Jim Morrison (1943 - 1971) was an American singer, songwriter and poet, and the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. [1] In a recording career of barely five years he wrote or co-wrote songs that became fixtures of the rock canon, developed a confrontational style of live performance, and published poetry; his death in Paris at the age of twenty-seven fixed him as one of the enduring figures of 1960s counterculture. [2]
Early life
James Douglas Morrison was born on 8 December 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, the son of a career naval officer who later reached the rank of rear admiral. [1] The family moved frequently between postings, and he attended schools in several states before studying at Florida State University and then transferring to the film school at the University of California, Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1965.
He read widely in poetry and philosophy during these years, with a particular attachment to Rimbaud, Blake and Nietzsche, and the imagery of those writers ran through his later lyrics.
The Doors
In the summer of 1965 Morrison met the keyboard player Ray Manzarek, a fellow UCLA film student, on Venice Beach; with the guitarist Robby Krieger and the drummer John Densmore they formed the Doors, taking the name from a phrase of William Blake. [3] The group had no bass player, Manzarek supplying the bass lines on a keyboard, which gave their recordings a distinctive texture.
Their first album, The Doors (1967), contained the hit single "Light My Fire" and the extended piece "The End," and it established them as one of the leading American bands of the period. Strange Days, Waiting for the Sun, The Soft Parade and Morrison Hotel followed in quick succession. L.A. Woman, released in 1971 and including "Riders on the Storm," was the last album recorded with Morrison. [4]
Performance and controversy
Morrison's stage manner, by turns theatrical, improvisatory and deliberately provocative, drew both large audiences and official attention. A concert in Miami in March 1969 led to charges including indecent exposure and profanity; he was convicted on two counts, and the case was under appeal at the time of his death. He was granted a posthumous pardon by the state of Florida in 2010. [1]
His drinking increased through the band's later years and affected both performances and recording sessions, a decline documented in contemporary accounts.
Poetry and death
Morrison regarded himself primarily as a poet and published two volumes, The Lords: Notes on Vision and The New Creatures, later issued together. He also recorded readings of his verse, which were set to music by the surviving members of the band and released in 1978 as An American Prayer. [2]
In March 1971 he moved to Paris, intending to concentrate on writing. He was found dead in an apartment in the city on 3 July 1971. No autopsy was performed, and the official record gives heart failure as the cause; the absence of a post-mortem examination has sustained speculation ever since. He was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, where his grave remains one of the most visited in Paris. [1]
Legacy
The Doors' recordings have continued to sell steadily in the decades since, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. [3] Morrison's life has been the subject of biographies and of Oliver Stone's 1991 film The Doors, and his early death placed him among the group of musicians who died at twenty-seven, a coincidence that became part of rock folklore. [2]
