Van Morrison
11 vinyl records found
Van Morrison is a Northern Irish soul and R&B artist who emerged from 1960s Belfast and built one of rock's most prolific and enduring catalogs. His blend of soul, rhythm and blues, Celtic tradition, and jazz creates a sound that collectors recognize immediately, whether spinning early masterpieces or his prolific recent output.
About Van Morrison
Morrison started performing as a teenager in late 1950s showbands before gaining prominence in the mid-1960s as lead singer of Belfast R&B outfit Them, where he co-wrote and recorded the garage rock staple Gloria. His solo career launched in 1967 with the hit Brown Eyed Girl under producer Bert Berns. After Berns's death, Warner Bros. acquired his contract and granted three recording sessions that produced Astral Weeks in 1968, a commercial disappointment at release that later earned classic status. Moondance arrived in 1970 and cemented Morrison's standing as a major artist.
Morrison's music fuses soul and early rhythm and blues with longer, spiritually rooted compositions drawn from Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness lyrical narratives. Astral Weeks exemplifies this approach. This synthesis has been called Celtic soul, and his work achieves what critics describe as a kind of violent transcendence. His commercial success spans four consecutive decades, with over 40 UK Top 40 albums and eighteen reaching the US Top 40. Since turning 70 in 2015, he has averaged more than one album per year. His honors include two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting, and inductions into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He received a knighthood in 2016 for services to the music industry and tourism in Northern Ireland.
The Groove Hunter currently tracks 9 editions across the Morrison catalog, including landmark titles like Astral Weeks, Moondance, and Three Chords & the Truth, with deluxe reissues and special pressings that span his influential catalog.
