Het Mysterie rond George Ivan Morrison III is nog lang niet ten einde. Bestaat hij? Is het een hoax? Is de officiele site van Van Morrison wel echt gehacked? Wie is die Gigi Lee eigenlijk?
Nog voordat RTL Boulevard er opgedoken is heeft The Daily Mail er een paar journalisten opgezet. Die zijn eens wat gaan uitpluizen. Laat dat maar aan de Engelse pers over.
Dit verhaal krijgt nog een staartje. That's for sure!
Of ik er een mening over heb? Nee, in principe kan het me niets schelen wat Van Morrison privé wel of niet doet. Dat moet hij zelf weten. Het gaat mij om zijn muziek, daarom zou ik nieuws omtrent een nieuwe CD veel belangrijker vinden, maar dit verhaal over 'The Third' blijft wel vermakelijk om te lezen.
Dit meldt The Daily Mail gisteren. Ga er maar eens voor zitten .....
It is not difficult to imagine Van Morrison’s displeasure at having to interrupt his ‘quiet family Christmas’ to refute startling claims about his love life.
The singer is intensely private and curmudgeonly and is not given to making public pronouncements.
But he faced an allegation that he had become a father again at the age of 64 to a baby boy, George Ivan Morrison III, by a woman who was not his wife.
His response was unambiguous.
New mum: Gigi Lee, shortly after giving birth to baby George
In a statement, the singer of Brown Eyed Girl, who is married to former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocca, said it was all ‘completely and utterly without foundation’.
A public relations executive drafted in to represent him said he had asked Morrison whether he had even heard of the supposed mother, a woman named as Gigi Lee.
He said: ‘He [Morrison] has never heard the name at any stage in the past. He doesn’t even know who this person is.’
What gave the original claim credence – it was reported as fact by many leading news organisations – was that it appeared on Morrison’s official website and included a statement purporting to be from ‘Van the Man’ himself, talking of his joy at becoming a father again.
The official line was that he had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by a computer hacker. And there the matter rested – just another bizarre showbusiness tale that never was.
Only it isn’t quite as simple as that. For a start, Gigi does exist and is linked to Morrison in many ways. Her friends find it frankly inconceivable that the PR executive should claim otherwise.
Family man: Van Morrison with wife Michelle, the mother of two of his children
She is his tour manager and a director of 14 of his companies. Witnesses have seen them together on numerous occasions.
Then there is the reaction of Van’s long-term backing singer, Bianca Thornton, when told that the PR executive claimed Morrison did not know Gigi. Roaring with laughter, she said: ‘Oh my God! Everyone knows Gigi. That is very odd.’
And last night Morrison’s lawyers said that it had been ‘incorrectly’ stated that Morrison did not know Gigi.
So just what is the truth about 42-year-old Gigi, who hails from Texas, and the baby she has named George?
The paternity of her child can be settled beyond doubt only by a test. Meanwhile, Gigi, who is a friend of Jerry Hall’s sister Rosy, appears to have been happy to promote the idea that Morrison is the father.
Was it a hoax? Van Morrison claims the the message on his website, pictured above, was the work of hackers
In an apparently genuine email sent to her closest friend, Carla Higdon, on June 15 last year, she said: ‘You are going to be an auntie – I am having a little Van.’
Always passionate about rock music, particularly The Beatles, Gigi grew up in a working-class Dallas suburb. She was unambitious and had no great plans to escape it when she left school.
But according to her friend Carla, a backstage meeting with fellow Texan Rosy Hall at a Rolling Stones concert in the Nineties changed her life.
Through Rosy, Gigi is said to have been introduced to a world way beyond her small corner of Dallas. At the time, she was working as a temporary secretary and looking after her disabled brother.
Although she had a roadie for a boyfriend, friends say that the love of her life was her Yorkshire terrier, Aly.
Gigi claimed that, in the summer of 1998, Rosy invited her to the christening of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall’s son Gabriel.
‘She told me that while she was in London, she met Van at a party at Ronnie Wood’s place,’ said Carla.
‘She sounded very excited. I had no idea Van was married. In fact, I didn’t know he had a wife until this week, when the story broke about how he was claiming it wasn’t his baby.
‘I don’t know if Gigi knew he had a wife, but she never mentioned it to me.’
Gigi is said to have revealed: 'I'm having a little Van'
From London, Gigi travelled to Ireland with Rosy, who introduced her to Marina Guinness, the granddaughter of Diana
Mitford, and a woman who is not unfamiliar to controversy herself. A few years ago, Marina made headlines when she admitted having a lifelong crush on the former IRA leader Martin McGuinness.
Back in Texas, Gigi resumed her life with her boyfriend, a roadie for Fleetwood Mac and Lenny Kravitz.
‘He was very good to her,’ said Carla. ‘But what he didn’t realise was that she had developed a crush on Van. There was no question about it from the way she talked.
‘I’ve only ever spoken to Van once. He called the house where she was living and I picked it up and he said, “Gigi, It’s Van!” and I said, “Hold on.”
‘She would tell [her boyfriend] she was going to Ireland to hook up with Marina, but that was a code word for Van.
Mini mansion: The new Dallas house bought by Gigi Lee
‘She was constantly travelling to London or wherever he was. She said the only reason she was keeping a place here [in Dallas] was because of her brother. She loves him, but she also loves Van. She said, “If it wasn’t for my brother, I’d be out of here." ’
The boyfriend finally began to become aware of her crush about four years ago. ‘He saw CDs autographed by Van Morrison lying around,’ said Carla, ‘and one day he asked me, “What’s the truth?” ’
There were other clues. On Gigi’s wish list on the Amazon shopping website she listed the book Let’s Spend The Night Together: Backstage Secrets Of Rock Muses And Supergroupies.
Gigi’s boyfriend confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that he broke off their relationship about four years ago because he believed that she was Van Morrison’s mistress.
He admits, however, that to this day he has not confronted her with his suspicions.
‘I had been in love with her,’ he said. ‘When Carla told me about her feelings for that guy, I just left her.
Pals: Gigi Lee with friend Rosy, who is Jerry Hall's sister
'I had no idea she was working for Van Morrison until recently, when I went by the house to see how her brother was doing. By then, she’d moved into her new house.
‘There was a tour itinerary for Van Morrison lying on the ground and it listed her as his “producer”. I was surprised. Her background was in real estate.’
Two smart black Mercedes owned by Gigi – a convertible and a four-door sedan – were parked outside her house last night in Dallas and discarded Pampers nappy cartons were piled on the pavement.
‘I haven’t seen the baby since he was born,’ said Carla, ‘but I went with Gigi when she had a sonogram [ultrasound] and it was labelled with her name and Van’s and she said, “Oh, he looks just like his daddy.” ’
Filed neatly in a blue cardboard folder in Carla’s sitting room are emails from Gigi – or at least from her email address – which allude to ‘Van’ and ‘the baby’.
The friends also appear to have corresponded about Gigi’s new house, a £300,000, three-bedroom, three-bathroom mini-mansion which she recently purchased in an upwardly-mobile Dallas development.
Van Morrison is fiercely protective of his privacy
Its small front garden is dominated by a concrete fountain and it has a games room and a swimming pool.
Carla says that Gigi told her Morrison had paid for it. But she has no way of knowing if there is any truth in that claim.
Yesterday, reached on her mobile, Gigi said over the sound of a baby crying in the background: ‘I really don’t have a comment now, not yet. I will do.’
Earlier, two women who claimed to work for Gigi answered the door of her house.
A Mail on Sunday reporter explained that she wished to interview Gigi about the conflicting reports of George’s paternity.
‘She is resting. She can’t talk now,’ said one.
The other said: ‘I understand. You just want to clear things up.’
Asked how ‘the baby, George’ was doing, the first woman said: ‘He’s fine.’
Until Gigi’s pregnancy, Carla admits that little seemed to change in her friend’s life, except for the mysterious travelling.
She said: ‘I saw Van once, when he was playing theatres here three or four years ago, and I went up to the suite he had at a hotel and he was walking out as I was walking in. Gigi is very private and he is very private.’
After Gigi announced her pregnancy Carla heard about the plans to upgrade her lifestyle.
‘She claimed Van had given her a budget of $500,000 to buy her new home,’ Carla said, ‘but I didn’t know what to believe. Another friend says she raised the money herself.’
Intriguingly, Gigi was made a director of 14 of Morrison’s production companies in April last year – just weeks before she told close friends she was pregnant.
She is listed under a Texas address in Companies House documents in London, sometimes appearing both as secretary and director of Morrison’s businesses.
Her occupation is given as ‘real estate management’ and the 14 companies cover Morrison’s business activities in film, music and concert tours.
She has also been described as an executive producer of a filmed concert recently released by the singer.
Scott Foundas, a journalist with US-based LA Weekly, said yesterday that he had met ‘Gigi with Van Morrison on several occasions’.
He added: ‘The most recent was a few months ago when I attended Van’s concert in Chicago. She was heavily pregnant at the time. It never occurred to me to ask whether Van was the father.
‘You don’t go round asking people who the father of their baby is. They don’t go in for any public displays of affection. Two days ago, Phil Lobel [Morrison’s publicist] sent me an email saying, “Gigi had her baby”.
Denial: Van Morrison said in a statement that he was happily married to his wife Michelle, above, with whom he has two children
‘Gigi is a very striking woman. She’s about 5ft 10in – a little bit taller than Van – and slim with long, blonde hair. You can tell that she cares about her appearance. She’s always very well dressed, but nothing too showy or flamboyant.
‘Gigi’s title is something like executive tour manager. Together with Phil Lobel, she’s definitely the person to go to for anything to do with Van. She takes care of everything.
'She always stands in the wings of the stage and watches Van whenever he performs. I’ve seen several of Van’s concerts and she always watches from the wings. I saw her again with Van on a TV show.
‘I cannot imagine why this PR executive would claim he doesn’t know Gigi. That doesn’t seem right at all.’
In his statement last week, Morrison said: ‘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 singer also said that the false posting was the second time his website had been hacked into during the past three months. As result, he has ordered a review of its security.
The statement on the website, which has since been taken down, read: ‘Gigi and Van Morrison are proud to announce the birth of their first born son George Ivan Morrison III. “Little Van” born 28 Dec, 2009 – the spitting image of his daddy.
'He is a dual citizen of Northern Ireland/United Kingdom and the United States of America.’
Morrison has a three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son with his wife. He also has a daughter, Shana, 39, a musician, from his first marriage to Janet ‘Planet’ Minto.
Morrison, who was born in East Belfast, first enjoyed success in the mid-Sixties as a member of the band Them. Their hits included Gloria and Here Comes The Night. He went on to find fame as a solo artist.
De meeste bezoekers van deze weblog hebben wel eens een concert van Van Morrison bezocht. Van Morrison in levende lijve aanschouwd dus. 
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