Jim Morrison

James Douglas “Jim” Morrison was born December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, the son of U.S. Navy officer (later Rear Admiral) George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. He died in Paris on July 3, 1971 at age twenty-seven.

Alexandria years (1959–1961)

The Morrison family moved to Alexandria, Virginia in January 1959 when George S. Morrison was reassigned to the Pentagon as a senior naval officer. The family lived at 4424 Beechwood Road in the Beverly Hills neighborhood of West Alexandria, near Glebe Road and Russell Road, for the duration of Jim’s high-school years.

Morrison arrived as a second-semester sophomore at 1005 Mount Vernon Avenue Place 1005 Mount Vernon Avenue Brick Stripped Classical / Art Deco school on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray, built 1934 and opened 1935 as George Washington High School — a consolidation of the city's earlier … — George Washington High School, on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray. Contemporary classmates and teachers remembered him not as a musician — he showed little interest in joining the school band or choir — but as a highly intelligent, albeit detached and cynical student, known for testing his teachers with obscure literary and philosophical references. Rather than participating in school-spirit activities, he spent much of his free time off-campus at the 717 Queen Street Place 717 Queen Street Alexandria's first free public library, opened on Queen Street in 1937, and site of a sit-in on August 21, 1939 that is among the earliest documented civil-rights direct actions in … on King Street, devouring poetry, philosophy, and beat literature — influences that would directly shape The Doors’ lyrical sensibility a half-decade later.

Morrison completed his coursework and graduated with the Class of 1961. In a move perfectly aligned with the rebellious persona he would soon make famous worldwide, however, he refused to attend his own graduation ceremony.

After Alexandria

Morrison left Alexandria in fall 1961 to attend St. Petersburg Junior College and Florida State University, then transferred to UCLA’s film school in 1964, where he met keyboardist Ray Manzarek. The Doors formed in Los Angeles in 1965; their self-titled debut album appeared in 1967 with the breakthrough single “Light My Fire.” The band recorded six studio albums through 1971.

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 with his longtime partner Pamela Courson, intending to focus on writing poetry. He was found dead in the bathtub of their Rue Beautreillis apartment on July 3, 1971; the official cause of death was recorded as heart failure. He is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, among the most-visited graves in the world.