Van Morrison Baby Story Was a Hoax

By Marc Schneider Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:20PM

Reclusive singer Van Morrison has denied reports that he has become a father again at 64, chalking up the announcement on his Web site that led to countless news articles as a hacker-perpetrated hoax. The statement which was briefly on VanMorrison.com Tuesday announced the birth of George Ivan Morrison and said the child was "the spitting image of his daddy."

"The comments which appeared on my site did not come from me," he said, in a statement issued by PR firm Fleishman-Hillard. "They are completely and utterly without foundation."

The false announcement said the mother of the child was a woman named Gigi Lee. In fact, the crooner doesn't know a person by that name, a friend of the singer told BBC News. Further, Morrison isn't even single.

"For the avoidance of all doubt and in the interests of clarity, I am very happily married to Michelle Morrison with whom I have two wonderful children," the statement added. The hoax identified Michelle as an ex-girlfriend.

Morisson said the statement was taken down from the site "but not before news organisations repeated these falsehoods." (Guilty as charged!)

The singer has asked his management to investigate and notes that this is the second time in three months that his site has been hacked.

For half a century, Morrison has effortlessly melded just about every style of modern music -- rock, blues, folk, soul and jazz -- to create timeless albums like 'Astral Weeks,' 'Moondance' and 'Tupelo Honey.' He was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of fame in 1993 but -- being so private -- he didn't show.

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Famous Hoaxes

In 2001, two Texas DJs reported on the death of Britney Spears and former boyfriend Justin Timberlake in a car crash. A car crash involving a pretzel truck, that is. The station, KGEL, was sued and both DJs were canned.

Getty Images

Famous Celebrity Hoaxes

Getty Images

Just about everyone was at least slightly fooled into believing Falcon "Balloon Boy" Heene was flying through the air in a makeshift flying saucer on Oct. 15. His dad, Richard Heene, will likely be charged in the apparent hoax, designed as a publicity stunt for the 'Wife Swap'-starring family.

David Zalubowski, AP

Lonelygirl15 was Bree, a real 16-year-old video blogger, who's early posts dealt with everyday things. Later admissions regarding ventures into the occult and the disappearance of her parents after she refused to join a secret ceremony fueled intrigue. Eventually it was revealed that Bree was 20-year-old New Zealand actress Jessica Rose and the hoax was originated by Creative Artists Agency.

Lonelygirl15 / AP

The celebrated writer JT LeRoy lived a hardscrabble life of drug addiction, prostitution and vagrancy. Well that was until an expose revealed that Mr. LeRoy was a woman named Laura Albert. Albert was later convicted of fraud and ordered to pay reparations on signed legal papers made in Mr. LeRoy's name.

Tiziana Fabi, AFP / Getty Images

Geraldo Rivera hosted the one-time live TV event "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault" which focused on the opening of the infamous gangster's secret treasures. The short story? The vault was empty, except debris. Millions watched. Millions were duped.

Scott Gries, Getty Images

Fred Rogers (that's Mr. Rogers to you) was widely believed to have had approximately 150 kills during the Vietnam War and that his legendary sweaters were worn to cover tattoos. Don't go into Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It could be deadly. Turns out, he was never in the armed services.

Family Communications Inc. / Getty Images

"Ali G," "Borat" and "Bruno" all were fictional characters created by Sacha Baron Cohen. The list of victims is legion. Donald Trump, David Beckham, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, UN Secretary General Boutros "Boutros" Boutros-Ghali, academic Noam Chomsky. Is there anyone serious Cohen hasn't tricked?

Everett Collection

Leave it to one of America's greatest thespians, Orson Welles, to pull off one of the greatest media hoaxes of all time, with a realistic radio presentation of 'War of the Worlds.' Although now it seems a little far-fetched, the doom-saying Welles was able to convince a startled nation that it was being invaded by Martians resulting in widespread panic. Oh the pleasures of naivete.

AFP / Getty Images

Documentary filmmaker Chris Atkins and his team conned major tabloid newspapers into publishing fake stories about celebrities. One claimed that a furniture mover found quantum physics books proving that 'Girls Aloud' singer Sarah Harding was a physics savant. Another was that troubled torch singer Amy Winehouse suffered from having her beehive hairdo caught ablaze.

Kevork Djansezian, AP

Andy Kaufman's persistent wish to fake his death and mysterious death from lung cancer (he didn't smoke), made many wonder if he was still alive. The performance of his known alter-ego "Tony Clifton" AFTER his death made it seem even more likely.

Ron Galella, WireImage

Tags: Van Morrison, VanMorrison

Comments

(26)

Thursday 31 December

By david prince

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

re: van morrison baby story a hoax...
the waters are muddier, still. the post that says the baby rumour is a hoax goes on to say that morrison doesn't know anyone named gigi lee, who was reported to be the child's mother. that assertion, however, seems impossible, since the credits on morrison's 'astral weeks live at the hollywood bowl' dvd lists 'gigi lee' as the disc's co-executive producer. as aretha franklin once sang, 'who's zooming who?'

By laura

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

He's old. Maybe he forgot who she was.

Friday 01 January

By Saint Subversive

Totally true. I just did a search, and sure enough, "Gigi Lee" is listed as the executive producer of the Hollywood Bowl DVD. Oooops ...

Good detective work, man. ;)

By Darin

Vote down Vote up Report this

That article didn't bother me much anyway, even if it is a hoax on someone like Van Morrison having a baby. Normally, death hoaxes would piss me off; this hoax however was something I could care less about.

By tana green

Are you the hacker/hoaxer?

no no no. am not hacker...gave up smoking cigs long ago.

By veritas

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

HE IS NO CROONER.HE CAN REALLY SING.CROONERS "MOUTH" THE LYRICS.SINATRA WAS THE WORST, NEXT WAS BING CROSBY.AFTER THAT, IT WAS THE REST OF THE RAT PACK.CROONING IS MOSTLY TALKING WITH A SLIGHT CHANGE IN VOICE.THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF A CROONER WERE THE "RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS". A CROONER CAN'T SING NOTE ONE.

By pinkthenred

It was a hoax? Good, I can keep my lunch down today.

Same here

By laricee

as my nana always said,in her thick scottish brogue,''van morrison is the greatesr soul singer ever''.AMEN NANA

By bk

I knew it to be a joke when I read the baby looked just like him. Most babies are butt ugly when born but never so bad that someone said that one looks just like van morrison how insulting...

I know, I think they are all so ugly and have felt bad for thinking that. They turn out cute(usually) later on. How good looking should one be expected to look after being all squished up for nine months and often squeezed out of a small hole? :)

By tom leikus

NOTHING UGLIER THAN A NEWBORN. ANYTHING, CAT, RAT, DOG,MAN.BABY BIRDS ARE THE WORST LOOKING.

Baby birds are ugly!

By bdavid

Hey! It was on the Internet so it must be true!

By Dori

Better yet, I think it was in the Enguirer. Must be true! lol

By Keri

Honestly whomever is hacking such a story needs a Life, i mean really who in there right mind would do this

By Tuula

Is this another balloon boy?

By CeeCee

Whether it is true or a hoax, he knows now what people think of him being a dad at an age old enough ot be a great grandfather,LOL!!!

Tom lekuis, did you forget that you were a baby once, some people think newborns are beautiful. You probaly are one of those men that doesn't think you should have to change your "own" baby's diaper, that it is the woman's job!!

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