Them - Gloria (1965)

Van Morrison was born on August 31, 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. More than two decades later, in 1968 Van Morrison released Astral Weeks, an album of astonishing originality and inventiveness that stretched the frontiers of rock music. On his follow-up record, Moondance (1970), he deployed a snappy rhythm-and-blues band behind tautly structured songs. Morrison has always seemed oblivious to public taste and reaction to him, and his artistry and later albums such as Back on Top (1999) and What’s Wrong With This Picture? (2003) continue to explore different modes of self-expression. George Ivan (“Van”) Morrison was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 31, 1945. Morrison says he began listening to records around age two or three, and when he was 15, the music bug grabbed him and latched on, and he dropped out of school to pursue a music career. His first full-time effort was with a local band called the Monarchs. The band toured Europe, often playing military bases, but by the time he was 19, Morrison had left the Monarchs behind to open a Belfast R&B club and form a new band called Them. The band made a solid living playing covers as the club’s house band, but they managed to break out with several songs in the mid-1960s, including “Don’t Start Crying Now” and “Baby Please Don’t Go.” The success of these singles allowed the band to move its base to London, where they recorded more music amongst a lineup that couldn’t seem to hold. In 1966, Them headed west, embarking on an American tour, the culmination of which would mark Morrison’s departure from the band. Soon after Them broke up, Van Morrison was reborn as a solo artist. SOURCE: Wikipedia PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948’s oldies classics. LINK: ’s Youtube Index