b. George Ivan Morrison, 31 August 1945, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The son of a noted collector of jazz and blues records, Morrison quickly developed an interest in music. At the age of 12 he joined Deannie Sands And The Javelins, an aspiring skiffle band, but within two years was an integral part of the Monarchs, a showband that, by 1963, was embracing R&B and soul. Tours of Scotland and England were undertaken before the band travelled to Germany where they completed a lone single for CBS Records, "Bozoo Hully Gully"/"Twingy Baby", before disbanding. The experience Morrison garnered - he took up vocals, saxophone and harmonica - proved invaluable upon his return to Belfast and a subsequent merger with members of local attraction the Gamblers in a new act, Them. This exciting band scored two notable UK Top 10 hit singles with "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Here Comes The Night" (both 1965), while the former's b-side "Gloria", a snarling Morrison original, is revered as a classic of the garage-band genre. The band's progress was hampered by instability and Morrison's reluctance to court the pop marketplace - a feature continued throughout his career - but their albums showed the early blossoming of an original stylist. His reading of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Them Again) is rightly regarded as one of the finest interpretations in a much-covered catalogue.

Listen to Van Morrison/The Chieftains at Finetune.

• (1988)  Irish Heartbeat

• Star of the County Down
• Irish Heartbeat
• Celtic Ray
• She Moved Through the Fair
• Carrickfergus

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