Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was a singer, songwriter and writer. Born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida, he was the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors. He was also an author of several poetry books.

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.

Related Topics:
Admiral - George Stephen Morrison - United States Navy

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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.

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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:

Related Topics:
1947 - New Mexico

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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.

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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."

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Morrison graduated from high school in Alexandria, Virginia. He took classes at St. Petersburg Junior College and Florida State University, appearing in a recruitment film http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/VideoFilm2/video.cfm?VID=22 for the latter school. In 1964, he left Florida and headed for California.

Related Topics:
Alexandria, Virginia - St. Petersburg Junior College - Florida State University - 1964

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With The Doors

In 1965, after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, he led a bohemian lifestyle in nearby Venice Beach. A chance encounter there with fellow UCLA film student Ray Manzarek 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."

Related Topics:
1965 - University of California, Los Angeles - Bohemian - Venice Beach - Ray Manzarek - Robby Krieger - John Densmore - Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception - William Blake - Infinite

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The Doors became one of the most popular rock bands ever. Their blend of blues, jazz and rock was something that had never been heard before. The sound was dominated by Morrison's deep, sonorious baritone voice and Ray Manzarek's unique keyboard.

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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 adapted into a musical in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Anagram - Single - LA Woman - The Lizard King - Epic poem - Celebration of the Lizard - 1968 - Waiting for the Sun - Musical - 1990s

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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 hallucinogenic drugs, drank alcohol in legendary proportions, and indulged in various bacchanalia, sometimes showing up for recording sessions while inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song "Five To One").

Related Topics:
William Blake - Hallucinogenic drugs - Alcohol - Bacchanalia

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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.

Related Topics:
1970 - Wiccan - Handfasting - Nico - Velvet Underground - Pamela Courson

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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.

Related Topics:
Self-titled debut album - Light My Fire - Alcoholic

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During a 1969 concert in Miami, an intoxicated Morrison was charged and ultimately convicted of exposing himself to the audience and simulating fellatio on Krieger as he played.

Related Topics:
1969 - Miami - Exposing himself - Fellatio

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Death

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

Related Topics:
Paris - 1971

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He died soon thereafter, though, on July 3, 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 attack" as the cause of death. 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 graffitti not only on Morrison's grave, but on the graves nearby.

Related Topics:
July 3 - 1971 - Bathtub - Biographers - Overdose - Heart attack - Père Lachaise - Graffiti

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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.

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