curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
July 3, 1971
Jim Morrison dies
On this day in 1971, singer Jim Morrison is found dead in a bathtub in Paris. Morrison, 27, was taking a sabbatical from his hit rock band, The Doors, when he died of heart failure, likely caused by a drug overdose. Rumors abounded that Morrison, tired of fame, had faked his own death.
Morrison, the son of a navy officer, was born in Florida but moved frequently as a child. He studied filmmaking at UCLA, where he met Ray Manzarek, who suggested they set some of Morrison's poems to music. With Robbie Krieger on guitar and John Densmore on drums, they formed The Doors. Morrison christened the band after Aldous Huxley's book on psychedelic drugs, The Doors of Perception, which drew its name from a poem by William Blake.
The band began playing in 1965; by 1966, they were the house band at famous Los Angeles nightclub Whiskey-a-Go-Go. They were abruptly fired four months into the job after playing a controversial song, but the band had already landed a record contract with Elektra. Their first album, The Doors (1967), topped the charts, as did a shortened version of their 6-minute 50-second track "Light My Fire." The band's subsequent album, Strange Days (1967), hit No. 3 on the charts, and Waiting for the Sun (1968 ) hit No. 1.
Morrison, who cultivated a dark, untamed image, was arrested several times for obscenity and indecency. Concert halls became reluctant to book the unpredictable group, and The Doors' appearances were sporadic after 1968. However, their albums continued to sell. Morrison was idolized by some as a modern-day Dionysus; others saw him as a world-class buffoon and bad poet with a drinking problem.
Morrison began to turn his attention to other creative endeavors in the late 1960s, publishing books of poetry and directing a film. He moved to Paris in 1971 after the release of L.A. Woman. Few people other than Morrison's wife and an anonymous French doctor saw Morrison's body after he died, leading to speculation that he had faked his own death. He became more famous than ever posthumously. The Doors released a few more albums without him but had lost their energy. However, the original band's early music only became more popular over time and underwent a revival in the 1980s. In 1989, a new book of Morrison's poems was published, and filmmaker Oliver Stone profiled Morrison and the band in the successful 1991 film The Doors. On the 20th anniversary of his death, nearly a thousand fans mobbed the cemetery where he was buried.
Jim Morrison dies
On this day in 1971, singer Jim Morrison is found dead in a bathtub in Paris. Morrison, 27, was taking a sabbatical from his hit rock band, The Doors, when he died of heart failure, likely caused by a drug overdose. Rumors abounded that Morrison, tired of fame, had faked his own death.
Morrison, the son of a navy officer, was born in Florida but moved frequently as a child. He studied filmmaking at UCLA, where he met Ray Manzarek, who suggested they set some of Morrison's poems to music. With Robbie Krieger on guitar and John Densmore on drums, they formed The Doors. Morrison christened the band after Aldous Huxley's book on psychedelic drugs, The Doors of Perception, which drew its name from a poem by William Blake.
The band began playing in 1965; by 1966, they were the house band at famous Los Angeles nightclub Whiskey-a-Go-Go. They were abruptly fired four months into the job after playing a controversial song, but the band had already landed a record contract with Elektra. Their first album, The Doors (1967), topped the charts, as did a shortened version of their 6-minute 50-second track "Light My Fire." The band's subsequent album, Strange Days (1967), hit No. 3 on the charts, and Waiting for the Sun (1968 ) hit No. 1.
Morrison, who cultivated a dark, untamed image, was arrested several times for obscenity and indecency. Concert halls became reluctant to book the unpredictable group, and The Doors' appearances were sporadic after 1968. However, their albums continued to sell. Morrison was idolized by some as a modern-day Dionysus; others saw him as a world-class buffoon and bad poet with a drinking problem.
Morrison began to turn his attention to other creative endeavors in the late 1960s, publishing books of poetry and directing a film. He moved to Paris in 1971 after the release of L.A. Woman. Few people other than Morrison's wife and an anonymous French doctor saw Morrison's body after he died, leading to speculation that he had faked his own death. He became more famous than ever posthumously. The Doors released a few more albums without him but had lost their energy. However, the original band's early music only became more popular over time and underwent a revival in the 1980s. In 1989, a new book of Morrison's poems was published, and filmmaker Oliver Stone profiled Morrison and the band in the successful 1991 film The Doors. On the 20th anniversary of his death, nearly a thousand fans mobbed the cemetery where he was buried.
