a very interesting artical about jims replacement

[mojo2010]

Rocker Paul Rodgers missed out on the chance to replace Jim Morrison as The Doors frontman because he was living in a country retreat and the legendary band struggled to track him down. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Rodgers was lined up as Morrison's replacement Enlarge photo The Free and Bad Company singer was Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger's top choice to join them in the band following Morrison's death in 1971 and they travelled to the UK intending to offer him an audition.

But Rodgers was busy working at a remote countryside hideaway and couldn't be located by the Light My Fire hitmakers - and it was almost 40 years before he found out about the band's failed mission.

Rodgers tells Uncut magazine, "I discovered quite recently that I was lined up to join The Doors, which blew my mind. Robby Krieger told me that The Doors were all fans of Free and, after Jim Morrison's death, they came to England looking for me.

"Thing is, at that time, I had buried myself in the country, working on things, and they couldn't get hold of me. My jaw actually dropped, like in a cartoon, when Robbie told me this. Would I have joined them? I dunno. It's hard to say, looking back. But I think not. I tend to form bands, that's what I do. Although it's always flattering to be asked!"

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Don't believe for one second that this scenario EVER happened.
There was never any search for Paul Rodgers by Ray and Robby and the whole thing is a pack of lies to gain attention for Ray and Robbys tribute drag act.
Paul Rodgers was one of the biggest names in rock in 1973.
If The Doors were trying to head hunt him the rock press would have found out and reported it.
I was a huge Free fan from 1970 even today Free are one of my favourite bands.
I would have noticed if this had made the music press.
Manzarek is a liar....plain and simple....he uses things like this to gain attention.
Krieger is little better nowadays.
It's sad that my fave band has to be tarnished by this mans lies and opportunist grubbing around.

He was one of the great keyboard players of the 60s and 70s but as a man he is garbage.

The bands search for a singer was reasonably well documented in 1973 here in the UK. I never saw names like McCartney Cocker or Rodgers bandied about.
I did see names like Howard Werth, who was reported in February 1973 in the press as the new lead singer of The Doors, Kevin Coyne and Jess Roden being considered.

I remember such things because Audience even today are one of my fave bands. I got into them in 1970. Kevin Coyne sang with Siren. I had their debut album and liked it. I knew who Bronco were and was a fan. Jess Roden was one of their lead singers.
I was a massive Free fan at that time.
I knew who all these people were and witnessed myself the UK search for a new Doors singer in 1973 via the media of the time.

Ray's lies are simply a way for him to gain attention and promote his latest crap. Any Doors fan who believes this kind of garbage should get out a bit more.

#Also funny how John Desnmore seems to have been written out of this drama.

Some background on the 1973 search for a new Doors singer
Howard Werth

Kevin Coyne

Doors disband 1973


And The Doors

Jess Roden On The Butts Band

Could Jim have been replaced in 1972?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

"they travelled to the UK intending to offer him an audition."
This particular notion is an absolute fantasy because it was reported in the UK rock media that The Doors were coming to the UK in March 1973 to rehearse with Howard Werth who Jac Holzman had personally recommended to The Doors.
The band knew who Audience were as they were signed to Elektra.
The media here knew about this state of affairs and if The Doors had come here specifically to audition Paul Rodgers then it would have been hard to keep that a secret considering the media here were expecting developments.

Of course it does not give any dates and the assumption is that this revolves around March 1973 which is the period the band came to England to seek a new singer.

The only other period they were here was in May 1972 during their UK tour and Free were recording Free At Last at this time so Rodgers would not have been that hard to find.
It would have been difficult to look for other singers when the Doors were playing every night here and nothing was ever said by any Door about remaining here after the tour.
So 1973 must have been the period this fantasy was taking place and it is well documented they came here to see Werth not Rodgers.

The only other explanation would be that Ray and Robby secretly came here in 1971 looking for Rodgers which would lead to all manner of awkward questions such as why did they not go to Paris to pay their respects to Jim?
But of course in 1971 they recorded Other Voices and rehearsed for and completed a short US Tour.

The whole thing is absolute horsehit

[darkstar3]

Blabbermouth - Dec 17 2009

PAUL RODGERS Celebrates 60th Birthday - Dec. 17, 2009

This Thursday (December 17), Paul Rodgers will celebrate his 60th birthday. Scores of family, friends and musicians sat down with Kyle McCurry at WNGZ radio over the last several weeks to talk about the inspiration and legacy of Rodgers' music. Fans can listen to the entire sessions filled with stories that quite possibly may never have been heard, exclusively online at PaulRodgers.com and BadCompany.com.

Dubbed the "Classic Rock Insider", the series features interviews with some of the biggest names in rock, including Mick Fleetwood, Bill Wyman, Alice Cooper, Jason Bonham, James Burton, upcoming U.K. tour mate Joe Perry and many more, interspersed with music spanning Rodgers' career in FREE, BAD COMPANY, THE FIRM, QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS and his Grammy-nominated solo works.

Highlights include:

* Robby Krieger discussing how THE DOORS had Paul Rodgers on a very short list of possible front men to take the spot in the band (after Jim Morrison had left and before THE DOORS called it quits).
www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=132129


PAUL RODGERS.COM
www.paulrodgers.com/





HOWARD WERTH THE NEW JIM MORRISON?
Howard Werth former singer with Audience is virtually certain to become the successor to Jim Morrison as lead singer with The Doors. Audience broke up last September and the job with The Doors has come about due to the friendship between Werth’s label boss Tony Stratton-Smith and Jac Holzman head of Elektra in America, The Doors label.

'Jac gave the early Audience albums to the Doors and they really liked Howard’s singing and writing'...Stratton-Smith told MM this week. 'Then he called me from The States and asked how Howard would feel about working with The Doors. And he is very excited about it.'

The Doors are coming over to England next month to rehearse with Werth and tie up a deal which will put Howard into Jim Morrison’s shoes.

Melody Maker 3rd February 1973

forum.johndensmore.com/index.php?showtopic=3864&st=0&p=42994&#entry42994

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Mar 27, 2011 16:08:49 GMT darkstar3 said:

* Robby Krieger discussing how THE DOORS had Paul Rodgers on a very short list of possible front men to take the spot in the band (after Jim Morrison had left and before THE DOORS called it quits).

Krieger is as much a liar as Manzarek nowadays. I don't believe these people anymore. They say anything to get attention.
If this came out as part of Paul's 60th birthday it shows how manipulative these two are.
None of The Doors ever mentioned this in any interview in the 70s 80s or 90s. Nowadays this kind of things gets them in the limelight a bit.
It never happened and is a figment of Ray's imagination that Robby will parrott because he is Ray's pet chimp.
The real tale of this search for a singer was followed by the UK and US media in 1971/72/73.
There was no Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker or Paul Rodgers ever mentioned.
I saw it first hand in the media as I followed the post Jim band avidly in all the UK rock press and the US mags that were available here at that time.
One of my favourite artists was fave for the gig. Howard Werth. Paul Rodgers was another of my favourite singers. I loved Free then as I do now. If any mention of Doors and Rodgers had been made I think I would have noticed as would a lot of my mates who were also Free daft.
Bollocks of the highest order.

[darkstar3]

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Kevon Coyne:

I've seen it reported that you were considered as a replacement for Jim Morrison in the Doors, right after he died.

The fact of the matter is, it's true really, in the sense that I was...the day after Jim Morrison was dead, I got a call from the manager of Elektra in Europe, at the time a guy called Clive Selwood. [He] asked me, would I come around to the office in London, which was not so far because I was living in London anyway, and talk about this...it was an idea. I have to say I didn't show too much enthusiasm, and nothing more was heard about it. Maybe I should have shown more enthusiasm, maybe I would have got the job, I don't know. But certainly the fact that the early Siren things came out on Elektra [the Doors' label] was a connection. All I know is that nothing more was heard of it after not showing a great deal of interest. Probably [they] thought I was an ungrateful swine or something. But I really didn't fancy it anyway.

So Morrison wasn't even buried yet, and the label was thinking of a possible replacement already?

Such are the machinations of the record industry. Not much sentiment around. What I found astonishing now is this awful band from England called Bush, who are basically a copy of Nirvana to the last degree. Enormously popular in the States, and not only that, the lead singer is going out with, or I suppose is having some sort of relationship with Kurt Cobain's ex-wife. I find it astonishing. No sentiment or taste anywhere, and I think this story I've just related about the Doors is somewhat similar. There wasn't any question of, you know, poor old Jim, let's give him a bit of a rest now. It was like, got to keep the money wheels turning, keep the cash registers going. It was certainly, almost the next day, I would say. It was certainly within a few days. But anyway, as I say, such is the music business.

www.richieunterberger.com/coyne.html


Coyne of the Realm
By Brian Baker

City Beat - volume 7, issue 39; Aug. 16-Aug. 22, 2001

In 1971, Coyne was the lead singer for an English blues/folk outfit
called Siren. The band had released a couple of marginally well-
received albums on DJ John Peel's Dandelion Records and had been
picked up for distribution in the US by Elektra Records.

On July 3, 1971, singer/poet/ shaman Jim Morrison, the incendiary
frontman for The Doors, died in a Paris bathtub, his legendary
excesses leading to a fatal heart attack at the Rock & Roll age of
27. Within days of Morrison's death, the surviving Doors made
inquiries as to the possibility of replacing Morrison. It had only
been three months since the release of L.A. Woman, and its enormous
success almost demanded a tour to support it.

Only three singers were considered as possible replacements for
Morrison: None were ever installed, and The Doors made two passable
albums as a trio before finally parting company in 1973. The first
and most probable name of all was The Stooges' Iggy Pop, a known
Rock commodity and an outrageous frontman in his own right. The
second was Howard Werth, who bore a physical resemblance to Morrison
and was fronting a band called Audience at the time. And the third,
and perhaps unlikeliest of all, was Kevin Coyne. If the three shared
any characteristic at all, it was Jac Holtzman, president of Elektra
Records. Both the Stooges and Audience were under contract to
Elektra, and Coyne's Siren was licensed through the label, so the
band may have had a limited pool to draw from. Whatever the
circumstances, Coyne was resolutely against the idea of joining the
Doors in any capacity.

"My manager in London was head of the European Elektra operations,
and he put my name forward," says Coyne from the West Virginia stop
on his current limited U.S. tour. "With the result that one morning
I was asked to come into the office and talk about this idea. I
didn't show any enthusiasm, so it was forgotten. I didn't like The
Doors to be honest. I like them today, but at that particular time I
wasn't impressed. The thought of those leather trousers put me off
as much as anything."

By the time of The Doors offer, Coyne had already lived an
incredibly varied life. Born to a generationally gifted musical
family, Coyne attended art school in the early '60s, which led him
oddly enough to a career in social therapy at a mental hospital. In
1968, he joined Siren and began to pursue his musical career more
seriously, having sporadically moonlighted as a singer/songwriter
throughout the '50s and '60s in local bands. The year after The
Doors opportunity, Coyne split from Siren and left the mental health
profession for a solo music career. His first album, Case History,
featured songs whose inspirations had been grounded in Coyne's
experiences with the mentally ill.

Source: www.citybeat.com/2001-08-16/music.shtml

[darkstar3]

Music Connection Magazine, 1991:

"Jim said he was going to pursue other avenues for the foreseeable future. We actually auditioned other singers to replace Jim as the lead singer of the Doors. I even ended up managing the guy who was going to replace Jim. His name was Michael Stull. But after Jim died, there was no compelling reason to do it."

Bill Siddons, from the radio show "Three Hours For Magic", broadcast in 1982:

"I was in the meeting when Jim said to us that he was moving to Paris and had no intention of continuing anything or not continuing anything. When the 'L.A. Woman' album was done, he was through with the Doors as an obligation.

"The fact is that while Jim was in Paris, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore rehearsed with different singers because they knew that Jim might never come back. He never said, 'That's it, I quit, it'll never happen again' and he never said, 'I'll be back in six months.' He just said, 'I don't know who I am, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what I wanna do, don't count on me, goodbye.'"

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Unfortunately Coyne was not the best witness to events involving himself as the guy rather fried on drugs.
He could not have been invited into the office the next day as they were not able to confirm the death until a few days later.
Selwood announced Jim's death as he was in London and the information filtered to him first.
Kevin Coyne was talked about in 1973 as was Howard Werth.
I am sure Kevin was asked about it and most likely turned it down.
He had a good singing voice and the debut Siren album is very good. I heard it first in 1970 and eventually owned a copy.
He had a good bluesy voice not unlike Jim.

They already knew Jim was leaving The Doors however he had put it at the meeting he called before he left for Europe.
The distrust shown by the band to him would have helped him sever any nostalgic ties to the band.

Perhaps Coyne was asked by Selwood as part of the bands search for a new singer in 1971.
He was certainly mentioned in the press in 1972/73 along with Werth and Jess Roden.

I think this 1971 thing is just Kevin having a loss of faculties. But who knows maybe he was asked in 1971. But certainly not as a result of Jim's death the day after Jim died.

The stories do tend to confuse dates as the idea Howard Werth was considered in 1971 is not the case at all. Howard makes it clear that he was considered in 1973 and the press from that time back that up. He was announced as the new singer in the media in February 1973. The actual cutting is on this site.

Such a lot gets confused about the period 1971/1973 as The Doors pay no attention to that period of their History.