Van Morrison Honoured In Hollywood

Van Morrison will release a new compilation entitled ‘Van Morrison At The Movies’ to coincide with an Oscar week award celebrating Van’s compositions as used in film.

Van Morrison will be honoured for his compositions as used in the movies at a special event staged in Los Angeles on February 22. Held at the Wilshire Ebell, the event will feature Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino presenting the award, which highlights the depth and breadth of Van’s compositions, including such classics such as Moondance, Brown-Eyed Girl, Have I Told You Lately, Days Like This, Bright Side Of the Road, Gloria, and many more. Van will play a short musical set at the event, which is hosted by actress Roma Downey.

Films using Van Morrison’s music include Thelma & Louise, The King Of Comedy, An Officer And A Gentleman, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Born On The Fourth Of July, among others, while directors of the calibre of Martin Scorsese, James L. Brooks, Oliver Stone, Taylor Hackford, Lawrence Kasdan and John Landis have queued up to request his songs for inclusion in their work.

To coincide with this honour, EMI Music will release a new compilation, ‘Van Morrison At The Movies’, the previous week. Continuing 18 of his best-known songs as used in film, plus his version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ as featured in ‘The Departed’, the album also includes ‘Gloria’ and ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ from his days with Them, plus collaborations with The Band on ‘Caravan’ (from ‘The Last Waltz’) and The Chieftains on ‘Irish Heartbeat’ from Mark Joffe’s ‘The Matchmaker’.

Tony Wadsworth, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music, UK & Ireland, said ‘This award is fully deserving for a writer and creator of Van Morrison’s calibre. EMI is thrilled to be involved in this new compilation, which highlights Van’s immeasurable talent and his consistent ability to write songs that have moved generations of music lovers. We hope it will be the start of a long-term association with Van and his music.’