Jim Morrison, The Doors

The late Jim Morrison, American rock singer and rock lyricist, has become a legend for music lovers all across the world. With his band, The Doors, he is an icon for the 70s generation and has a lasting appeal. The lyrics Morrison wrote for the group captured public attention with issues such as the drug culture, the anti-war movement and avant-garde art. Further, Morrison wished to be accepted as a serious artist, and he published such collections of poetry as An American Prayer (1970) and The Lords and The New Creatures (1971).

Jim Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida. With his fellow students from the University of California, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore and Robbie Kriger, he formed a group which was in 1965 christened The Doors. Their first album, The Doors (1967), mixed performances from Bertold Brecht/Kurt Weil's Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) to Willie Dixon's Back Door Man. The lyrics Morrison wrote in 1965 dominated the first two Doors albums. The first single chart success came in July 1967 with Light My Fire.

Morrison's drinking, exhibitionistic performances, and drug-taking badly affected his singing and musical output. Everything changed after a disaster in a Miami concert in 1969, where he was accused of exposing himself on stage. Morrison put his leather pants in the closet. See me change, he sang. He started to devote more time with projects outside the band. In April 1970, Morrison Hotel hit the lists in the US and England. It was hailed as a major comeback. The Doors played their last concert with Morrison in New Orleans. It was a disaster - Morrison smashed the microphone into the stage, threw the stand into the crowd and slumped down.

American Prayer was privately printed in 1970, but not made widely available until 1978. On July 3, 1971 Morrison was found death in his bathtub.

Morrison was buried at Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris, which houses the remains of many famous artists, statesmen and legendary figures such as Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent