New Van Morrison biography set for release

21 years after his first book about him, controversial music biographer Johnny Rogan is again turning his attentions to Van Morrison.

Due in June through Secker & Warburg, Van Morrison: No Surrender is billed as “the first full-scale biography of one of the most influential artists in the history of popular music.”

Explaining how the title is linked to the start of The Troubles, the press blurb continues: “For Morrison, whose personality seemed to typify the ‘No Surrender’ Unionist mentality, this was a time of inner discovery and musical experiment. He was an unlikely star and a publicist’s nightmare – short, with plain looks, wavy red hair and a pot-belly, he gave fractious interviews, fell out regularly with friends and management, and behaved in a generally self-destructive fashion.”

There’s been no public response yet from Morrison who’s been unconvinced about any of the previous attempts to chronicle his life.