Pamela Courson
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Pamela Susan Courson (December 22, 1946-April 25, 1974) was best known to American history as the girlfriend of late Doors' vocalist Jim Morrison.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
[edit] Morrison
Courson first met Jim Morrison in Los Angeles around 1966 when the Doors were beginning their public career; where exactly they first met is still a matter of historical debate. In his 1998 memoir Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors, former keyboardist Ray Manzarek stated that Courson and a friend saw the band during their stint at the London Fog, a lesser-known nightclub along the Sunset Strip, and that she was initially courted by drummer John Densmore.
[edit] Deaths of Morrison and Courson
On July 3, 1971 James Douglas Morrison died in his bathtub under mysterious circumstances at twenty-seven years of age. The official coroner's report listed his cause of death as heart failure due to temperature changes caused by the hot bath he was taking. Per the stipulation in his will, Courson inherited his entire fortune, yet lawsuits against the estate would tie up her quest for inheritance for the next three years.
On April 25, 1974, Pamela Susan Courson died of an apparent heroin overdose at the apartment she shared with two male friends. She was twenty-seven, the same age at which Jim Morrison died. The Courson family buried her under the name "Pamela Susan Morrison". After her death, her parents Columbus and Penny inherited Morrison's entire fortune, but their executorship of the estate was later contested by Morrison's parents, George and Clara Morrison.
[edit] Further reading
A detailed account of Courson's life and her relationship with Jim Morrison can be found in the book Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison by Patricia Butler (Music Sales Corporation, 2002).
