Born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida, he was the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors. He was also the author of numerous books of poetry. James Douglas Morrison was the son of George Stephen Morrison and his wife Clara Clark Morrison, both employed in the United States Navy. His father was a strict military officer, who served as an admiral. Jim was raised by his conservative parents but grew up to express drastically different views than the ones 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... I, my mother and father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were driving through the desert at dawn. A truckload of Indians had 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 saw nothing, all I saw was funny red paint and people walking around, but I knew something was going on, because I could dig the vibrations of the people around me, and suddenly I realized that they didn't know what was happening more than I knew the first time I tasted fear... and I really think that, at that moment, the souls of those dead Indians - maybe one or two of them - were running around, going crazy, and they landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and soak it up. "Morrison grew up to become a researcher, interested in exploring new avenues and new sensations, and led a bohemian lifestyle in California, attending UCLA, wandering and sleeping on couches and rooftops, reading books voraciously. After graduating from UCLA , Morrison read some poems to his fellow student Ray Manzarek and they both immediately decided to start a rock band, two more members, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore joined the group by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, itself borrowed from a line of poetry by William Blake), "When the doors of perception are purified/Things will appear as they are, Infinite He has developed a unique singing voice and a style of poetry heavily leaning on mysticism.