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Jim Morrison (8 December, 1943 – 3 July, 1971) was a singer, songwriter, writer, and poet. Born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida, he was the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors, and is considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in the history of rock music. He was also an author of several poetry books. His common-law wife was Pamela Courson.

Biography

Early years

Morrison was the son of Admiral George Stephen Morrison and his wife Clara Clark Morrison, both employed by the United States Navy. According to Morrison, one of the most important events of his life came about in 1947 during a family trip in New Mexico. He described the event as follows:

The first time I discovered death... me and my mother and father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were driving through the desert at dawn. A truckload of Indians had either hit another car or something- there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. I was just a kid, so I had to stay in the car while my father and grandfather went to check it out. I didn't see nothing — all I saw was funny red paint and people lying around, but I knew something was happening, because I could dig the vibrations of the people around me, and all of a sudden I realized that they didn't know what was happening any more than I did. That was the first time I tasted fear... and I do think, at that moment, the souls of those dead Indians — maybe one or two of them — were just running around, freaking out, and just landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it.

Morrison would later revisit this event in the bridge to the song "Peace Frog": "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding / Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile egg–shell mind."

Morrison graduated from high school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1961. His parents thought he was incorrigible and sent him to live with his grandparents in Clearwater, Florida. As an adult, he was estranged from his strict, conservative parents, so much so that, in a 1967 interview, he claimed they were both dead.

He took classes at St. Petersburg Junior College (1961-62) and Florida State University (1962-1964, where he was for a time a roommate of George Greer), appearing in a recruitment film for the latter school. Morrison met Mary Werbelo at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach during the summer of 1962. In January 1964, he left Florida and headed for California and Werbelo moved out to California to be with him. In the summer of 1965, Werbelo broke up with Morrison. Ray Manzarek later said that the song "The End" was a goodbye to Werbelo. In a 1990 letter to the Los Angeles Times, John Densmore stated that the song "Crystal Ship" was a goodbye love song to Werbelo.

With The Doors

In 1965, after graduating from film school at the University of California, Los Angeles, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in nearby Venice Beach, and mainly thanks to a regime of little food and lots of drugs, by 1966 the formerly pudgy Morrison had trimmed down to the chiselled rock-god immortalised in the famed series of black-and-white photographs taken that year, including his iconic, bare-chested "Christ" pose, a shot which was featured on the Best of the Doors LP (pictured right).

A chance encounter at Venice Beach with fellow UCLA film student Ray Manzarek, during which Morrison wowed Manzarek with a reading of his lyrics for "Moonlight Drive", led to the formation of The Doors, and they were soon joined by guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore.

The name The Doors came from an Aldous Huxley book, The Doors of Perception, in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by William Blake: "When the doors of perception are cleansed/Things will appear as they are, Infinite". A door can be seen as a transition between two worlds; you don't know what's going on in the other world until you cross that transition. As Morrison himself put it, "There are things known and things unknown, and in between are the doors."

The Doors broke through in early 1967 after being signed to the Elektra Records label and they scored a smash hit with their debut LP and the single "Light My Fire". By the time of the release of their second LP, Strange Days, they had became one of the most popular rock bands in the world. Their blend of blues, jazz, rock and European music was something that had never been heard before and their eclectic repoertoire included a swag of stunning original songs and distinctive cover versions, including their memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera. They also broke new ground in rock music with their extended concept works, including their famous epic songs "The End" and "When The Music's Over" and the 30-minute suite "The Celebration Of The Lizard".

Their sound was also a significant innovation, dominated by Morrison's deep, sonorous baritone voice and the interplay of Ray Manzarek's keyboards, Krieger's flamenco and classically inlfuenced guitar style and Densmore's crisp, fluid drumming. The Doors were probably unique for their time in being the only performing rock group that did not include a bass guitar in the lineup, with Manzarek providing bass lines on the newly-released Fender keyboard bass, a small bass-scale version of the famous Fender electric piano. Although the group did augment their studio recordings with bass players (including Lonnie Mack) they always appeared as a four-piece in concert, apart from occasions when they were joined by special guests such as John Sebastian.

Lyrically, the Doors also broke new ground in rock music, with Morrison's complex, surrealist, allusive lyrics exploring themes of sex, mysticism, drugs, murder, madness and death. Although Morrison is generally seen as the main writer, this is in fact a misnomer, and Morrison himself was always at pains to point out the significant contributions made by Robbie Krieger, who wrote or co-wrote some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire".

Among Morrison's more famous nicknames are "Mr. Mojo Risin' ", an anagram of his name, which he eventually used as a refrain in his final single, "LA Woman", and "The Lizard King" from a line in his famed epic poem Celebration of the Lizard, part of which appeared on the Doors' 1968 album Waiting for the Sun and which was finally captured in full on the Absolutely Live double LP in 1969; it was subsequently adapted into a musical in the 1990s.

Morrison famously lived by another quote—this one from poet William Blake—"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom"; Even before he formed The Doors, he took copious amounts of LSD in the band's early years, but switched to alcohol, which he began to drink in Herculean proportions, and he reportedly indulged in various bacchanalia, sometimes showing up for recording sessions while inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song "Five To One").

By the late 1960s, the pressure of pop stardom was taking its toll on Morrison and the formerly svelte singer began to balloon out due to his rapidly escalating drinking. Although the cover of the 1969 Absolutely Live LP depicts a trim, clean-shaven, leather-trousered Morrison on the front, this photo had in fact been taken about two years earlier. By the time of the tour on which the live album was recorded, Morrison was considerably overweight -- and he could no longer fit into the legendary leather pants -- and his face was obviously bloated, which disguised by growing a full, bushy beard.

His behaviour became increasingly erratic, as recounted by Danny Sugerman in the book No-one Here Gets Out Alive, and the group's recordings also began to suffer, with numerous sessions aborted during 1968-69 due to Morrison's inabililty to perform. Morrison's instablilty at the time is believed to be the main reason why the group were unable to record a full studio version of "The Celebration of the Lizard" (planned for inclusion on the the Waiting For the Sun LP), and in the event they were only able to successfully record one segment, "Not to Touch The Earth".

In 1970 Morrison underwent a Wiccan handfasting ceremony, which writer Patricia Kennealy insists was a wedding of some sort, but he did not take the ceremony seriously, a fact verified in an interview with Kennealy in the book Rock Wives. She also wrote a biography about her life with Jim, a relationship which did not endure since he had several other women in his life, most notable being Nico from Velvet Underground. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in her biography, as does one Linda Ashcroft in a book that claims a relationship with him, and one Janet Erwin, who tells her story in an article ("Your Ballroom Days Are Over, Baby"). Morrison's most consistent and lasting (romantic) relationship was to common-law wife Pamela Courson.

In the years after the Doors' meteoric rise to fame with their self-titled debut album and its hit single "Light My Fire", Morrison's "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" lifestyle caught up with him; he eventually became a full-fledged alcoholic, and the band suffered as a result of it.

During a 1969 concert in Miami, an intoxicated Morrison was charged and ultimately convicted of indecent exposure and open profanity.

That year the group began to change direction with the Morrison Hotel / Hard Rock Cafe LP. It featured much grittier, blues-based sound and saw the group returning to their blues and R&B roots. By this time they had all but exhausted the cache of songs that Morrison had written in the early days of the group, and which had provided most of the material on their first three LPs.

In 1970, after a lengthy break, the group reconvened to record what proved to be their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. It solidified the group's return to its musical roots and featured songs that would quickly become among their most popular, including the title track, the pounding "Texas Radio and the Big Beat" and the album's epic closer "Riders on the Storm" which instantly became an FM radio staple.

The L.A. Woman album also signalled another major change in the group's recording career. Shortly after sessions began, producer Paul A. Rothchild -- who had overseen all their previous recordings -- walked off the project, disenchanted with the band's new material, which he dismissed as "lounge music". Long-serving engineer Bruce Botnick took over and procudced an album which many fans consider their best after their 1967 debut. It also displayed a growing maturity in Morrison's singing; amusingly, many of Jim's vocals were performed in the toilets at the Doors' offices, due to the excellent reverberation there.

Death

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 with the intention of concentrating on his writing and quitting drinking.

He died soon thereafter, though, on 3 July, 1971, in his bathtub at the age of 27; many fans and biographers have speculated that the cause of death was a drug overdose, but the official report listed "heart failure" as the cause of death, although there was apparently no autopsy performed.

In his book Wonderland Avenue, former Doors associate Danny Sugerman recounts that he briefly met with Pamela Courson when she returned to America in the mid-1970s. According to his account, Courson told him that Morrison had indeed died of a heroin overdose, and that she had administered it to him, since Morrison was reputedly afraid of needles and would not inject himself. Courson herself died of an overdose not long after her meeting with Sugerman.

According to another urban myth, documented in a French-made TV documentary in the late 1990s, Morrison supposedly died from a drug overdose in a Paris nightclub, and his body was then removed by persons unknown and returned to his apartment to avoid trouble with the police.

Morrison is buried in the famous Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris, his fans there being generally perceived as a nuisance, leaving litter and graffiti behind, to the point where a new burial site has been suggested. At present the tomb is surrounded by a fence and the original grave was changed due to the large amount of graffiti not only on Morrison's grave, but on the graves nearby.WGS84: N48°51´33.8´´ E02°23´37.2´´

Some people believe Morrison is still alive to this day living in seclusion with his wife, Pamela Courson, although no evidence exists to support that, especially since it is said that Pamela died three years after Morrison's death of a heroin overdose. It is also said, however, that the only person to see Morrison's dead body was Courson herself; when The Doors' manager arrived in Paris after being notified of Morrison's passing, Morrison's body was already in a sealed casket. Exacerbating rumors of Morrison faking his own death is the fact that he is quoted as saying to his fellow band members that he wanted to fake his own death, and that he would come back and contact them under the alias "Mr. Mojo Risin", which is an Anagram of "Jim Morrison", and which Morrison had already referred to himself as on the title track of L.A. Woman.

Legacy

Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers in rock history, as The Doors' catalogue has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing onstage have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.

Jim Morrison was a huge fan of music and poetry. Like nearly every blues musician he occasionally paid homage to his favorite poet's (such as William Blake) and lyricists in his own lyrics (Manzerak, Ray 1999 Light My Fire, Berkley Trade; Berkley Bo edition). Like Bob Dylan, The Doors are more famous for their covers of some songs than the original composers. Howlin Wolf's "Back Door Man" and "Alabama Song" (from The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill) are notable examples of songs that The Doors made their own.

Morrison's performances have influenced many, including Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, Ian Astbury, Scott Weiland, Nine Inch Nails, Eddie Vedder and, to an extent, Marilyn Manson.

Jim Morrison in fiction

In the early 1980s, low budget filmmaker Larry Buchanan made the film Beyond the Doors aka Down On Us, which advanced the theory that Morrison, along with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were killed by the government in an attempt to stamp out "radicals."

Morrison's story was filmed in 1991 with Oliver Stone's biopic The Doors, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. The film was generally well-received, although not all fans liked it, and the surviving Doors were reportedly not pleased with the historical liberties that Stone took with their story. Kilmer was Stone's second choice for the role, the first being The Cult lead-singer Ian Astbury, although it was also reported that Kyle MacLachlan (who played Manzarek) had originally wanted to play the Morrison role himself. Ironically, Astbury went on to join the new incarnation of The Doors in 2000 as lead singer.

Although, it has not been confirmed, Bob Burden, creator of the underground comic book series Flaming Carrot Comics has dropped several clues that the title superhero is supposed to be Morrison.

In Wayne's World 2, Morrison appeared to Wayne Campbell in dreams to guide him.

In Stephen King's 1990 release of "The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition", Stu Redman confides a story to Fran Goldsmith about meeting a sojourner with "eyes of a man who has been trying to look into the dark for a long time and has maybe begun to see what is there." He then reveals to her that he believes the man was Jim Morrison, alive but maybe not so well.

Quotes

• I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then - whoosh, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again, and they won't be able to forget me - ever.

• I am the Lizard King. I can do anything.(from Not to Touch the Earth )

• A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.

• They call me the Lizard King—whatever that means.

• (after the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin) You're drinking with number three.

• A hero is someone who rebels, or seems to rebel, against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them, but obviously that can work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing...but that's not saying that people shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence...Who knows, someday we might conquer death....and disease and war...

• Drugs are like a bet with your mind.

• It's like gambling somehow. You go out for a night of drinking and you don't know where you're going to end up the next day. It could work out good or it could be disastrous. It's like the throw of the dice.

• And if all of the teachers an preachers of wealth were arraigned ... We must try to find a new answer instead of a way. (off "Whiskey, Mystics And Men)

• When you make your peace with authority, you become authority.

Books about Jim Morrison

• Light My Fire (1978, First Edition 1975). ISBN 0-915628-07-4.
• American Prayer (1983). ISBN 0-915628-46-5.
• No One Here Gets Out Alive / by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman. (1981). ISBN 0-446-60228-0L
• Eyes: Poetry of Jim Morrison 1967-1971 (1986). ISBN 0-915628-40-6.
• Riders On The Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors /by John Densmore (). ISBN: 0-385-30447-1.
• Break On Through/by James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky (). ISBN: 0-688-11915-8.
• Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994). ISBN 0-8223-1442-8.
• The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison / Jerry Hopkins. (1995). ISBN: 0-684-81866-3.
• Wild child : life with Jim Morrison / Linda Ashcroft. (1997). ISBN 0-340-718498.
• Jim Morrison Life, Death, Legend 2004. ISBN 1-592-40099-X.

Jim Morrison's Poetry Books

• Wilderness The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1990). ISBN 0-14-011910-8
• The Lords and The new creatures (1985). ISBN 0-7119-0552-5.
• The American night : The Writings of Jim Morrison (1991). ISBN 0-670-83772-5.

External links

• A Tribute to Jim Morrison
• Felt Forum
• Doors Meeting March 2006
• Open The Doors A Tribute Night held in Falkirk, Scotland every year
• Open The Doors Message Board
• The Doors Usenet Newsgroup
• Jim Morrison's Grave
• A video clip of Jim Morrison's Grave
• Biography and summary over his work: as pdf, html and dvi all under GNU FDL
• Earliest film of Jim Morrison
• Lizard King Lounge
• Jim Morrison Fan site
• Jim Morrison – Voices Of The Fire Fan site
• Waiting For The Sun – The Spirit of Jim Morrison Fan site
• A reflection on Jim Morrison and his life

• 1943 births
• 1971 deaths
• American writers
• California writers
• Florida writers
• The Doors
• Singer-lyricists
• Drug-related deaths
• Cult figures
• Entertainers who died in their 20s