Born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida, he was the lead singer and songwriter for the popular American rock band The Doors. He is also the author of several books of poetry.James Douglas Morrison was the son of George Stephen Morrison and his wife Clara Clark Morrison, both of whom were employed by the United States Navy. His father was a strict military officer, who served as an admiral. Jim was raised by his conservative parents, but he grew up to express views radically different from those he was taught. According to Jim Morrison, the most important event in his life occurred in 1947 during a family trip to New Mexico. He described the event as follows: "The first time I discovered death...me, my mother and my father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were crossing the desert at dawn .A truck full of Indians had either hit another car or something...there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. I was just a kid, so I. had to stay in the car while my dad and grandpa went to check it out. I didn't see anything, all I saw was funny red paint and people hanging around, but I knew something. thing was happening, because I could pick up on the vibrations of the people around me, and suddenly I realized that they didn't know what was going on any more than I did the first time I tasted it. fear...and I think at that moment the souls of these dead Indians - maybe one or two of them - were running around in panic and landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit and absorb it. read books voraciously. After graduating from UCLA, Morrison read some poems to fellow student Ray Manzarek and they both decided then and there to start a rock band. To complete the group, two more members, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore, joined the group. (The name The Doors comes from a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, itself borrowed from a line of poetry by William Blake), "When the doors of perception are cleansed/Things will appear as they are, Infinite". He developed a unique singing voice and a style of poetry heavily based on mysticism..