I’ve never thought of myself to be someone who's right on the ball with current affairs, especially those concerning veteran Northern Ireland singer Van Morrison, but it seems I was a little too out of touch with the news of Van Morrison and his new born son. Thinking it was the current news of the world, I was just a few days late in revealing it. As notified by one of our genius readers. Please forgive me. I was stuck in NEXT for about 48 hours trying to return some socks.
But hey, timing isn’t really an issue where it would seem that I should be reporting something like this at the more appropriate time of April 1st. Its more like an April Fools Day story! The singer, 64, has now said that the Christmas and New Year stories about him fathering a new baby boy are total utter rubbish.
A few days ago we were all taken by surprise when Morrison’s Web site posted a message announcing the birth of his new son, George Ivan Morrison III. The posting originally claimed that touring producer and alleged wife of Morrison, Gigi Lee, had given birth to the baby boy, and the son was “the spitting image of his daddy.”
Where did this come from? After all there was no prior indication that Morrison was about to become a father again, and considering that the star is known to be a private individual we didn’t really have reason to doubt the story. However, on the eve of New Year, when most of us were celebrating the build up to a new decade and not sadly scanning the internet commenting on music articles, the singer said that the message was hacked onto his site by an unknown joker.
A statement released by the 64-year-old legend stated that the claims of him being a new father are “completely and utterly” unfounded. "Claims were made relating to my personal life in a 'statement' purporting to come from me. The comments which appeared on my web site did not come from me. They are without foundation."
The singer also commented to confirm the current situation of his real relationship. “For the avoidance of all doubt, and in the interest of clarity. I am very happily married to Michelle Morrison, with whom I have two wonderful children.”
A friend of Van Morrison and Dublin based public relations man, John Saunders, said the singer has been disappointed by the claims which surfaced after the singer had enjoyed a quiet family Christmas at home in Dublin. “Clearly it is upsetting for all their family and for all their friends,” said Mr Saunders. “I spoke to Van a short while ago and I said ‘do you even know this person (Gigi Lee)?’ He's never heard the name at any stage in the past. He doesn't know who this person is.”
Mr Saunders continued saying Morrison was 'bewildered' by the posting. “Van is a great musician but he is not the most PR savvy person in the world,” he said. “He and wife Michelle don't follow the media so I was asked to help out because of the seriousness of the situation.”
The fake announcement was in fact the second time that Van Morrison’s website has been hacked in the last three months. He said, “I have asked my management team to carry out an immediate investigation.”
To avoid any further confusion, the posting has now been taken down.
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