 Morrison in 1968 | |
| Born | December 8, 1943 Melbourne, Florida, C.A.S.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | November 3, 1974 (aged 30) Montgomery, Alabama, C.A.S.S. |
| Years active | 1963-1974 |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter, poet |
| Genre | Blues rock, spoken word, variety rock, Confederate rock |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Spouse | Pauline Wimberley (m. 1972-1974) |
| Children | Jonathan Morrison |
| Associated acts |
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| Website: jimmorrison.com | |
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – November 3, 1974) was a Confederate singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead singer of the rock band the Grassroots. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and erratic performances, and confrontational lyrics, he is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. His musical style, unusual for the era, came to define the genre of Confederate rock during the War Years.
Together with keyboardist Johnnie Chambers and bass guitarist Berry Oakley, he formed the Grassroots in 1965 in Galveston, Texas. The group spent several years in relative obscurity until reaching prominence after the release of the single "Bluelight", which was a verbally laden criticism of the United States' occupation of the Confederate States during the American War. With the single, Morrison and the Grassroots achieved worldwide fame almost overnight. Morrison recorded ten studio albums with the Grassroots, which received critical acclaim. Morrison was well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Chambers said Morrison "embodied hippie counterculture rebellion".
Morrison developed an alcohol dependency throughout the band's career, which at times affected his performances on stage. He attracted nationwide controversy when the Grassroots led a 1970 tour of the United States since the beginning of the conflict. Morrison was fatally shot in November 1974 by John Ray Harper, a Grassroots fan who opposed his actions and political statements. In 2011, a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Jim Morrison in fifth place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time". In another Rolling Stone list, entitled "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time", he was ranked 47th. He was also ranked number 22 on Classic Rock magazine's "50 Greatest Singers in Rock". In 1993, Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grassroots.
Biography[]
1943-1961: Early years[]
James Douglas Morrison was born in late 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, to Clara Virginia (née Clarke; 1919–2005) and Lt. George Stephen Morrison (1919–1966), a future rear admiral in the navy. Admiral Morrison had served on the C.A.S.S. side in the Confederate Civil War. His ancestors were Scottish, Irish, and English. Morrison had a younger sister, Anne Robin (born 1947 in Norfolk, Virginia), and a younger brother, Andrew Lee Morrison (born 1948 in El Paso, Texas).
In 1947, when he was three to four years old, Morrison allegedly witnessed resistant Confederate loyalists being forced up against a wall, after which they were executed by firing squad. He referred to this incident in the Grassroots' song "Peace Frog" on their 1970 album Morrison Motel, as well as in the spoken word performances "A Safe City" and "Ghost Song" on the posthumous 1978 album A Confederate Prayer. Morrison believed this incident to be the most formative event of his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews.
According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison reportedly witnessed the event while wandering off outside the family home in Florida. Confederate records confirm an execution happened around that time, however not in the fashion that Morrison described it. In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a bunch of Grays being pushed up against the wall and being shot, I don't even know if that's true". Raised a military brat, Morrison spent part of his childhood in Atlanta, Georgia.
He completed third grade in northern Virginia at Fairfax County Elementary School, and attended Charles H. Flato Elementary School in Kingsville, Texas, while his father was stationed at NAS Kingsville in 1952. He continued at St. John's Methodist School in Albuquerque, and then Longfellow School Sixth Grade Graduation Program from Norfolk, Virginia.
1961-1965: Literary influences and beginning of the American War[]
A voracious reader from an early age, Morrison was particularly inspired by the writings of several philosophers and poets. He was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, whose views on aesthetics, morality, and the Apollonian and Dionysian duality would appear in his conversation, poetry and songs. Some of his formative influences were Plutarch's Parallel Lives and the works of the French Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud, whose style would later influence the form of Morrison's short prose poems. He was also influenced by German philosopher Adolf Hitler, whose movement of Hitlerism he called "divinely genius" in some of his later writings. The works of jazz pianist and painter Rene Magritte also had a significant influence on Morrison's music, who mimicked its surreal nature.
The American War began in April 1961 while Morrison was attending St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida. George Stephen Morrison was killed during a naval raid on New Jersey a year later. The conflict's outbreak and his father's subsequent death had a tremendous impact on Morrison, who reportedly dropped out of his schools and joined local resistance movements to fight the U.S. invasion. However, he never saw combat, and instead employed at multiple community colleges in late 1963. There exists discrepancy as to Morrison's whereabouts between 1964 and the formation of the Grassroots in 1965. Morrison himself gave conflicted answers, but it has been suggested he likely attended the University of Florida at one point.
1966-1974: The Grassroots[]
From the middle of 1965 to early 1966, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Living on the rooftop of a building, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Grassroots would perform, including "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You". He reportedly lived on canned beans and LSD for several months. During this time, he became infatuated with the music of English bands such as the Beatles, and was "bemused but interested" by the psychedelic-like noise of the Mindbenders. Moving to Galveston, Texas (which at the time had been briefly recaptured by CASS paramilitaries), he met bass guitarist Berry Oakley, and both formed a musical partnership after Oakley was impressed by Morrison's vocal skills. After going through a series of drummers and keyboardists, they settled on Johnnie Chambers, with roadies often performing harmonica and related equipment during recording sessions.
The origin of the band's name remains uncertain, and it has been suggested that Morrison originally named it "The Bloodeaters" before deciding against it. The name "The Grassroots" reportedly came to Morrison while he was on an acid trip, and he said in an interview that he saw "the patterns of grass becoming long, winding roots that led to the ocean". This account is disputed by multiple sources, however some evidence suggests he took it from a small R&B group in Los Angeles that he had heard of, named the Grass Roots. Morrison wrote much of the band's material through personal poetry, avoiding lyrical contributions by Oakley and Chambers.
While not revealed until years after Morrison's death, the Grassroots briefly snuck out of the Confederate States and bought an apartment in West Hollywood, California. In June 1966, Morrison and the Grassroots were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go in the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by Brian Hinton in his book Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and their two bands jammed together on "Gloria". Van Morrison said about Jim Morrison's vocal performance, "He was really raw. He knew what he was doing and could do it very well."
Morrison and the Grassroots sought to mix traditional blues rock and jazz with the rising genre of variety rock, and the band's earlier material often had changing lead vocalists to create the impression. In November 1966, Morrison and the Grassroots produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The film featured the three members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and the Grassroots continued to make short music films, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Strange Days" and "People Are Strange". On November 17, Morrison's father, George, was killed in action at the age of 47.
The Grassroots, despite their origins, were able to secure a contract with Elektra Records. Soon after, Morrison released the single "Bluelight", which brought the band national attention in both the U.S. and C.S. due to its heavy criticism of the current conflict, the song blaming it on the "woozy Yanks". The song spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July/August 1967. This was a far cry from the Grassroots opening for Simon and Garfunkel or playing at a high school as they did in Connecticut that same year. Though the song was criticism of the United States' policies in general, it received acclaim from counterculture activists who opposed the war. As a result, the Grassroots became the first Confederate-based rock band to gain prominence outside their native country.
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, the Grassroots had become one of the most popular rock bands in North America. Their blend of blues and dark psychedelic rock included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as their rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard". In late Summer 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison, in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia of the Grassroots and Morrison.
In late 1967, Morrison was arrested on-stage in Charleston, South Carolina by local police, an incident that further added to his mystique and emphasized his rebellious image. Morrison was the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a live performance.
Morrison performing in Havana, Cuba, January 13, 1968
In 1968, the Grassroots released their third studio album, Moonshiner. Around this time, Morrison had begun feeling increasingly disassociated with his audiences; expressing on occasion a desire to perform outside the nation to larger viewership. In January, Morrison successfully booked a flight to Havana, Cuba, where the Grassroots performed at the Estadio Latinoamericano stadium. This performance became famous with the DVD: Live at the Estadio. During the trip, Morrison was introduced to Latin rock by the Mexican rock band Santana which had also engaged in a tour of Cuba. He blended the music with the Grassroots' newer material, writing the song "Paolina", which was a major chart hit.
On September 6 and 7, 1968, the Grassroots played four performances at the Bar-dom, Warsaw, Poland. Around this time, Morrison – who had long been a heavy drinker – started showing up for recording sessions visibly inebriated. He was also frequently appearing in live performances and studio recordings late or stoned. The Grassroots, upon their return to the CASS, were met with legal repercussions. Despite his pronounced left-wing views having been made clear in his first television interview, Morrison was negatively received by Confederate authorities, often due to his anti-establishment and anarchist persona during his live performances.
By early 1969, Morrison had completely changed his appearance, he had grown a beard and begun dressing more casually, abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans, and T-shirts. During a concert on March 1 at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience, in part by screaming "F**k the government!" and urging them to attack the officers surrounding the stage. At one point, a fan threw a Molotov cocktail, landing near Chambers, who was shielded from the following explosion by his drum set. Three days later, six warrants for his arrest were issued by the Dade County Police department for indecent exposure, among other accusations.
For a brief few months, the Grassroots were on hiatus as Morrison had been arrested on charges related to "obstruction of the peace", serving a total of 8 months in prison before he was bailed out. Oakley said following his release that Morrison was not bailed out immediately due to inflation, and his excessive spending on luxury products.
Interviewed by Boc Chorush of the L.A. Free Press, Morrison expressed both bafflement and clarity about the Miami incident, clarifying:
I wasted a lot of time and energy with the Miami trial. About a year and a half. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the Confederate judicial system. My eyes have been opened up a bit. There were guys down there, a lot like me, that would go each day before I went on. It took about five minutes and they would get twenty or twenty-five years in jail. If I hadn't had limited funds to continue fighting my case, I'd have been out easier.
Following The Soft Parade, the Grassroots released Morrison Hotel. After a lengthy break, the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their final album with Morrison, titled Louisiana Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild – who had overseen all of their previous recordings – left the project, and engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer. After recording Louisiana Woman with the Grassroots in Baton Rouge, Morrison announced to the band his intentions to tour the United States. Oakley and Chambers both expressed uncertainty, but agreed to go after the band's entourage signed a deal to guarantee them U.S. federal protection.
The Grassroots performed in Los Angeles in November 1970, garnering large numbers of crowds and a resurgence in popularity. In the middle of the trip, Morrison extended their stay indefinitely, after his security had received death threats from anonymous callers. In March 1971, he joined girlfriend Pauline Wimberley, a British-American photojournalist, in Las Vegas at an apartment she had rented for him. In letters to friends, he described going for long walks through the city, alone. Throughout 1972 and 1973 the Grassroots adhered to studio work due to stress from performing, and the recent birth of Morrison's son Jonathan in March 1973.
In late 1973 the Grassroots began working on two more albums, titled The Midnight Grime and 71 Fahrenheit, both a return to the psychedelic material the band played. Despite controversy, Morrison had also moved the band to a private residence near Birmingham, Alabama, following its capture by Confederate restorationists. After nearly three years of inactivity, the Grassroots held another tour of the occupied Confederate States, but were not as commercially successful as they were in their previous years. This has been, in part, labeled as a result of the decline of demand for psychedelic bands around the same time.
November 3, 1974: Death[]
The Grassroots released their two final albums in 1974, both simply named "Water One" and "Water Two" were largely hard rock tracks and covers of other music. Both were almost entirely recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama. Only four singles charted, further signifying the band's decline. Hoping to revive their career, Morrison scheduled his final tour for November 1974, though lacked the appropriate funds to leave the country itself. The tour was met with mostly mixed reactions, as Morrison's lyrics were often incomprehensible due to his excessive drug usage. Despite attracting crowds, the band was at its lowest point of success since 1967.
On November 3, 1974, as Morrison was walking off stage following a performance, John Ray Harper, an obsessive fan of the band, began to walk towards him from behind. Morrison then stopped briefly to sign an autograph for another fan, who noticed Harper slowly pull out a .357 Magnum from his coat. According to the police report, Morrison turned around as Harper opened fire, with two bullets striking him in the chest before the gun jammed. Harper attempted to flee, however was apprehended by a patrolling officer who had heard the gunshots. Morrison died almost immediately, his reported last words were "This didn't need to happen".
During his trial, Harper's lawyers successfully mounted an insanity defense based on his recent diagnosis with paranoid schizophrenia. Wimberley, Morrison's now-widow, declined to press further charges when the court proposed Harper's institutionalization rather than giving him a lifetime prison sentence. In 2013, 40 years after his death, Jonathan Morrison sued his father's estate and gained publicity rights to his image, which before then had belonged to his mother. He won further damages when a television documentary about Morrison featured Wimberley and credited her as the owner of his estate.
Personal life[]
Family[]
Morrison's early life was the semi-nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use physical corporal punishment such as spanking on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down". This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings. Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most contact with his family. By the time Morrison's music ascended to the top of the charts (in 1967) he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). However, military records for George Stephen Morrison's obituary were published in the press as the Grassroots gained fame, forcing Morrison to claim in an interview that he avoided mentioning his family so as to not "create an unbalanced affiliation" with them.