He was a great performer, dripping with charisma and he's one of rock's great vocalists, let's read 27 facts about Jim Morrison who passed away at the age of 27.
(Photo: CBS)
1. He was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne Florida as James Douglas Morrison.
2. When he was four, Morrison suffered a serious car accident in the desert, which involved a family of Indians. The event greatly influenced Morrison, who also wrote several songs about the event, such as, "Dawn's Highway", "Peace Frog" and more.
3. In his youth, Morrison read books of philosophy and poetry and was greatly influenced by Nietzsche and the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who influenced his writing style.
4. After graduating from high school he moved to live with his grandparents in Clearwater Florida.
5. In 1962 he began studying film at the University of Florida. Cinema was an area that Morrison had been drawn to since he was a child.
6. In 1963, during his studies, Morrison was arrested at a football game, due to drunkenness and for disturbing the public.
7. In 1964 Morrison moved to Los Angeles where he studied film and photography at UCLA.
8. At one point he moved to Venice Beach where he lived a bohemian lifestyle on the roof of a building, consuming LSD and writing some of the first songs of "The Doors".
9. In the summer of 1965, the Doors band began to form when keyboardist Ray Manzarek - Morrison's friend from school began writing songs with him. Later, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore whom Manzarek and Morrison met in a drama class, joined the band.
10. They chose the name "the Doors" for themselves after the book "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, which was also influenced by the English poet William Blake.
11. In 1966, the band began playing in clubs in Los Angeles, including "Whiskey a Go-Go", where they served as an opening act for Van Morrison's "Them".
12. In 1967 the band released their first album simply called "The Doors". The album included several hits such as "Light My Fire" and "Break On Through (To the Other Side") which were a huge success and won the band huge fame quickly.
13. Morrison is the first artist to be arrested on stage during a performance. This happened during the band's performance in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, on December 9, 1967.
14. This was not Morrison's only arrest on stage. He was arrested in 1969 and put on trial in Miami Florida, following an unnecessary incident in which he exposed his penis during a performance. This incident heralded the beginning of the band's disintegration, in part after the band had to pay large sums of money during and after the trial.
15. Although many believe that Morrison did not play on "The Doors" albums, in the song "Orange County Suite" he plays the piano. Also, in the song "Strange Days" he plays the synthesizer Mog.
16. In 1969 Morrison released a book of poems he had written.
17. Morrison had a brief relationship with the well-known singer Nico.
18. He also tried his luck with Janis Joplin, but she was not happy about it and broke a "Southern Comfort" bottle on his head.
19. Morrison is also known as the Lizard Man - "The Lizard King" and "Mr. Mojo Risin".
20. Morrison recorded himself a lot while reading his poetry, even during his stay in Paris in 1971 shortly before his death.
21. Seven years after his death, the band released the album "American Prayer" based on these recordings in which Morrison reads the poetry accompanied by the music of the doors.
22. On July 3, 1971, Morrison apparently died of a heroin overdose while he was only 27 years old. He was found lifeless in the bathtub of the hotel where he was staying in Paris. According to French law, no autopsy was performed on her body and his death was determined as a heart attack.
23. The person who found him lifeless in the bathtub of the hotel was his girlfriend Pamela Courson.
24. Although Morrison and Pamela were never married they were considered a common-law couple in the state of California, where there was no such precedent at the time. After her death, Pamela was buried under the name Pamela Susan Morrison.
25. Pamela is known to have inspired many of Morrison's songs, including "Love Street," "Queen of the Highway," and "Twentieth Century Fox."
26. Morrison is buried in the "Per Laches" cemetery in Paris, where many celebrities such as Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Edith Piaf, and more are buried. Only five people attended his funeral.
27. During such a short period of only 4 years of activity, Morrison along with "The Doors" has released six masterpiece albums featuring a huge list of songs engraved in rock history forever.
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