reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top ten shows of the 2006 festival.^[177] In November 2006, a limited edition album, Live at Austin City Limits Festival was issued by Exile Productions, Ltd. A later deluxe CD/DVD release of Pay the Devil, in the summer of 2006 contained tracks from the Ryman performance.^[178] In October 2006, Morrison had released his first commercial DVD, Live at Montreux 1980/1974 with concerts taken from two separate appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

A new double CD compilation album The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 was released in June 2007 containing thirty-one tracks, some of which were previously unreleased. Morrison selected the tracks, which ranged from the 1993 album Too Long in Exile to the song "Stranded" from the 2005 album Magic Time.^[179] On 3 September 2007, Morrison's complete catalogue of albums from 1971 through 2002 were made available exclusively at the ITunes Store in Europe and Australia and during the first week of October 2007, the albums became available at the US ITunes Store.^[180]

Still on Top - The Greatest Hits, a thirty-seven track double CD compilation album was released on 22 October 2007 in the UK on the Polydor label. On 29 October 2007, the album charted at number two on the Official UK Top 75 Albums—his highest UK charting.^[181] The November release in the US and Canada contains twenty-one selected tracks.^[182] The hits that were released on albums with the copyrights owned by Morrison as Exile Productions Ltd.—1971 and later—had been remastered in 2007.

Keep It Simple, Morrison's 33rd studio album of completely new material was released by Exile/Polydor Records on 17 March 2008 in the UK and released by Exile/Lost Highway Records in the US and Canada on 1 April 2008.^[183] It comprised eleven self-penned tracks. Morrison promoted the album with a short US tour including an appearance at the SXSW music conference,^[184][185] and a UK concert broadcast on BBC Radio 2. In the first week of release Keep It Simple debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number ten, Morrison's first Top Ten charting in the US.^[186]

Live performances[link]

A smiling Van Morrison performing at the Marin Civic Center, 2007.

By 1972, after being a performer for nearly ten years, Morrison began experiencing stage fright when performing for audiences of thousands, as opposed to the hundreds as he had experienced in his early career. He became anxious on stage and would have difficulty establishing eye contact with the audience. He once said in an interview about performing on stage, "I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there." After a brief break from music, he started appearing in clubs, regaining his ability to perform live, albeit with smaller audiences.^[32]

The 1974 live double album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, has been on lists of greatest live albums of all time.^{[9][187][188][189][190]} Biographer Johnny Rogan states that "Morrison was in the midst of what was arguably his greatest phase as a performer."^[191] Performances on the album were from tapes made during a three month tour of the US and Europe in 1973 with the backing group The Caledonia Soul Orchestra. Soon after recording the album, Morrison restructured the Caledonia Soul Orchestra into a smaller unit, the Caledonia Soul Express.^[192]

Morrison performs in 1976 at The Band's final concert filmed for The Last Waltz.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for The Band. Morrison's first live performance in several years, he considered skipping his appearance until the last minute, even refusing to go on stage when they announced his name. His manager, Harvey Goldsmith, said he "literally kicked him out there."^[193] Morrison was on good terms with The Band as near-neighbours in Woodstock, and they had the shared experience of stage-fright. At the concert, he performed two songs. His first was a rendition of the classic Irish song Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral.^[194] His second song was "Caravan", from his 1970 album Moondance. Greil Marcus, in attendance at the concert, wrote: "Van Morrison turned the show around...singing to the rafters and ...burning holes in the floor. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg into the air out of sheer exuberance and he kicked his way right offstage like a Rockette. The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left."^[195] The filmed concert served as the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1978 film, The Last Waltz.^[196]

During his association with The Band, Morrison acquired the nicknames: "Belfast Cowboy" and "Van the Man". When Morrison sang the duet "4% Pantomime" (that he co-wrote with Robbie Robertson), Richard Manuel calls him, "Oh, Belfast Cowboy". It would be included in The Band's album Cahoots. When he left the stage, after performing "Caravan" on The Last Waltz, Robertson calls out "Van the Man!"^[124]

On 21 July 1990, Morrison joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall - Live in Berlin with an estimated crowd of between three hundred thousand to half a million people and broadcast live on television.^[197] He sang "Comfortably Numb" with Roger Waters, and several members from The Band: Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. At concert's end, he and the other performers sang "The Tide Is Turning".

Morrison performed before an estimated audience of sixty to eighty thousand people when US President Bill Clinton visited Belfast, Northern Ireland on 30 November 1995. His song "Days Like This" had become the official anthem for the Northern Irish peace movement.^[198]

Van Morrison continued performing concerts in the 2000s throughout the year rather than touring.^[167] Playing few of his best-known songs in concert, he has firmly resisted relegation to a nostalgia act.^[199][200] During a 2006 interview, he told Paul Sexton:

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.^[201]

	Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl noicon The 2008 titled song, "Astral Weeks (I Believe I've Transcended)" with the opening lines: "If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream" shows "a deeper, louder roar than the blue-eyed soul voice of his youth – softer on the diction – but none the less impressively powerful."[202]
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On 7 and 8 November 2008, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, Morrison performed the entire Astral Weeks album live for the first time. The Astral Weeks band featured guitarist Jay Berliner, who played on the album that was released forty years previously in November 1968. Also featured on piano was Roger Kellaway. A live album entitled Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl resulted from these two performances.^[203] The new live album on CD was released on 24 February 2009,^[204] followed by a DVD from the performances.^[205] The DVD, Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film was released via Amazon Exclusive on 19 May 2009. In February and March 2009, Morrison returned to the US for Astral Week Live concerts, interviews and TV appearances with concerts at Madison Square Garden and at the Beacon Theatre in in New York City.^[206][207] He was interviewed by Don Imus on his Imus in the Morning radio show and put in guest appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Live with Regis and Kelly.^{[208][209][210]} Morrison continued with the Astral Weeks performances with two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April^[211][212] and then returned to California in May 2009 performing the Astral Weeks songs at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley, the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.^[213] Morrison filmed the concerts at the Orpheum Theatre so that they could be viewed by Farrah Fawcett, confined to bed with cancer and who therefore could not attend the concerts.^[214][215]

In addition to It's Too Late to Stop Now and Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Morrison has released three other live albums: Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast in 1984; A Night in San Francisco in 1994 that Rolling Stone magazine felt stood out as: "the culmination of a career's worth of soul searching that finds Morrison's eyes turned toward heaven and his feet planted firmly on the ground";^[159] and The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998 recorded with Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber and released in 2000.

Morrison performs at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2010.

Morrison was scheduled to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert on 30 October 2009, but cancelled.^[216] In an interview on 26 October, Morrison told his host Don Imus that he had planned to play "a couple of songs" with Eric Clapton (who had cancelled on 22 October due to gallstone surgery),^[217] but that they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".^[218]

Morrison performed for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on 4 August 2010 as the headline act for the fundraiser and scheduled as second day headliner at the Feis 2011 Festival in London's Finsbury Park on 19 June 2011.^{[219][220][221]}

Morrison appeared in concert at Odyssey Arena in Belfast on 3 February and at The O2 in Dublin on 4 February 2012. These were his first performances in Belfast and Dublin for over a decade.^[222] He will appear at the 46th Montreux Jazz Festival as a headliner on 7 July 2012.^[223]

Collaborations[link]

During the 1990s, Morrison developed a close association with two vocal talents at opposite ends of their careers: Georgie Fame (with whom Morrison had already worked occasionally) lent his voice and Hammond organ skills to Morrison's band; and Brian Kennedy's vocals complemented the grizzled voice of Morrison, both in studio and live performances.

The 1990s also saw an upsurge in collaborations by Morrison with other artists, a trend continuing into the new millennium. He recorded with Irish folk band The Chieftains on their 1995 album, The Long Black Veil. Morrison's song, "Have I Told You Lately" would win a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 1996.^[224]

He also produced and was featured on several tracks with blues legend John Lee Hooker on Hooker's 1997 album, Don't Look Back. This album would win a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1998 and the title track "Don't Look Back", a duet featuring Morrison and Hooker, would also win a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" in 1998.^[225] The project capped a series of Morrison and Hooker collaborations that began in 1971 when they performed a duet on the title track of Hooker's 1972 album Never Get Out of These Blues Alive. On this album, Hooker also recorded a cover of Morrison's "T.B. Sheets".^[226]

Morrison additionally collaborated with Tom Jones on his 1999 album Reload, performing a duet on "Sometimes We Cry", and he also sang vocals on a track entitled "The Last Laugh" on Mark Knopfler's 2000 album, Sailing to Philadelphia.^[227] In 2004, Morrison was one of the guests on Ray Charles' album, Genius Loves Company, featuring the two artists performing Morrison's "Crazy Love".

Music[link]

Vocals[link]

It is at the heart of Morrison’s presence as a singer that when he lights on certain sounds, certain small moments inside a song—hesitations, silences, shifts in pressure, sudden entrances, slamming doors—can then suggest whole territories, completed stories, indistinct ceremonies, far outside anything that can be literally traced in the compositions that carry them.

Greil Marcus^[228]

Featuring his characteristic growl—a mix of folk, blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and Ulster Scots Celtic influences—Morrison is widely considered by many rock historians to be one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll.^{[229][230][231]} Critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison."^[232] In his 2010 book, Marcus wrote, "As a physical fact, Morrison may have the richest and most expressive voice pop music has produced since Elvis Presley, and with a sense of himself as an artist that Elvis was always denied."^[233]

As Morrison began live performances of the 40 year old album Astral Weeks in 2008, there were comparisons to his youthful voice of 1968.—His early voice was described as "flinty and tender, beseeching and plaintive".^[79] Forty years later, the difference in his vocal range and power were noticeable but reviewers and critic's comments were favourable: "Morrison's voice has expanded to fill his frame; a deeper, louder roar than the blue-eyed soul voice of his youth – softer on the diction – but none the less impressively powerful."^[202] Morrison also commented on 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."^[234]

Songwriting and lyrics[link]

Morrison has written hundreds of songs^[235][236] during his career with a recurring theme reflecting a nostalgic yearning for the carefree days of his childhood in Belfast.^[237] Some of his song titles derive from familiar locations in his childhood such as: "Cyprus Avenue" (a nearby street), "Orangefield" (the boys school he attended), "On Hyndford Street" (where he was born). Also frequently present in Morrison's best love songs is a blending of the sacred-profane as evidenced in "Into the Mystic" and "So Quiet in Here".^[238][239]

Beginning with his 1979 album, Into the Music and the song "And the Healing Has Begun", a frequent theme of his music and lyrics has been based on his belief in the healing power of music combined with a form of mystic Christianity. This theme has become one of the predominant qualities of his work.^[240]

His lyrics show an influence of the visionary poets William Blake and W. B. Yeats^[241] and others such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.^[242] Biographer Brian Hinton believes "like any great poet from Blake to Seamus Heaney he takes words back to their origins in magic...Indeed, Morrison is returning poetry to its earliest roots – as in Homer or Old English epics like Beowulf or the Psalms or folk song – in all of which words and music combine to form a new reality."^[238] Another biographer John Collis believes that Morrison's style of jazz singing and repeating phrases preclude his lyrics from being regarded as poetry or as Collis asserts: "he is more likely to repeat a phrase like a mantra, or burst into scat singing. The words may often be prosaic, and so can hardly be poetry."^[243]

Morrison has described his songwriting method by remarking that: "I write from a different place. I do not even know what it is called or if it has a name. It just comes and I sculpt it, but it is also a lot of hard work doing the sculpting."^[234]

Performance style[link]

"Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture. To capture one moment, be it a caress or a twitch. He repeats certain phrases to extremes that from anybody else would seem ridiculous, because he's waiting for a vision to unfold, trying as unobtrusively as possible to nudge it along...It's the great search, fueled by the belief that through these musical and mental processes illumination is attainable. Or may at least be glimpsed."

Lester Bangs^[244]

Critic Greil Marcus argues that given the truly distinctive breadth and complexity of Morrison's work, it is almost impossible to cast his work among that of others: "Morrison remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of rock & roll, a singer who cannot be pinned down, dismissed, or fitted into anyone's expectations."^[245] Or in the words of Jay Cocks: "He extends himself only to express himself. Alone among rock's great figures—and even in that company he is one of the greatest—Morrison is adamantly inward. And unique. Although he freely crosses musical boundaries—R. and B., Celtic melodies, jazz, rave-up rock, hymns, down-and-dirty blues—he can unfailingly be found in the same strange place: on his own wavelength."^[246]

His transcendental signature style came into full expression with his 1968 classic, Astral Weeks.^[247] This musical art form was based on stream of consciousness songwriting and emotional vocalizing of lyrics that have no basis in normal structure or symmetry. His live performances are dependent on building dynamics with spontaniety between himself and his band, whom he controls with hand gestures throughout, sometimes signaling impromptu solos from a selected band member. The music and vocals build towards a hypnotic and trance-like state that depends on in-the-moment creativity. Scott Foundas with LA Weekly wrote "he seeks to transcend the apparent boundaries of any given song; to achieve a total freedom of form; to take himself, his band and the audience on a journey whose destination is anything but known."^[248] A reviewer described it as "This transcendent moment of music when the song and the singer are one thing not two, neither dependent on the other or separate from the other but melded to the other like one, like breath and life..."^[249][237]

Morrison has said he believes in the jazz improvisational technique of never performing a song the same way twice and except for the unique rendition of the Astral Weeks songs live, doesn't perform a concert from a preconceived set list.^[199] Morrison has said he prefers to perform at smaller venues or symphony halls noted for their good acoustics.^[250] His ban against alcoholic beverages, which made entertainment news during 2008, was an attempt to prevent the disruptive and distracting movement of audience members leaving their seats during the performances.^[251] In a 2009 interview, Morrison stated: "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."^[252]

Genre[link]

The music of Van Morrison has encompassed many genres since his early days as a blues and R&B singer in Belfast. Over the years he has recorded songs from a varying list of genres drawn from many influences and interests. As well as blues and R&B, his compositions and covers have moved between pop music, jazz, rock, folk, country, gospel, Irish folk and traditional, big band, skiffle, rock and roll, new age, classical and sometimes spoken word ("Coney Island") and instrumentals.^[253] Morrison defines himself as a soul singer.^[254]

Some of Morrison's music has been classified in a genre of its own and referred to as "Celtic soul"^[15] or what biographer Brian Hinton referred to as a new alchemy called "Caledonian soul."^[238] Another biographer, Ritchie Yorke quoted Morrison as believing that he has "the spirit of Caledonia in his soul and his music reflects it."^[255] According to Yorke, Morrison claimed to have discovered "a certain quality of soul" when he first visited Scotland (his Belfast ancestors were of Ulster Scots descent) and Morrison has said he believes there is some connection between soul music and Caledonia. Yorke relates that Morrison "discovered several years after he first began composing music that some of his songs lent themselves to a unique major modal scale (without sevenths) which of course is the same scale as that used by bagpipe players and old Irish and Scottish folk music."^[255]

Caledonia[link]

The name "Caledonia" has played a prominent role in Morrison's life and career. Biographer Ritchie Yorke had pointed out already by 1975 that Morrison has referred to Caledonia so many times in his career that he "seems to be obsessed with the word."^[255] In his 2009 biography, Erik Hage found that "Morrison seemed deeply interested in his paternal Scottish roots during his early career, and later in the ancient countryside of England, hence his repeated use of the term Caledonia (an ancient Roman name for Scotland/northern Britain)."^[256] As well as being his daughter's middle name, it's the name of his first production company, his studio, his publishing company, two of his backing groups, and he also recorded a cover of the song, "Caldonia" (with the name spelled "Caledonia") in 1974.^[255] Morrison used "Caledonia" in what has been called a quintessential Van Morrison moment in the song, "Listen to the Lion" with the lyrics, "And we sail, and we sail, way up to Caledonia".^[257] As late as 2008, Morrison used "Caledonia" as a mantra in the live performance of the song, "Astral Weeks" recorded at the two Hollywood Bowl concerts.^[252]

Influence[link]

Morrison's influence can readily be heard in the music of a diverse array of major artists and according to The Rolling Stone's Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (Simon & Shuster, 2001), "his influence among rock singers/song writers is unrivaled by any living artist outside of that other prickly legend, Bob Dylan. Echoes of Morrison's rugged literateness and his gruff, feverish emotive vocals can be heard in latter day icons ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Elvis Costello".^[229] His influence includes U2 (Bono was quoted saying "I am in awe of a musician like Van Morrison. I had to stop listening to Van Morrison records about six months before we made The Unforgettable Fire because I didn't want his very original soul voice to overpower my own.");^[258] John Mellencamp ("Wild Night");^[259] Jim Morrison;^[260] Joan Armatrading (the only musical influence she will acknowledge);^[261] Rod Stewart;^[262] Tom Petty;^[263] Rickie Lee Jones (recognises both Laura Nyro and Van Morrison as the main influences on her career);^[264][265] Elton John;^[266] Graham Parker;^[267] Sinéad O'Connor;^[268] Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy;^[269] Bob Seger ("I know Bruce Springsteen was very much affected by Van Morrison, and so was I." from Creem interview)^[267] ("I've Been Working");^[270] Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners ("Jackie Wilson Said");^[271][272] Jimi Hendrix ("Gloria");^[273] Jeff Buckley ("The Way Young Lovers Do", "Sweet Thing");^[274] Nick Drake;^[275] and numerous others, including the Counting Crows (their "sha-la-la" sequence in Mr Jones, is a tribute to Morrison).^[276] Morrison's influence reaches into the country music genre, with Hal Ketchum acknowledging, "He (Van Morrison) was a major influence in my life."^[277]