American singer-songwriter Jim Morrison was BOTD in 1943. Born in Melbourne, Florida to a military family, he had a nomadic childhood, attending high school in Virginia, Washington, D.C., where he devoured the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud and Jack Kerouac. He studied briefly at Florida State University before transferring to the University of California Los Angeles, where he formed rock band The Doors with three college friends. After performing at Whisky-a-Go-Go on Sunset Strip, the band were signed to a record label, becoming overnight stars with their 1967 self-titled album and the hit single Light My Fire. Calling himself “The Lizard King”, Morrison cultivated a mysterious, highly sexualised persona, becoming infamous for his provocative performances and arrested in 1969 for exposing himself onstage. Perhaps the definitive star of the psychedelic rock era, he became notorious for heavy drinking, drug use, orgies with groupies and rumours of sado-masochistic sex with his long-suffering girlfriend Pamela Courson. Morrison had an intense interest in homosexuality, nurturing erotically-charged friendships with gay men, including poet Michael McClure, and visiting gay bars and nightclubs to observe queer sex. In his 2004 biography, Stephen Davis argued that Morrison was actively bisexual, citing encounters with male prostitutes and club owners. Citing dissatisfaction with the rock music scene, Morrison moved to Paris with Courson in 1971. He died later that year, apparently after suffering a heart attack in his bathtub. He was 27. Buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery, his grave became a pilgrimage site for his fans and remains one of Paris’ most unlikely tourist attractions. Now recognised as one of rock’s most charismatic and influential figures, his music, legacy and skintight snakeskin trousers have inspired generations of musicians including Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, Ian Curtis, Nick Cave, Bono, Lenny Kravitz and Michael Hutchence. The mysterious circumstances of his death have prompted a series of long-running conspiracy theories, notably his ex-girlfriend Eve Babitz’s 1991 essay Jim Morrison Is Dead and Living in Hollywood. In 1993, The Doors were posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2007. Morrison was played (as a rampant heterosexual) by Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic The Doors.