Michelle Rocca

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Van Morrison and Michelle Rocca: 1995's Days Like This
Van Morrison and Michelle Rocca: 1995's Days Like This

Michelle Rocca (born Dublin, Ireland, 1961) is a Dublin socialite and the longtime girlfriend of singer Van Morrison. Daughter of Paddy and Maureen Rocca[1] and granddaughter of Italian immigrant Egidio Rocca who founded Rocca Tiles, she grew up in a large family with two brothers and three sisters.[2]Rocca attended University College Dublin studying Greek and Roman Civilization and Italian and French Archaeology. She entered beauty contests, winning the Miss Ireland title in 1980 [3] and was Number 3 finalist in the 1981 Miss International Pageant.[4]

She began dating Arsenal and Irish International footballer John Devine when she was 17 and they were married in 1981 and lived in England. The couple had two daughters, Danielle and Natasha, but were separated in 1987 and she returned to Dublin with the children.[5] They divorced in 1990.

Rocca worked in the family business and also modeled until she became a television personality in 1988 when she co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest with Pat Kenny.

She was engaged to Cathal Ryan, son of multi-millionaire Tony Ryan who co-founded Ryanair and owned Guinness Peat Aviation. After living together for two years they separated when Michelle was expecting their child, Claudia, who was born in April 1991.[6]

1994: Michelle Rocca as album cover model
1994: Michelle Rocca as album cover model

Rocca met Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison in the summer of 1992,[7] and they often featured in the Dublin gossip columns, an unusual event for the reclusive Morrison. Michelle was the first woman to appear on one of his album covers—1995's Days Like This—since his then-wife Janet "Planet" Minto featured on the cover of Tupelo Honey in 1971. MIchelle also appeared on the cover of the October 1994 tribute album, No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison.

They reunited after a broken engagement in 1996, and Morrison daily attended the court proceedings in 1997 when Rocca sued her former lover, Cathal Ryan, for assaulting her and breaking her nose in 1992. In Johnny Rogan's words: "It was one of the most publicized cases in recent Irish history," and after the jury retired they found in Michelle's favor awarding her the sum of £7,500. Morrison and Rocca have since shunned publicity and are seldom seen in public together.[8]

Upon Cathal Ryan's death in December 2007 of cancer, Rocca was quoted as saying: "He was a wonderful father to Claudia; he and I had a very good relationship over the past number of years and he will be greatly missed by all of us."[9]

Michelle is fluent in several languages and has earned an MA degree from Trinity College in Dublin and also a degree from Bristol University in Bristol, England.


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Bundle of joy thrills Van and Michelle retrieved 2007-09-29
  2. ^ The passionate intensity of mismatched lovers retrieved 2007-12-22
  3. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.407
  4. ^ Miss International Pageant 1981
  5. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.407
  6. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.407
  7. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.406
  8. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, pp. 443-448
  9. ^ Founders son dies aged 48. independent.ie. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.

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Preceded by
Viktor Lazlo		 Eurovision Song Contest presenter
(with Pat Kenny)
1988		 Succeeded by
Jacques Deshenaux & Lolita Morena