Official: Move Jim Morrison's remains back to Melbourne
MELBOURNE — The president of the Brevard Hall of Fame wants to move Jim Morrison's remains from his Paris gravesite to Melbourne, the birthplace of the controversial, magnetic "Lizard King" lead singer of The Doors.
One of the most iconic frontmen in rock history, Morrison was born Dec. 8, 1943, at the former Brevard Hospital on U.S. 1. His parents, Steve and Clara, moved to town when Steve was transferred to Naval Air Station Melbourne for flight training during World War II, and they lived in a downtown home on Vernon Place.
Though Morrison's resting place is a heavily visited pop-culture shrine listed among TIME's Top 10 Celebrity Grave Sites — alongside the likes of Princess Diana, Elvis Presley and Bruce Lee — scant evidence exists in Melbourne of his local ties.
John Tice wants to change that. In August 2012, he founded the Brevard Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization that occupies a back room inside the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum and honors more than 30 famous people with Space Coast residential ties. A modest Morrison display features posters, two record albums by The Doors ("13" and "Strange Days"), and a framed copy of his last will and testament.
"Jim Morrison was the most popular public figure from this area, in my opinion," Tice said, seated at a table inside the hall of fame. "He and Kate Upton are the two biggest draws here."
"I can see the Morrison display morphing into something much bigger," he said.
Tice, who is a West Melbourne city councilman, hopes to contact authorities at the sprawling Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where Morrison was interred after his 1971 death. If cemetery officials agree, and any potential legal issues are ironed out, Tice plans to organize a fundraising drive to move Morrison's remains to Melbourne for display at the Brevard Hall of Fame.
A couple of years ago, Tice said he heard that French cemetery officials offered to move Morrison’s remains to Melbourne to his Vernon Place birth home. However, the homeowner declined the offer.
Today, Jim Morrison's display serves as the centerpiece of the Brevard Hall of Fame main wall, near a football autographed by NFL quarterback Doug Flutie of Melbourne Beach, a surfboard autographed by 11-time world champion Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach, and both of Upton's Sports Illustrated swimsuit-issue covers. The supermodel, who was crowned People's Sexiest Woman Alive last year, attended Melbourne's Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy.
Fans push to preserve Jim Morrison's New Mexico home
Two Morrison posters and a "Jim Morrison Way" replica street sign were donated by Applebee’s at Wickham Road and Eau Gallie Boulevard, where they had been displayed in the dining room. Last year, an Ohio fan of The Doors donated both records and the poetry book “Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison.”
The newest Brevard Hall of Fame inductee is pro wrestler "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, a former Titusville resident and member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Two weeks ago, the hall added an autographed photo and commemorative football from retired Miami Dolphins fullback and Super Bowl VIII MVP Larry Csonka, who owns a home north of Scottsmoor.
Tice said he still hears the decades-old rumor that Morrison graduated from Melbourne High — which is false. Six months after Morrison was born, his father was assigned to the Pacific theater. Clara and Jim moved to Clearwater and lived with Steve's parents for the next three years, according to the Jim Morrison biography "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman.
Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter