Jim Morrison
Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty ImagesJim Morrisonhis brother Andy Morrisongave a rare interview about the late Doors frontman in the new docu-series Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison.
While theories have abounded in the years since the rocker was found dead in 1971, Andy offered a simple explanation for his brother’s death.
“His lifestyle (killed him). He obviously had too much to drink,” Andy said on the series. “I think he was overweight at the time and, you know, if you’re not in good health and drinking too much and doing some drugs, it’s not that hard to do.”
Jim’s body was found on July 3, 1971. in the bathtub of a Paris apartment rented by his then-girlfriend, Pamela Courson. His official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but an autopsy was never performed as it was not required by French law.
The new docu-series explores the conspiracy theory, long held by some Doors fans, that Jim faked his own death to escape the pressures of leading a world-famous rock band.
At least Jim left the United States for Paris to take a breather from the Doors after the band finished their album LA woman.
“I think he actually wanted to get back to serious writing. And maybe he had outgrown the Doors thing, it was enough,” Andy said Before the end. “I don’t think he’s 100 percent done. I think he just needed a break.”
A few years ago the Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger dismissed theories that his former bandmate was still alive somewhere, in part because he didn’t think Jim could have truly left music behind.
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“When he went to Paris, supposedly to get away from it all, all he did was jump on stage with these spinning house bands, get drunk and sing,” Krieger, 79, told people in 2021 “He couldn’t stop himself from doing that. That’s why I know he’s dead. Because if he was alive, he’d be up there on the stage somewhere.”
Krieger also disliked the Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek occasionally fanning the flames by hinting that Jim might still be alive. (Manzarek died in 2013 at age 74.)
“I loved talking to Ray, and he always said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Jim showed up.’ And I was like, ‘Come on, man, you really don’t believe that, do you?'” Krieger said Classic rock magazine in 2020 “It was pretty much bulls–. Yeah, he shouldn’t have done that.
