George Ivan Morrison was born in 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of a man who had the largest record collection in Ulster, acquired during his year in Detroit in the early Fifties. Van grew up listening to the great American blues, jazz and country musicians. On Ray Charles and Solomon Burke: "If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be where I am today. Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now."
Van's father bought him his first acoustic guitar when he was eleven, and he learned to play rudimentary chords. A year later he formed his first band, a skiffle group. In 1958 the band played at some of the local movie houses, and Van took the lead, contributing most of the singing and arranging. Other groups came and went.
When he heard a record of Jimmy Giuffre play saxophone, he talked his father into buying him a sax. Playing sax, Van joined with various local bands with whom he also played guitar and shared singing duties.
After high school he cleaned windows and played in bands during the evenings. Van toured Germany with one band, adding harp, bass and drums to his skill sets.
A new R&B club started in a Belfast hotel, and Van put together a band called Them for the occasion. This was one of two hits for the band and Morrison before he departed.