Singer Van Morrison becomes father again at 64

Van Morrison has become a father again

Acclaimed Belfast-born singer Van Morrison has become a father again at the age of 64.

A statement posted on the singer's website announced the birth of George Ivan Morrison III to the musician and Gigi Lee, who manages him.

It described the newest Morrison, born on Monday, as "the spitting image of his daddy".

"He is a dual citizen of Northern Ireland/United Kingdom and the United States," the statement added.

A spokesman for Morrison said the couple have kept the birth location private.

Van Morrison, whose 45-year career spans soul, blues, jazz, R&B and country, has a 39-year-old daughter, singer-songwriter Shana Morrison, from his first marriage to Janet Minto.

Van Morrison was born in 1945, in Bloomfield, east Belfast, the only child of George Morrison, a shipyard worker, and Violet Stitt Morrison.

He would become known as "Van the Man" but it was as a teenager that he started his professional career when, in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments in showbands who covered the hits of the day.

It was as the lead singer of Northern Ireland band Them - with whom he recorded Gloria and Here Come the Night - that he rose to prominence in the 1960s.

While in London with Them he worked with songwriter and producer Bert Berns.

Berns produced and released Van Morrison's album Blowin' Your Mind, in 1967, which included the hit single Brown Eyed Girl.

After Berns' death, Warner Brothers Records bought out his contract and allowed him several sessions to record Astral Weeks in 1968.

Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received.

The next one, Moondance, established Van Morrison as a major artist.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but declined to attend the ceremony.

In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968 and is to release a documentary film charting the experience.

 

Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received.

The next one, Moondance, established Van Morrison as a major artist.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but declined to attend the ceremony.

In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968 and is to release a documentary film charting the experience.