Van morrison

I went back to Belfast and started a club, the Maritime. No one had thought about doing a blues club, so I was the first.

A famous person to themselves, they don't get up in the morning and think, I'm famous. I'm not famous to me. Famous is a perception.

I do see value in music criticism. Most of the criticism I have received over the years has been very good.

Every performance is different. That's the beauty of it.

Singing is my profession - there is no plan B.

My thinking musically has always been more advanced - it is difficult to get it down onto paper sometimes, even now.

Skiffle was a name that was attached to what was, in essence, American folk music with a beat.

Even today, skiffle is a defining part of my music. If I get the opportunity to just have a jam, skiffle is what I love to play.

I'm not a rock singer and I don't want to be a rock singer. I'm not interested. It doesn't seem to get across.

You can't stay the same. If you're a musician and a singer, you have to change, that's the way it works.