Bill Siddons (born 1948) is an American music manager. He is best known for managing
the Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
from 1968 to 1972.
The Doors
Siddons began his career as a teenage roadie with the Doors while attending
Cal State Long Beach and six months later was asked to be the manager of the band in 1968. Siddons said in response about his initial meeting with singer
Jim Morrison
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...
: "So what was my first impression of Jim? He scared me to death."
When Morrison died in Paris on July 3, 1971,
Pamela Courson
Pamela Susan Courson (December 22, 1946 – April 25, 1974) was the long-term companion of Jim Morrison, singer of the Doors. Courson stated she discovered Morrison's body in the bathtub of a Paris apartment in 1971. She died three years after h ...
(Morrison's girlfriend) immediately contacted Siddons. He flew to Paris and arranged the funeral and burial with Courson. However, he never saw Morrison's body due to there being a closed casket and his aversion to seeing his friend dead. “We buried Jim correctly,” says Siddons, “and that perhaps was my greatest achievement: making sure we kept it quiet until it was done the right way. Nothing to hide, but we knew what was going to happen because we'd just been through it with
Jimi
Jimi may refer to:
* Jimi language (Cameroon)
* Jimi language (Nigeria)
* Jimi languages
* Jimi system, administration system of ancient China
* Jimi River, in Papua New Guinea
* Jimi Valley, in Papua New Guinea
* Jimi District, in Papua New ...
and
Janis."
After Morrison's death, Siddons continued to manage the remaining members of the Doors as they released two albums and toured. In 1972 he parted company with the Doors. He reunited with the remaining Doors in 1978 for the release and marketing of the Jim Morrison's poetry record, ''
An American Prayer
''An American Prayer'' is the ninth and final studio album by the American rock band the Doors. Following the death of Jim Morrison and the band's breakup, the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to set several of Morrison's spoken word ...
'' which reawakened interest in the Doors and their musical significance. His character appears in
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
's movie ''
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
'', in which
Josh Evans plays him.
Post-Doors career
After working with the Doors, Siddons continued his career as a manager in the music industry. He managed or co-managed acts including
Crosby, Stills, and Nash;
Poco
In software engineering, a plain old CLR object, or plain old class object (POCO) is a simple object created in the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) that is unencumbered by inheritance or attributes. This is often used in opposition to the comp ...
,
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
,
Pat Benatar
Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...
,
Jerry Cantrell
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internatio ...
,
Robert Palmer,
John Klemmer
John T. Klemmer (born July 3, 1946) is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, and arranger.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and began playing guitar at the age of five and alto saxophone at the age of 11. His other earl ...
and in more recent times was a co-founder of Core Entertainment. Core Entertainment was a professional management firm representing
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...
, another band which has dealt with the death of its front man, and others.
Siddons co-managed Alice in Chains along with the band's original manager,
Susan Silver, from 2005 to 2007. He currently runs Core Entertainment Org., and is partners with Jeremy Rosen Esq. in RoxCore Management, representing
Ace of Base
Ace of Base is a Swedish pop group formed in 1987, originally consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren, with Ulf Ekberg.
They achieved worldwide success following the release of their debut album, '' Happy Nation'', in 1992. L ...
,
Ozomatli, and
Matisyahu
Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician.
Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...
.
Personal life
Siddons is married to comedian
Elayne Boosler
Elayne Boosler (born August 18, 1952) is an American comedian, writer, and actress.
She was one of the few women working in stand-up comedy in the 1970s and 80s, and she broke ground by adopting an Observational comedy, observational style that ...
since 1994.
References
20th-century American businesspeople
1948 births
The Doors
Living people
American music managers
Place of birth missing (living people)
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