Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend

As the lead singer of the Doors, Jim Morrison’s searing poetic vision and voracious appetite for sexual, spiritual, and psychedelic experience inflamed the spirit and psyche of a generation. Since his mysterious death in 1971, millions more fans from a new generation have embraced his legacy, as layers of myth have gathered to enshroud the life, career, and true character of the man who was James Douglas Morrison.

In Jim Morrison, critically acclaimed journalist Stephen Davis, author of Hammer of the Gods, unmasks Morrison’s constructed personas of the Lizard King and Mr. Mojo Risin’ to reveal a man of fierce intelligence whose own destructive tendencies both fueled his creative ambitions and brought about his downfall. Gathered from dozens of original interviews and investigations of Morrison’s personal journals, Davis has assembled a vivid portrait of a misunderstood genius, tracing the arc of Morrison’s life from his troubled youth to his international stardom, when his drug and alcohol binges, tumultuous sexual affairs, and fractious personal relationships reached a frenzied peak. For the first time, Davis is able to reconstruct Morrison’s last days in Paris to solve one of the greatest mysteries in music history in a shocking final chapter.

Compelling and harrowing, intimate and revelatory, Jim Morrison is the definitive biography of the rock idol in snakeskin and leather who defined the 1960s.

As an artist and persona, Jim Morrison epitomized the late 1960s, bridging a burgeoning counterculture and popular culture, while acting out the iconoclastic rage, rampant libido, and spectacular flameout of a tumultuous era. The music he created with The Doors has sold over 50 million records worldwide with over 13 million in the last decade alone, as their songs have been embraced by a new generation. But despite Morrison's seminal importance, there has not yet been an authoritative biography that does justice to him and his creative legacy. Until now.

Stephen Davis, the preeminent rock biographer and author of the classic Led Zeppelin history Hammer of the Gods (over 600,000 copies sold in three editions, and a #1 New York Times bestseller), has uncovered never-before-seen documents, conducted dozens of original interviews, and scoured Morrison's unpublished journals and recordings to write the definitive biography of a misunderstood legend. Jim Morrison is packed with startling new revelations about every phase of his life and career, from his troubled youth in a strict military household to his blossoming as a rock icon among the avant-garde LA scene to his voracious drug abuse and secret sexual experiments. Davis also investigates one of the greatest mysteries in rock history the circumstances surrounding Morrison's mysterious and unsolved death as he pieces together new evidence to tell the true and heartbreaking story of Morrison's last tragic days in Paris.

Compelling and unforgettable, Jim Morrison is destined to become a classic.

Library Journal

From the author of Hammer of the Gods, about Led Zeppelin. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Stephen Davis's many acclaimed books include the Rolling Stones history Old Gods Almost Dead as well as the New York Times bestsellers Walk This Way (with Aerosmith), Fleetwood, and Hammer of the Gods.