Jim Morrison is a charismatic, unique and gifted rock musician. Over the course of his 27-year life, he managed to become a legend who has remained popular for more than 50 years.
His group “The Doors” forever entered the history of world musical culture. Jim Morrison is a unique charm, a memorable voice and a destructive lifestyle that led to his sudden death.
The biography of the future idol of several generations began in the medium-sized city of Melbourne, located in the American state of Florida, on December 8, 1943. His father was George Morrison, who later received the rank of admiral, and his mother was Clara Morrison, nee Clark. The parents gave their illustrious son Irish, English and Scottish roots, although the boy spent his childhood in the States. Jim was not the only child in the family: George and Clara also had a daughter, Ann, and a son, Andrew.
From a young age, Morrison Jr. never ceased to amaze school teachers with his intelligence (the musician’s IQ level was 149). At the same time, he knew how to charm those around him and win him over. But in the still waters there were devils: for example, Jim loved to lie, and reached a virtuoso level of skill in this matter. He also loved cruel pranks, the object of which was most often his little brother Andy.
Since the father of the future musician was a military man, the whole family had to move. So, when the boy was only four years old, he saw a sight that made a huge impression on him. We are talking about a terrible accident: on a highway in New Mexico, a truck carrying Indians got into an accident. The bloody corpses lying on the road made Jim experience fear for the first time in his life (he said so in an interview). Morrison was sure that the souls of the dead Indians had entered his body.
Little Jim's passion was reading. Moreover, he read mainly the works of world philosophers, symbolist poets and other authors, whose works are quite difficult to understand. As Morrison's teacher later said, he contacted the Library of Congress. He wanted to make sure that the books Jim told him about existed. Most of all, the boy liked the works of Nietzsche. In his free time from reading, he liked to write poetry and draw obscene caricatures.
Also in childhood, the Morrison family visited the Californian city of San Diego. Having matured, the future leader of The Doors was not at all tired of numerous moves and getting used to life in new cities. In 1962, at the age of nineteen, he went to Tallahassee. There the young man was accepted into Florida State University.
However, Jim did not like Tallahassee too much, and already at the beginning of 1964 he decided to change something in his life by going to Los Angeles. There the guy began studying at the cinematography department of the prestigious UCLA University. At that time, the teachers of this university were Joseph von Sternberg and Stanley Kramer, and at the same time the young man also studied at UCLA.
Music career
While studying at both universities, Jim Morrison did not work too hard. At Florida State University, he studied the work of Bosch, studied the history of the Renaissance and studied acting. At the University of California, he studied cinematography, but all this was more in the background for him than in the foreground. Jim excelled in all subjects due to his high level of intelligence, but preferred alcohol and parties to study.
Jim Morrison abused alcohol and drugs Apparently, then he decided to create his own rock band. He even wrote to his father about this decision, but he took another fixed idea of his impulsive son for a bad joke. Sadly, after this, Jim’s relationship with his parents went very wrong: to all questions about them he answered that they had died, and the Morrisons themselves refused to give interviews about the work of their son even years after the musician’s premature death.
It was not only his parents who did not see Jim as a successful creative person. As his senior thesis after graduating from UCLA, he was to direct his own film. Morrison did work on his own film, but other students and teachers did not see anything in this film that could be of artistic value. Jim even wanted to quit his studies just a couple of weeks before receiving his diploma, but his teachers dissuaded him from such a rash act.
However, studying at the University of California also had its advantages for a creative career as a performer. It was here that he met his friend Ray Manzarek, with whom he later formed the cult group The Doors.
The Doors
The band was founded by Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, who were joined by drummer John Densmore and his friend guitarist Robbie Krieger. The band's name, in Morrison's style, was borrowed from the title of the book: "The Doors of Perception" is a work by the author best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World. The title of the book translates as “Doors of Perception.” This is exactly what Jim wanted to become for his fans—a “door of perception.” His friends agreed on this name for the group.
Jim Morrison and The Doors The first months of the life of The Doors were unsuccessful. Most of the musicians who made up the group turned out to be outright amateurs. And Morrison himself at first showed extreme timidity and embarrassment on stage. During the band's first concerts, he turned his back to the audience and stood that way throughout the entire performance. In addition, Jim continued to drink alcohol and drugs, and he did not hesitate to come to performances while intoxicated.
Back then they called him “that hairy guy.” Jim's height was 1.8 m. Surprisingly, Morrison's charisma worked even from behind: although the band performed unsuccessfully, because of his charm, The Doors quickly acquired their own army of female fans who liked the secretive guy and his enchanting voice. And then the band was noticed by Paul Rothschild, who decided to offer The Doors a contract on behalf of the Elektra Records record label.
The band's first album, “The Doors,” was released in 1967. The songs “Alabama Song”, “Light My Fire” and others instantly blew up the charts and made the group famous. At the same time, Jim Morrison continued to use illegal substances and alcohol - perhaps this is partly due to the mystical flair of the group’s songs and performances.
Jim inspired and charmed, but at this time the idol himself sank deeper and deeper to the bottom. In the last years of his life, Morrison gained excess weight, fought with police, and even survived being arrested on stage. He went on stage drunk and lost his temper in public. He wrote less and less material for the group, and singles and albums had to be worked on by Robbie Krieger, and not by the band's frontman.
Personal life
Photos of Jim Morrison even today evoke enthusiastic sighs from the fair sex, so it is not surprising that women loved him. There have been many speculations about Morrison's novels, and many of them may not be without foundation. He had a serious relationship with the editor of a music magazine, Patricia Kennealy. The girl met the frontman of The Doors in 1969, and in 1970, Patricia and Jim even got married according to Celtic customs (Kennely was interested in Celtic culture).
Jim Morrison with Patricia Kennelly This event further fueled the public's interest in Morrison, who began to be accused of being addicted to the occult. It never came to an official wedding. However, in an interview at that time, Jim claimed that he was in love with his betrothed, and that their souls were now inseparable.
Official cause of death
In the spring of 1971, Jim and his girlfriend Pamela Courson went to Paris. Morrison intended to rest and work on a book of poetry. During the day, Pamela and Jim drank alcohol and took heroin in the evening.
At night, Morrison began to feel unwell, but he refused to call an ambulance. Pamela went to bed, and at approximately five o'clock in the morning on July 3, 1971, she discovered Jim's lifeless body in the bathtub, in hot water.
Alternative cause of death
Many alternative options for the death of the leader of The Doors have been proposed. Suicide, a staged suicide by FBI employees fighting representatives of the hippie movement, a drug dealer who treated Jim to too strong heroin. In fact, the only witness to Morrison's death was Pamela Courson, but three years later she also died of a drug overdose.
The grave of the iconic musician is located in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. To this day, the cemetery is considered a place of worship for fans of The Doors, who even covered nearby tombstones with inscriptions about how much they loved the band and Morrison. After his death, Jim was included in the "27 Club".
Seven years after Morrison's death, the studio album American Prayer was released, featuring recordings of Jim reciting poetry set to a rhythmic musical background.
Discography:
- The Doors (January 1967)
- Strange Days (October 1967)
- Waiting for the Sun (July 1968)
- The Soft Parade (July 1969)
- Morrison Hotel (February 1970)
- L.A. Woman (April 1971)
- An American Prayer (November 1978)
Military life involves frequent moves, and one day, when Jim was only four years old, something happened in New Mexico that he later described as one of the most important... Read all
(eng. Jim Morrison, full name James Douglas Morrison - English. James Douglas Morrison) - American singer, poet and musician, leader of the group The Doors. Born December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, Florida. Died July 3, 1971 in Paris.
Moves are frequent in the life of military men, and one day, when Jim was only four years old, something happened in New Mexico that he later described as one of the most important events of his life: a truck with Indians overturned on the road, and their bloody bodies lay on the road . “I discovered death for the first time (...) I think at that moment the souls of those dead Indians, maybe one or two of them, were rushing around, writhing, and moved into my soul, I was like a sponge, readily absorbing them.”
Having entered UCLA, the Faculty of Cinematography, he leads a bohemian lifestyle, reads a lot, takes psychotropic substances, and is interested in mysticism and beatniks. Jim's thesis causes a mixed reaction from teachers, and he leaves the university with a scandal.
Soon, with his friend, also a UCLA student, Ray Manzarek, and joined by guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore, they created the quartet the Doors, taking the name from a line by William Blake: “If the doors of perception were cleansed,/Every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite” (Russian. When the doors of perception are clear / Everything appears as it is - infinite). The group began performing in local pubs and their performances were frankly weak, partly due to the amateurism of the musicians, partly because of Jim Morrison’s timidity: at first he was even embarrassed to turn his face to the audience and sang with his back to the audience. In addition, Jim often came to performances drunk. Fortunately for the group, they had an army of female fans, and the next “last time” of the angry club owner resulted in calls from girls asking when they would see “that hairy guy” again.
Soon the group was noticed by producer Paul Rothschild from the recently opened Elektra label, which had previously only released jazz performers, who risked offering the Doors a contract (the group entered Elektra's circle with such giants as Love). The group's first single, "Break On Through", entered the top ten of the US Billboard charts, and the next, "Light My Fire", took first place on the chart - an extremely successful debut. The Doors' first album, released in early 1967, also took first place in the charts and marked the beginning of Dorsomania. The use of hallucinogens, in particular LSD, had a direct impact on the work of Jim and the Doors: mysticism and shamanism became part of the stage act. “I am a Lizard king. I can do anything." - Jim said to himself in one of the songs (“I’m the lizard king, I can do anything”).
Jim's subsequent fate was a downward spiral: drunkenness, arrests for indecent behavior and fights with police, transformation from an idol for girls into a fat bearded slob. More and more material was written by Robbie Krieger, less and less by Jim Morrison. Late concerts of The Doors consisted mostly of drunken Jim bickering with the audience. In 1971, the exhausted rock star goes with his friend Pamela Courson to Paris to relax and work on a book of poetry, where he soon dies. There are still rumors surrounding his death. It is believed that Morrison was killed. The only person to see his body was Pamela Carson, who died three years later.
Jim Morrison is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery. His grave became a place of cult worship for fans, who covered the neighboring graves with inscriptions about their love for their idol and lines from The Doors songs.
In the early 90s, director Oliver Stone made the film “The Doors,” dedicated to Morrison. The role of the leader of The Doors was played by Val Kilmer.
In 1978, the album American Prayer was released: shortly before his death, Jim dictated his poems onto a tape recorder, and the musicians of The Doors put musical accompaniment on the poems.
But everything is not so simple: Jim’s lyrics, his songs, sincerity and charisma, sociality, shocking and suicidal nature of his work, his charm fascinated and fascinate listeners. Some compositions have become permanent basis for jazz and electronic arrangements by modern musicians. Overall, The Doors cannot be removed from the history of rock and from the lives of millions of fans.
MORRISON JIM
Full name: James Douglas Morrison
(born 1943 – died 1971)
Famous American musician and poet, who became a legend during his lifetime. Lead singer of the group “The Doors”. All six albums released by the group went gold.
The famous Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise is home to many famous people. Jean Baptiste Moliere, Pierre Beaumarchais, Honoré de Balzac, Auguste Comte, Jean Baptiste Fourier, Pierre Abelard, Marcel Proust, Gioachino Rossini, Georges Bizet, Sarah Bernhardt, Yves Montand - this is not a complete list of famous writers, poets, artists, scientists and musicians who found their last refuge here. Among the luxurious crypts and monuments, it would be difficult to notice a modest small grave, if not for one “but” - the tombstone is buried in flowers all year round, people come and go to it to bow in mournful silence. This is the grave of an American singer and poet, a legendary and extraordinary personality, whose life and death are shrouded in an aura of mystery, and whose poems and songs still make the hearts of many people beat faster. This is Jim Morrison's grave.
James Douglas Morrison was born on December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, Florida. His father, George Stephen Morrisson, served in the US Navy. By the time his son became famous, Steve had risen to the rank of rear admiral in the Navy. 24 years will have passed since Jim’s birth, by which time he will drop one letter “s” from his surname and say that his parents died, although in fact his father and mother will long outlive their son. The military family moved often, and during one of these moves, near New Mexico, when the boy was only 4 years old, an event occurred that Jim Morrison has repeatedly called one of the most important and fateful moments of his life. The Morrisson family's car drove past the scene of the disaster: a truck with Indians overturned on the road, their bloody bodies lay around. Jim, who saw this picture through the window, later recalled:
“I discovered death for the first time, I think at that moment the souls of those dead Indians, maybe one or two of them, were rushing around and moved into my soul, I was like a sponge, readily absorbing them.” It was from this moment that Jim began to have a passion for everything related to the Indians. And Morrison throughout his life retained the sincere belief that the souls of those dead Indians were forever united with his soul.
In elementary school, Jim Morrison was the head of the class, he was characterized as a well-mannered and very smart boy. But even then he began to show the first signs of strange behavior and explosive character, and Jim’s dark jokes often went beyond what was permitted. For example, when the phone rang in the house, he could pick up the receiver and answer in a sepulchral voice: “Morrison's mortuary. You wet them, we put them under the gravestone.” In December 1958, the Morrisons moved to Washington. At the local school, Jim immediately became a star - he constantly performed all sorts of tricks, behaved defiantly, hooliganized and shocked those around him. He came up with completely incredible stories and did wild things. So, explaining why he was late for school, Jim could talk quite seriously and in detail about how he was captured by bandits or stolen by gypsies along the way. The boy could get up and leave the class in the middle of the lesson, explaining to the teacher that this afternoon he had an important surgical operation - removal of a malignant brain tumor. Among teachers, he was known as a strange, unbalanced and capricious child, which, however, did not prevent the boy from getting good grades. While still at school, Jim began to take a serious interest in literature. This interest was also very peculiar. The guy read the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Plutarch, and the poems of the famous French symbolist Arthur Rimbaud, who largely influenced Morrison’s later work. Jim constantly surprised his literature teacher with his choice of works: “Jim reads a lot, perhaps more than anyone else in the class, but his choice falls on such rare and little-known publications that I have to ask my colleague, another teacher who often goes to the Library of Congress, to check whether the books that Jim indicated in his lists actually exist. At one time I even suspected that he was making up all the names; for example, his lists included books from the 16th–17th centuries on English demonology. I had never heard of them, but they still existed..."
Jim not only read a lot, but also wrote a lot. He filled entire thick notebooks with his daily thoughts, observations and quotes from his favorite authors. At the same time, Morrison began writing poetry.
Jim showed no interest in further education, and so his parents themselves chose a college for him in Florida, where his grandparents lived. These were religious people, cleanliness and strict discipline reigned in the house, but this did not stop young Morrison - he could wear the same clothes for weeks, grew hair and began to drink alcohol. He studied at college mediocrely; the bulk of his knowledge, as during his studies at school, was drawn from books. When Jim’s friends came to visit, he would point to the rows of books that filled his room to the ceiling and say: “Choose any one, open it anywhere and start reading, and with my eyes closed I’ll tell you: firstly, what book is it, and secondly, who wrote it.” His friends don't recall a single time Morrison ever made a mistake.
After graduating from college in 1964, Jim entered the film department at the University of California, Los Angeles. That same year, during the Christmas holidays, Morrison went home. This was his last meeting with his parents.
At the university, Jim met Ray Manzarek, who studied at the same faculty. He was an educated and well-read young man who graduated from the conservatory in piano and had a bachelor's degree in economics. The educational films of these two young people invariably stood out from the crowd: Ray - with professionalism and quality, Jim - with shockingness and explicit scenes of sex and violence. Despite the fact that the teachers tirelessly praised the first and scolded the second just as tirelessly, the young people quickly found a common language and spent a lot of time together. In one of his philosophical conversations, Morrison recalled the words of the famous English poet William Blake: “If the doors of knowledge were open, infinity would open to people. But people have hidden themselves from the world and see it only through the narrow crevices of their caves.” It was in this conversation, after these words, that the idea of creating a rock band called “The Doors” was born.
Jim lasted only one year at the university. His course work caused a storm of indignation among the teaching staff, Morrison received the lowest passing grade for it, which his pride could not bear, and the young man dropped out of school. He moved to a resort suburb of Los Angeles, where he lived on the roof of a warehouse. The mid-60s of the 20th century in America is the beginning of the hippie movement and the massive spread of drugs. Psychedelic experiments on our own consciousness did not spare our hero. Jim Morrison wrote poetry while traveling inside his own mind. But the further he went, the more he realized that these were not poems, but songs.
In the summer of 1965, Jim accidentally met his old friend Ray Manzarek on the beach. The conversation turned to the songs Morrison was writing, and Ray asked him to sing something. When Jim finished the verse, something like this dialogue took place between the young people: “Beautiful poems. I've never heard anything like it before. Let's make a group and make a million." “Exactly,” Morrison replied, “that’s what I mean.”
After this historic meeting, Jim moved to Ray's house. The first rehearsals of the group were also held there, to which friends gave the name they had previously invented - “The Doors”. Initially, in addition to Jim and Ray, the group included two Manzarek brothers - Rick and Jim, and a little later they were joined by drummer John Densmore. The group recorded several songs, and its members took turns taking the demo disc to record labels in Los Angeles, but to no avail. However, luck still smiled on the musicians: they interested a representative of the Columbia company and signed a contract with her for five years. This event also coincided with changes in the composition of “The Doors” - Ray Manzarek’s brothers left, and 19-year-old guitarist Robbie Krieger took their place. Since then, the composition of the group has remained unchanged.
The musicians rehearsed from morning to evening, but things did not go beyond playing in low-quality clubs, at weddings and parties. Jim was embarrassed to sing, and all the songs were performed by Manzarek, and our hero modestly beat the tambourine or played the harmonica, since he did not play other instruments. The matter with Columbia did not move forward, and when the musicians came to the studio to find out why recording was not starting, it turned out that their group was on the list for termination of the contract. They did not wait for the firm's final decision and terminated the contract on the same day. The group's affairs were very bad, especially financially. And on top of that, Jim Morrison began to receive summonses for conscription into the army with a requirement to undergo a medical examination. However, Jim managed to solve this problem. Just before the medical examination, he brought his body with the help of drugs to the point of complete unsuitability, all the main vital signs were taken out of the norm - pulse, blood pressure, heart and even speech. Plus, Morrison told the commission members that he was homosexual. The question of military service was resolved once and for all.
In the fall of 1965, Morrison met 18-year-old Pamela Carson, his “space friend,” who became his companion for the rest of his short life. An intelligent and attractive girl endured all the antics and betrayals of her troubled friend. Jim, in turn, also turned a blind eye to the adventures of Pamela, who was not burdened with excessive morality. One thing was important for them - despite numerous scandals and betrayals, in the end they always returned to each other.
In May 1966, when it seemed that the group would never be able to get out of cheap basement clubs, The Doors were invited to play at the large Whiskey a Go-Go nightclub, where they paid quite decent money for those times. Despite the fact that the club owner couldn't stand Morrison, the group performed there until July 1966. “The Doors” gained fans, rumors spread throughout Los Angeles about a strange group and its crazy singer. Jim really behaved on stage in a very peculiar way. At first, he was generally afraid to turn his face to the audience, and people who came to the concert saw only his back throughout the entire performance. Morrison stretched out some songs for a quarter of an hour, inserting poetry and improvisations.
The army of fans of “The Doors” was growing, the group was attracted by the novelty of its music, deep lyrics uncharacteristic of rock of that time and the specific behavior of Jim Morrison. But the producers whom the band members invited to their performances at “Whiskey a Go-Go” were not impressed. Likewise, Jack Holtzman, a music producer and owner of a small recording company, Electra Records, did not see anything interesting in the music of The Doors. But he was persuaded to come to the concert again, for the third time Holtzman already went to the club of his own free will, and after the fourth he offered the group a contract for a year with the right to extend for another two years.
While the terms of the contract were being negotiated, the group continued to play at the Whiskey a Go-Go club. Before one of his performances, on a July evening, Jim Morrison overindulged in drugs, which have recently become constant companions of his life. That night Jim was destined to leave the club forever and lay the first step on the path to a living legend. The group performed one of their most famous compositions, “The End,” a song with changing meter, rhythm and style of music. Morrison sang with his eyes closed, leaning on the microphone stand; strange music and the mournful voice of the soloist put the hall into a state close to trance - all conversations died down, no one moved. Suddenly, Jim took the microphone off the stand and recited the now legendary words inspired by the philosophy of Nietzsche and the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus: “The killer woke up before dawn, put on his shoes, took the face from the ancient gallery and went downstairs. He went into the room where his sister lived, then checked on his brother and went downstairs. He walked to the door and looked inside. Father. - Yes son. - I want to kill you. Mother. - Yes son. - I want to love you". It is difficult to describe the shock that followed these words: no one could afford to say such a thing from the stage in Puritan America of the 60s. It is not surprising that from that moment on, entry to the Whiskey a Go-Go club was closed to the group.
In January 1967, the Electra Records studio released the first “The Doors” album of the same name. The song “Light My Fire” was especially popular - radio stations played it constantly, and quite quickly it entered the top ten of the American hit parade. “The Doors” traveled around America with concerts, and in July 1967 the group took first place on the list compiled by the authoritative music magazine Billboard. From that moment on, one could already talk about real glory. At the end of August 1967, the first record of “The Doors” reached “gold” status, and the single with the song “Light My Fire” also became “gold”.
The band's next album, Strange Days, was released in May 1968. It, like the first one, was not at all typical for the rock of the 60s of the 20th century. The album is very diverse both musically and lyrically - it is a protest, a cry from the heart and a confession at the same time. Almost the same can be said about the next record – “Waiting For The Sun”. The popularity of the group, and especially Morrison, grew more and more, turning Jim from the poet he considered himself to be, into a rock idol. By 1969, not a single group could compare with “The Doors” in popularity in America, and among foreign groups it was second only to “The Beatles”. “The Doors” have already performed in halls designed for at least 10,000 people. These halls became a kind of fields for Morrison’s shamanic experiments - the hypnotic influence of his voice was undeniable, he controlled the actions of thousands of people at the same time. During pauses, which the band members especially liked to arrange, along with the music and Jim’s voice, the entire hall instantly froze and fell silent, which in itself is an unprecedented phenomenon for rock concerts.
In the album “Soft Parade”, released in 1969, the group significantly expanded its musical range by inviting musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to record.
Experiments with the public became more and more frank and shocking. Morrison hurled abuse at his fans from the stage, swore at law enforcement officers at concerts, but nothing could remove the label of a rock idol, which the musician had been greatly burdened with lately. Once at a concert in Miami, Morrison undressed in front of a full audience, which was the last straw in the patience of American moralists. Anonymous letters were sent to the American Concert Hall Association listing Morrison's sins and strongly recommending that they prevent The Doors from performing. The number of cities on the band’s tour list has noticeably decreased, and many radio stations have excluded “The Doors” songs from their repertoire. The consequences of Morrison's prank in Miami were very dire - in April 1970, Jim was arrested for indecent behavior, however, he was immediately released on bail. Legal costs and penalties for canceled concerts seriously undermined the financial condition of the musicians.
Concerts of “The Doors” were now held in front of a huge crowd of law enforcement officers, ready to rush onto the stage at any moment. In Las Vegas, the local police sheriff even came to the concert with ready-made arrest warrants for all four musicians of the group, in which only the fields for charges were left blank. But this time the performance went smoothly.
In 1970, Jim Morrison committed perhaps the strangest act in his chaotic life. After another quarrel with Pamela Carson, he married one of his many mistresses - the famous journalist Patricia Kennelly, who headed a meeting of witches in the Satanist sect. The ceremony, however, had no legal force - it was performed according to the Celtic rite, the young people were married in blood. By the end of the year, Morrison had broken up with Patricia and, as always, returned to Pamela.
Despite problems with law enforcement agencies and protests from moralists, the 1970 album “Morrison Hotel” again went gold, the fifth in a row, like all the group’s previous records, which made “The Doors” a record holder in America. But Jim Morrison is already pretty tired of fame, fans, concerts and lawsuits. He devoted more and more time to poetry, planning to publish a poetry collection and release an album with his poems. The group was working on recording the next album “L. A. Woman”, but the live performances of “The Doors” gradually faded away.
Following his friend Pamela Carson, at the beginning of 1971, Morrison left for Paris, which always attracted him with its special atmosphere. In addition, in Europe it was possible to hide from fans and numerous friends and acquaintances, of whom Jim was also quite tired. He wrote poetry and drank, and often became depressed. Shortly before his death, Morrison wrote the now legendary lines, a premonition of the approaching end: “People fear death more than suffering. This is weird. The wounds that life inflicts are much worse. With death, suffering ceases, which is why I truly consider her a friend.” On July 3, 1971, at five o'clock in the morning, Pamela found Jim dead in the bathtub. He was only 27 years old. According to the official version, Morrison died of heart failure; the debate about what actually happened continues to this day. Only two people saw the body of the famous musician and poet - Pamela Carson and the doctor who declared death and drew up a conclusion, but the rest could only see the sealed coffin. This caused a lot of rumors and gossip, ranging from a banal drug overdose to an FBI conspiracy. There were also people who believed that this was another prank of a hooligan musician and Morrison was alive, just hiding from fame and fans.
On July 7, 1971, at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, in the presence of just five close friends, Jim Morrison's body was interred. Pamela joined him three years later - she died of a drug overdose. She is buried in the same cemetery, in an adjacent grave.
In the late 60s of the 20th century, when the group “The Doors” was at the peak of its popularity, many believed that its fame was “for 15 days, hours or minutes,” as a good friend of Morrison, another cult personality of American culture, said , Andy Warhole. But they turned out to be wrong - the fame outlived Jim himself for a long time. 20 years later, in 1991, the famous director Oliver Stone made a film about the life of Jim Morrison called “The Doors”. The picture became a cult, a new generation learned about Morrison, the band’s music and Jim’s poems found a second life. And new groups of pilgrims flocked to the Père Lachaise cemetery. They still stretch today - in uneven, multilingual and multi-age rows - those for whom Jim Morrison was not just a hard-drinking rock musician with oddities, but a guru, a shaman who gave a new faith and a new reality...
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Jim Moriarty Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain. Jim
FRANK ZAPPA'S PERSPECTIVE (Jim Schaeffer, Downbeat, September 1973) Interview with Frank Zappa - great! But I have to be prepared for it, because it may be difficult, I thought as I prepared for the interview. Instead, I was completely captivated and captivated by a charismatic man and
Jim Clark Country: Great Britain Date of Birth: 4 March 1936 Date of Death: 7 April 1968 Grand Prix: 73 Wins: 25 Podiums: 32 Pole Position: 33 Points: 274 Brief Biography 1936. Born March 4 in Kilmany, Scotland, 1953. Successfully passes selection testing for participation in races and
South American poet, essayist, songwriter, vocalist of The Doors. As a musician he is known as Jim Morrison.
Born on December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, in the family of US Navy officer George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clark Morrison. James Douglas was the first child in the family (later he had a brother and sister), he had mixed Irish, Scottish and British blood.
The military family had to constantly move from place to place; during one of these trips, an incident occurred in the state of New Mexico, which, according to the poet himself, greatly influenced him. As a four-year-old boy, he saw Indians hit by a truck on the road, and their bloody bodies were scattered along the road. Jim said that it was then that he discovered death for the first time, and that the souls of those dead redskins were circling around, and one or two moved into his soul. Proof of the significance of the episode in the poet’s biography is the repeated mention of this accident in poems, songs, and interviews. Even at school age, at the age of 15, Jim begins to take notes in notebooks, keeps a diary, and writes poetry. He would later destroy all of his teenage and young adult records.
In 1963, Jim graduated from school and entered the Florida Institute, where he stayed only for a semester, after which he submitted an official request to transfer him to the California Institute in Los Angeles (UCLA).
In early 1964, Jim became a student in the film department of this institution. Throughout this period, he occasionally hitchhiked across America and visited Mexico. Jim spent Christmas of the same year with his family; this was the last time he saw his own parents. In 1965, a few weeks before the end of the school year, Morrison decides to leave the institute, but after a while he is drafted into the army (not for the first time). In August, an eminent meeting took place on Jim's beach with an old acquaintance, Ray Manzarek. Jim showed Ray some of his own lyrics and sang one of the songs he was writing at the time, but without accompaniment. Ray was amazed and they decided to create a rock band. So, after some time, the group The Doors was born: Ray Manzarek (keyboards), John Densmore (drums), Robbie Krieger (guitar) and Jim Morrison (vocals).
1966 was a difficult year for young musicians who wanted to break through, but it became surprisingly fruitful creatively. The group's repertoire included about 40 songs, most of the lyrics for which were written by Jim. In the summer of that year, the musicians signed an agreement with a record company to release an album.
From now on begins the noisy, scandal-filled social life of the singer, charismatic personality, sex symbol of America in the late 60s, drinker, weed and cocaine lover - Jim Morrison. Many fans often had no idea that their idol was also a writer - James Douglas Morrison. By the way, he himself strictly distinguished between these two roles, which is why he published poetry collections only under his full name.
In March 1969, the “famous” concert of The Doors took place, after which Morrison, who already had a rebellious style, was accused of indecent behavior, a scandal arose, and the group was banned from performing live. Jim himself was accused of a criminal act - inappropriate behavior on stage, and in addition: indecent undressing, open sacrilege and rowdy. A long trial begins, Jim is threatened with 7 years in prison. Jim tries to hide from the press, his mistress Pamela Kursan begs him to give up his singing career and lead a quiet family life with her, which will allow him to pursue poetry. Despite all this, creatively this year has become very fruitful for Morrison: two books of poetry are being published, both in small editions. As time goes on, concerts resume.
According to friends, Morrison always carried a notepad and pen with him; he wrote down his thoughts, verbal experiments, and sketched poems and songs. Jim was fond of the works of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, Rimbaud, William Yates, Friedrich Nietzsche and the beat poets (Ginsberg, Kors). All these creators greatly influenced his poetry, which was also affected by Morrison’s passion for world mythology and the culture of the American Redskins.
1970 - the trial continues, the process itself begins to become overgrown with additional charges. Jim, often drunk, gets into all sorts of nasty stories that only complicate things. Jim has another mistress - Patricia Keneally, later she manages to get pregnant from him and have an abortion. In general, Jim's affairs with the ladies are very complex and confusing: in addition to Pamela and Patricia, the Swede Ingrid appears. But with all this, apparently, Pamela Kursan was the main woman in his life.
At the end of the year, Jim once again started talking about leaving the group; he was attracted to cinema, theater, and literature. But they still persuade him to play several concerts. On December 12, 1970, The Doors' last concert took place in full force.
Beginning of 1971 - Morrison begins several huge projects: preparations for filming in Italy, negotiations regarding the recording and publication of a CD with poems, discussion of a play in which Jim was to play one of the main roles. But the new album by The Doors turned out to be more successful. After the recording, Jim thought about going to Paris.
On March 6, Jim flies to Paris following Pamela, who has been living there for several weeks. In May, they travel together to Corsica.
On July 5, there was a rumor that Jim had died, but few believed it, because it had happened before that Jim had spread rumors about his death. On July 6, The Doors manager and Jim's friend Bill Sydance arrives in Paris. Pamela met him at the rented apartment, a closed coffin and a death certificate. The official cause was a heart attack. According to the official version, at 5 o'clock in the morning on July 3, Pamela woke up and saw that Jim was not around. She found him in the bathtub and, realizing that he was really ill and this was not a joke, called the emergency room. But it was too late.
On July 7, the coffin was lowered into the ground at the Père Lachaise cemetery. Only 5 people were present at the funeral of the last sworn poet.
Sooner or later you come across a band like The Doors. This happens to almost every dude. Psychedelic rock is like that: it gets into your head by accident, and then doesn’t let go for a very long time, if it ever does. And Jim Morrison is probably the most iconic and prominent figure in music of the second half of the twentieth century, not only within genres, but in general.
Jim was born in Melbourne, Florida. He was a true Celt by nature, with Irish, English and Scottish blood pulsating in him. He was born into a military family, which automatically meant frequent moves of the whole family to one end of the country and then to the other. In this our country and America are very similar. Jim recalled that time; one event stuck in his memory as a bright bloody stain: on one of these trips, he saw a broken, mangled truck with Indians, whose bodies lay in blood along the road.
I think at that moment the souls of those dead Indians, maybe one or two of them, were running around, writhing, and moved into my soul, I was like a sponge, readily absorbing them.
Jim Morrison
When Jim entered Florida State University, he studied art, acting, and enjoyed acting in student productions. Morrison then studied at the University of California's film department. But he did not become a director, because his dream was to create his own rock band; Jim felt music differently than others. Morrison tried to enlist the support of his parents. But they did not share their son’s beliefs either in his choice of career or in his lifestyle. As a result, the last day he saw his own parents was Christmas 1964.
In any case, his farewell to his parents served as a complete departure into the field of art. The group was named "The Doors" after Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. This is an essay written by one of the prominent writers and philosophers of the twentieth century. In it, Huxley describes his experience with mescaline, a substance that is obtained from certain types of cacti, in particular Lophophora williamsii, and which has a hallucinogenic effect on those who ingest it. Its properties have long been known to the shamans of some Indian tribes; such cacti were used to communicate with spirits and gods. But such substances came into widespread use by civilized people only in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. Not the last popularizer of “expansion of consciousness” is Jim Morisson.
His music absorbed the traditions of many cultures: black, southern country and blues. There was not a single band at that time that would do something similar in sound. Coupled with Morisson’s poetic gift, such a cocktail had a deafening effect on young people. He suddenly became the star of his generation, and the songs, which sometimes smacked of some kind of esotericism, began to spin in many heads. He was perceived as a prophet and poet.
The musician’s performance style is also known. He rarely appeared on stage sober or not high. Was this necessary for the image? Quite. But, most likely, at some point Jim simply lost control. On the other hand, despite all the scandals associated with his performances, they still loved him and continued to call him. Just six months after the start of their concert activity, The Doors began performing at the best club on Sunset Street - Whisky-A-Go-Go. A contract with a record company was not long in coming. This company turned out to be Elektra Records, which showed the world the group in all its splendor.
We wouldn't call The Doors' music ordinary. There is too much something vague, strange and mysterious in it. Shamanism is Morrison's stage technique. Perhaps the reason for this is that episode from childhood with the dead Indians. Jim always gravitated towards mysticism, and his favorite poet was the magnificent William Blake, a British visionary of the 19th century, who managed not only to write poetry, but also to draw paintings and engravings.
I am the lizard king. I can do anything.
Jim Morrison
Technically the music is very unique. It is full of interesting moments, the sound itself is truly unique, it cannot be confused with anything else. The guitar part rarely came to the fore, but the keys were amazing. Well, and of course, Jim’s voice with its poetic lyrics and all sorts of intonations that are unlikely to be repeated in a sober state. He didn’t mess around, the songs came out alive, real. They were not polished by sound producers to create the “ideal” sound. There was something of jazz in it. Just a man with a good song that he wants to tell the world. Honest and frank music.
You never know when you'll have to perform your last song.
Jim Morrison
Officially, Morrison died of a heart attack in a Paris hotel at the age of 27, but many are skeptical about this cause of death. It is known that towards the end of his life he became more and more addicted to substances and booze, wrote less and less material for songs and treated visitors to his concerts worse and worse. Overdose was common at the time. And he probably got into Club 27 precisely because of her. Morrison was buried in France, at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
But let's not talk about sad things. A man dies, but his songs remain. And now they have not remained in history as lamentations forgotten by everyone, everything still sounds excellent. The Doors' albums are often re-released, the music is updated to suit modern tastes, but the old records still live, and someday they will reach your skull and open the doors of your perception.
