With the 158th pick of the greatest draft ever held on calgarypuck.com, AliceLoveGarden is proud to select in the category of Male Singer (for now) the great Van Morrison.
George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as
Van Morrison) (born
31 August 1945) is a
Grammy Award-winning
Northern Irish singer,
songwriter,
author,
poet and
multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional
musician since the late
1950s. 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.
[1][2][3] Critic
Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison."
Known as "Van the Man" by his fans, Morrison first rose to prominence as the
lead singer of the
Northern Irish band
Them, penning their seminal 1964 hit "
Gloria". A few years later, Morrison left the
band for a successful solo career.
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", "
Into the Mystic","
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".
I can't find a single video on youtube, if anyone can feel free to post. The man has such an incredible voice and unique style...and he's a damn fine songwriter too. I'm actually surprised he was available here.