Jim Morrison: Icon
A new book claims that The Doors frontman Jim Morrison didn't die of heart failure in a bath in 1971 at the age of 27.Former nightclub manager Sam Bennett claims that he found the body of the singer dead in a lavatory cubicle from what he believes was a heroin overdose. In the book The End:Jim Morrison Bennett writes "The flamboyant singer of The Doors, the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nighclub." Bennett goes on to claim that Morrison's dealers turned up and told him that Morrison was merely unconscious and carried him out of the club.However Morrison's girlfriend at the time Pamela Courson gave a different story she told police that they had been to the movies then out to dinner before they listened to records before going to sleep.Morrison woke up feeling ill during the night so took a bath. Courson found him the next morning.Rumours have long since circulated that Morrison became ill in a nightclub due to an overdose but until now no witnesses have ever came forward.The Doors were formed in 1965 but they signed with Elektra Recirds in 1967. Their debut single 'Light My Fire' reached number one in the Billboard charts.
By the time the band released their second album they had become one of the biggest bands in America and Morrison had become one of the most iconic music figures of all time.
Helen Earnshaw