Van Morrison: Birth report 'utter fiction'

[David Paleg]

Van Morrison: Birth report 'utter fiction'
Dec 31, 7:12 PM (ET)
By SANDY COHEN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that
a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had
fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.

The false report was disseminated Monday by a Los Angeles-based publicist
for Morrison, Phil Lobel. The publicist was quoted by an unidentified
associate on Thursday as getting the report from the Morrison site.

The false report was picked up by several news agencies, including The
Associated Press, as well as celebrity sites and British newspapers. The
false report on the Morrison Web site claimed that a woman identified as
Gigi had just borne a son with Morrison.

The singer issued a statement Thursday through an international
public-relations agency stressing that the report was completely false and
the malicious product of a hacker's attack on his official Web site,
.http://www.vanmorrison.com

It appeared to be the latest in a rapidly growing string of hoaxes in the
Internet age. Digital tricksters increasingly place phony footage, facts
and press releases on Web sites and video-sharing sites to see how quickly
the falsehoods will spread through traditional and new media alike.

John Saunders, president of the European arm of the U.S. public-relations
firm Fleishman-Hillard Inc., said he contacted Morrison and his wife,
Michelle, after seeing the reports and finding them hard to believe. He
said the couple wasn't aware of them and initially didn't want to respond.

"The reports were complete and utter fiction. None of it was true,"
Saunders said in a telephone interview. "But Van generally doesn't feel
the need to engage with the media, whether the news is good, bad or
indifferent. Michelle and Van studiously stay out of the limelight. They
wouldn't have been aware of the traction these false reports were getting
globally."

Saunders, a longtime friend of the couple, said he persuaded them to make
a statement following several calls, texts and e-mails.

Lobel, a longtime Los Angeles publicist who cites scores of entertainment
and corporate clients - including Morrison - on his company Web site,
claimed in an e-mail Monday that Morrison had asked him to disseminate the
birth announcement. Before sending its story on Monday, the AP called
Lobel to make sure the e-mail was genuine, which Lobel confirmed.

Following Morrison's denial of the report on Thursday, repeated phone
calls and e-mails from the AP to Lobel went unanswered.

Finally, a reporter visited the West Hollywood offices of his PR company,
Lobeline Communications. A man who looks similar to Lobel answered the
door and identified himself as a guest visiting from out of town. The man
said he would check to see if Lobel was available, then reported that the
publicist was on a plane.

Minutes later, a person claiming to be an associate of Lobel's sent an
e-mail message from the publicist's account to the reporter, saying that
Lobel "called us from his plane" to issue a statement acknowledging that
his office had "passed along information from the official Web site of Van
Morrison, which we are now told had been hacked."

"All those with Van Morrison regret any confusion this may have caused,"
the statement said.

The associate who sent the statement refused to identify himself.

Lobel did not return a series of follow-up calls and e-mails seeking
elaboration.

Morrison's Web site is being redesigned following the Dec. 28 hacking, the
second to hit the site since October. Visitors to the site Thursday were
invited to register for an e-mail news service but could not browse its
contents.

In his prepared statement, Morrison said he remains "very happily married"
to Michelle Morrison, his partner since 1992 and mother of their two
children aged 3 and 2.

"Once the claims were brought to our attention, they were taken down from
the site but not before news organizations repeated these falsehoods," his
statement said. "The comments which appeared on my Web site did not come
from me. They are completely and utterly without foundation."

Saunders said Morrison wouldn't talk to the media directly and was
celebrating the new year with his wife and children. "He has never done
interviews about his personal life. Van's been consistent on that," he
said.

Morrison's previous marriage, which ended in divorce in 1973, produced one
daughter, the Californian singer-songwriter Shana Morrison. She performs
occasionally with her father.

[Scott Reppert]

Well, who knows. You might just turn up with a "Brown Eyed Girl" nine months after a "Wild Night". You know Van is probably asking himself, "Why Must I Always Explain?" and wondering if this celebrity-website-hacking thing will have a "Domino" effect on other artists. I'm sure he won't rest until all these rumors are "Real Real Gone"...

[DJSHOCKLEY]

Well, who knows. You might just turn up with a "Brown Eyed Girl" nine months after a "Wild Night". You know Van is probably asking himself, "Why Must I Always Explain?" and wondering if this celebrity-website-hacking thing will have a "Domino" effect on other artists. I'm sure he won't rest until all these rumors are "Real Real Gone"...

Real Real Gone.... Good reference.. I loved the "Enlightenment" album..

[cgarison]

It was probably just a Moondance with a girl that caused all of these rumours.

[jag]

I once enjoyed a "Moondance" with just such a lady. Ah...she was as sweet as "Tupelo Honey!"

[Bob Campbell]

Good to see you guys all on the same "Wavelength".