Latest news with #SamBernett
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Shocking act of rock vandalism is SOLVED after 37 years
This is The End - of a 37-year search. That's what authorities in Paris were saying Monday after they recovered a bust statue of late rock icon Jim Morrison which had been missing since 1988. The bust of The Doors front man - which was first declared missing from a Paris cemetery - was recovered Monday by investigators assigned to a fraud case, a source told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The statue was initially crafted by Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin in 1981, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Light My Fire singer's mysterious 1971 passing at the age of 27. Authorities working under finance and anti-corruption probes were the ones to recover the statue, which had been missing for 37 years, officials said. The grave of the iconic rock star - who sang classics such as Light My Fire, Touch Me, Roadhouse Blues, and Riders on the Storm - remains an attraction for rock fans following Morrison's 1971 passing. Morrison's death has never been clearly defined, as early reports placed him in a bathtub after suffering a heart attack. French journalist Sam Bernett said in his 2007 book The End: Jim Morrison that the account was a muted version to protect the legacy of the musical artist, the AFP reported. Bernett said that Morrison fatally overdosed on heroin at his former Paris nightclub Rock 'n' Roll Circus. Morrison was in the bathroom of the venue, which was on the Left Bank in Paris. 'The flamboyant singer of 'The Doors,' the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub,' Bernett said in the book. Bernett said of Morrison to People in 2021: 'He had his head between his legs. He had white fluid around the lips and the nose, and his eyes were closed. I saw that something was very wrong.' Commenters on The Doors subreddit had varied opinions about the recovered bust - which has graffiti on it - and what should be done with it moving forward. 'Looks rough. Wonder what the chances are of cleaning it up, or restoring it somehow,' one user said. Commenters on The Doors subreddit had varied opinions about the recovered bust - which has graffiti on it - and what should be done with it moving forward Another person said that the bust remains 'iconic just like it is,' to which another user joked, 'Grab a Sharpie, then.' One user noted that 'so much Doors history is happening this year in particular,' adding that 'it's finally nice to get some news that isn't something depressing for a change. Among the factors they mentioned included the recovery of the bust; a December blaze of a downtown L.A. structure known as the Morrison Hotel. Also mentioned was the April 1 death of actor Val Kilmer, who played Morrison in the 1991 movie from Oliver Stone, The Doors.
CTV News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Jim Morrison bust found in France, 37 years after theft
Members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. (AP) PARIS, France -- French police have recovered by chance the long-lost bust of American singer Jim Morrison that once adorned the grave of the iconic frontman of The Doors, 37 years after it was stolen from a Paris cemetery. The sculpture, missing since 1988, was found during a search tied to a fraud case led by the Paris public prosecutor's office, a source close to the investigation told AFP. Nostalgic rock fans still flock to Morrison's grave at Paris's Pere Lachaise cemetery, where he was buried after his death in the French capital in 1971 at the age of 27. The sculpture, by Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin, had been placed at the grave to mark the 10th anniversary of Morrison's death. It was found by the financial and anti-corruption brigade of the judicial police department of the police. The exact circumstances of the singer's death are still shrouded in mystery, with most early accounts saying he died of cardiac arrest in his bathtub. A French journalist, Sam Bernett, claimed in a 2007 book that close friends and family spun the official version of Morrison's death to sanitise his reputation. Bernett said Morrison actually died from a heroin overdose on the toilet of a nightclub that the journalist owned at the time, the 'Rock 'n' Roll Circus' on Paris's Left Bank. The Doors, founded in Los Angeles, were among the most influential rock groups of the late 1960s and early '70s and a mainstay of the counterculture of the times. Their hits include 'Riders on the Storm', 'Light My Fire' and 'The End', a haunting song that features prominently in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam war movie 'Apocalypse Now'. In February, Paris named a bridge after the iconic singer, located just steps from the bohemian Marais district where he last lived.
