On this day in 1971, The Doors’ enigmatic frontman Jim Morrison is found dead in a bathtub in France at the age of 27.

Following a tumultuous couple of years with his bandmates, Jim Morrison reconvenes with The Doors to record what would become their final album, 1971’s L.A. Woman. By the time the recording sessions were completed, Morrison had moved to France, where he was living at the time with Pamela Courson.

On July 3rd, 1971, Morrison’s body was found in the bathtub of the apartment that he was living in. While his official cause of death was listed as heart failure, many theories have circulated in the following years, with suspicions being raised due to the lack of an autopsy by French authorities.

Morrison’s passing meant that he became one of the most famous members of the ’27 club’, which is an informal name given to the high-profile musicians who also passed away at this age. Other notable members of this club include The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones (who passed away exactly two years before Morrison), and Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin (who had both passed away nine months earlier).

Check out Jim Morrison in The Doors’ ‘L.A. Woman’:

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