About Van Morrison

11/24/13: Controversy (or in Irish parlance, a row) is brewing around free Van Morrison concert tickets at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. Why? Apparently a fifth of the tickets were reserved for elected councilors and VIPs.

Leave it to a near Septuagenarian to cause this kind of ruckus. But he didn't the rule that says Belfast City Councillors were each entitled to four tickets to the November 15th gig, which has been organized to mark the musician being honored with the Freedom of the City award. The other 80% of the tickets (some 2,500) are to be distributed through a lottery system. Those selected in the lottery will be allotted a total of two tickets apiece. The allocation means that at least 240 tickets will be reserved for elected representatives.

On top of all the hubbub, the City Council has warned that any tickets which are sold for profit will become void. Belfast punk legend Terri Hooley has weighed in on the controversy, saying it's not right so many tickets were handed out to councilors and others. He reportedly said, "It would be nice for the ordinary people of Belfast to get something."

Recently released this fall is a 4 CD box set of Van Morrison's "Moondance." The deluxe edition includes a Blue-ray audio disc "with high-resolution 48K 24 bit PCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound audio of the original album." The CDs are presented in a linen-wrapped foloio and includes a booklet with liner notes from Alan Light and original engineer Ellio Scheiner.

Van Morrison was 'Born to Sing' (Updated January 9, 2013)

Perhaps one of the greatest singers of all time, Van Morrison has been making music since the early Sixties. With a discography of more than 30 albums, the North Irish singer-songwriter has explored what seems to be an infinite number of genres, including soul, blues, jazz, rock and roll and even Celtic folk.

George Ivan ("Van) Morrison was born in Belfast, Ireland and grew up in a household filled with music. As a pre-teen he got caught up in the skiffle craze of using homemade or improvised instruments, and later dropped out of school to become a full-time musician. He joined a local R&B band, and taught himself to play guitar, saxophone and harmonica.

Morrison rose to prominence on the music scene as a member of the Northern Irish R&B band Them. They covered artists such as James Brown and Fats Domino, and took up residency at Belfast's Martime Hotel. The group found real success with "Here Comes the Night," and the Morrison-penned song "Gloria." The band later covered Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" and were known as a high-energy outfit with great live performances.

When Morrison struck out on his own in 1967, he quickly made a name for himself as a solo artist with "Brown Eyed Girl." Over the years he was heralded for studio albums like 1968's "Astral Weeks," 1970's "Moon Dance" and the live album "It's Too Late to Stop Now."

Morrison has won six Grammy Awards, the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and was inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His latest release, "Born to Sing: No Plan B," had a quiet release in 2012. He has three concert dates scheduled in Belfast in January 2013, but no U.S. dates are currently planned.