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The Death of Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971 in a Paris bathtub.
As reported by...
The L.A. Times:
Jim Morrison, twenty-seven, controversial lead
singer for the popular Los Angeles-based rock group, "The Doors,"
died Saturday night of a heart ailment in Paris, a spokesman for the
group said here Thursday.
The spokesman, Beverly Hills attorney Max Fink, said Morrison was in
the French capital to write a screenplay for a movie after gathering
material for several months touring North Africa.
He said Morrison was buried in a Paris cemetery Thursday, "because
he really loved that city."
Morrison's was the third untimely death of a major American rock star
in less than a year.Hard-rock guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix, twenty-seven,
died September 18, 1970, in London of an apparent drug overdose. Rock-blues
singer Janis Joplin, twenty-seven, died October 4, 1970, in Hollywood
under similar circumstances.
The Doors first gained prominence in 1967 with their wild and unpredictable
performances at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip and the release
of their first album.
That album, a million-seller, contained the smash single "Light
My Fire."The record established them immediately as one of the
nation's top rock acts.
Ever since their first album, The Doors, and particularly Morrison,
had been involved in controversy.
In the spring of 1969, Morrison was accused and found guilty of indecent
exposure during a Miami concert.
The Doors, who had been in the midst of a slump, recently began to regain
popularity with the release of their latest album, L.A. Woman.
It had been recently rumored that Morrison was leaving the group to
pursue a career in motion picture production.He attended classes in
cinematography at UCLA.
It was while he was at UCLA in 1966 that Morrison met organist Ray Manzarek,
guitarist Robbie Krieger, drummer John Densmore, and The Doors were
organized.
Morrison, who sometimes called himself "The Lizard King,"
had a reputation as a heavy drinker.Last year, he was fined $600 for
disturbing other passengers aboard an airlines flight. He was accused
of violating several safety regulations and of excessive drinking and
using loud and lewd language.
Morrison leaves his wife, Pamela, his parents,
a brother, and a sister.
Newsweek
Death Disclosed:Jim Morrison, twenty-seven, rock
superstar, The lead singer of The Doors.Though his manager fueled suspicion
by keeping Morrison's death a secret for six days - until after his
burial last week - there was no evidence of a drug connection as in
last year's deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, nor was Morrison's
fifth-a-day booze habit officially a factor; police listed a heart attack
as the cause after Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment
in Paris, where he had been living as a writer in recent months.His
trademarks in the rock culture included his arcane, keenly suggestive
lyrics, sung in a throaty baritone, by turns sullen and frienzied.But
with his skintight pants and lascivious style, the Florida-born admiral's
son was best known as an erotic male performer in the line of succession
that runs from Elvis Presley to Mick Jagger;Morrison once overdid it
to the extent of being found guilty of indecent exposure at a rock concert
in Miami.
Time
Died.Jim Morrison, twenty-seven, lead singer
for The Doors and the third big rock star to die within ten months;in
Paris. Although Morrison at times drank heavily, he did not have a reputation
as a drug user, and he died of a heart attack.The son of an admiral,
Morrison got a master's degree from UCLA before begining to intone his
long, theatrical poems to dark, eerie , thundering rock.His orgiastic
performances and his command, "Come on, baby, light my fire,"
turned on teenyboppers by the millions, but his mood was often more
apocalyptic: "Cancel my subscription to the Ressurrection!,"he
protested aigainst the ravaging of the earth.
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