Singer, Songwriter. Born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of a naval officer, he adopted a bohemian lifestyle in California while attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) while literally homeless, sleeping in any convenient place handy, friends' couches, rooftops, in cars and under the pier at Venice Beach. One of his UCLA classmates was filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. A voracious reader of books, he started a rock band with fellow student, keyboardist Ray Manzarek after he graduated. They quickly found two more members, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. Dubbed with the name "The Doors" it quickly found fame in the Rock and Roll music world with their music constantly topping the music charts. Jim Morrison developed a unique singing voice and became the lead singer of the group. His life style leaned on mysticism while engaging in drugs, alcohol and bizarre behavior leading to many legal confrontations with the law. He grew tired of his fame and sought anonymity in Paris with his long-time girlfriend Pamela Courson. They lived in various expensive hotels while taking in the usual tourist hangouts. His health was already in decline and he was excessively overweight. While in a bath tub, he was found dead at the age of twenty-seven. He had been under treatment by a Paris physician who mercifully stated the cause of death as heart failure thus avoiding an autopsy. His death was kept secret leading to a conspiracy theory of a faked death. A Paris funeral service took charge and Jim Morrison was placed in a standard simple French veneered coffin and a direct burial was completed at the Famous Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris. The grave unmarked for many years became much to the chagrin of cemetery officials a number one Paris tourist destination. A stone block was placed over his sealed grave after many attempts to unearth the grave were made by fans of the occult and mysticism who came from around the world, performed devil worship rites, sexual orgies and had plain drug parties at the grave site. They came over the walls at night. Security guards with dogs patrolled the grounds while cameras to survey the grave were installed along with night lighting. Litter, wine bottles, drug needles and graffiti were left behind. Souvenir hunters took every thing that could be uprooted or torn free. Officials have perceived the grave as a nuisance and suggest that when the lease expires a new burial site will have to be found. Three years later Pamela Morrison died from a heroin overdose at twenty-seven, the exact age as Jim. Her body was cremated and interred in a mausoleum at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana with the marker reading Pamela Sue Morrison. In 1993, Morrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Doors.
