For about 48 hours the 64-year-old was the new father to George Ivan Morrison III, born to him and his manager GiGi Lee.

“Van III is the spitting image of his dad and is a dual citizen of both the United Kingdome and the United States of America,” according to Morrison’s Web site Dec. 29.

Morrison soon put the kibosh on the story. The Web site was hacked, the story is erroneous, Morrison remains happily married to Michelle Morrison – whom with he has fathered two children – and he’s never heard of GiGi Lee, much less worked with her in a management capacity. Not to mention had a baby with her.

“The comments which appeared on my website did not come from me,” Morrison stated. “They are completely and utterly without foundation.”

“He has said to me on the phone today, he has said it’s not true,” John Saunders of Dublin-based PR agency Fleishman-Hillard told Reuters. “He has never heard of this person Gigi; the name means nothing to him.”

These things happen. So why did this piece of hackery get so much media attention?

First of all, there’s Morrison’s delay in issuing a denial.

“Van is a mystery man, in many ways, his fans will testify to that,” Saunders told RTE radio.

Also, it’s hard to confirm or deny Morrison information because the musician is not known for having a public manager. Pollstar knows of one West Coast-based agent and a legendary New York-based promoter who have taken on the role at times. But there is no Bruce Springsteen = Jon Landau or Elvis Presley = Col. Parker association when it comes to Van Morrison.

And, finally, it doesn’t help when Morrison’s publicist tries to help out.

“Because of your interest of Van Morrison over the past year, he asked me to forward you this great news!” Pollstar received in an e-mail Dec. 31, which included a quote from the Web site.

The publicist, on vacation, soon called from a plane to make sure his office sent us the following:

“Our office 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.”