Posted by John Rack on April 09, 2006 at 15:13:08:
I've played with a drummer friend, Ken Lord, of Torrance, CA, who once was in a band with Cliff Morrison, circa 2000. He let Cliff stay in his converted garage/recording studio. At the time they were recording demos, some of which were engineered by Don DeWitt of ABACA studios, also in Torrance, CA. I heard some of these tapes, and the Cliff's voice was a dead ringer for Jim Morrison.
If it's really true that he is J.M.'s love child son, the fruit don't fall too far from the tree, in more ways that one.
Ken Lord has his family at the house, and one day he went to his garage studio with his young son to find Cliff. All he found was a bunch of herion laced tin foils laying around. So he thru Cliff out, who was soon after arrested for heroin possesion somewhere in L.A.
The recording engineer, Don, told me several record companies were interested in Cliff Morrison, whatever his pedigree, because he can really sing. But the guy is so drug damaged nobody would touch him. Word on the street was Cliff had been put thru rehab by some monied musical interests, but it didn't take.
At one point Ken Lord was talking with promoters about doing high profile shows with Cliff around L.A., and Ken had asked my band, BluesTrain, to open these shows for them. But after Cliff's bust, it all went down the tubes.
Don't send me e-mails asking were Cliff is. I don't know and I don't care. L.A. is full of talented derelict druggies and boozers, and he's just another one of them.