[Deathwatch] Danny Sugerman, manager of "The Doors", 50

[Deathwatch Central]

Ex-manager and 'No.1 Doors fan' dies aged 50

THE former manager of The Doors, Danny Sugerman, who befriended the
members of the legendary band as a youngster, has died after a battle
with lung cancer.

Sugerman, 50, was responsible for re-igniting interest in the band with
the best-selling 1980 Doors memoir No One Here Gets Out Alive, which he
co-wrote with veteran music journalist Jerry Hopkins.

He also served as a technical advisor on Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie The
Doors, which starred Val Kilmer as the group’s late frontman, Jim
Morrison.

"Danny was the No. 1 Doors fan of the world," Doors drummer John
Densmore said. "I told him no-one loved Jim as much as he did."

Sugerman, who died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, wrote in his
Doors book: "My personal belief is that Jim Morrison was a god."

The Doors, famous for tracks such as Light My Fire and Riders on the
Storm, enjoyed a wild heyday in the late 1960s. Sugerman started
hanging around with the band when he was 14, after seeing them perform.


He answered The Doors’ fan mail until Morrison suggested putting him on
the payroll as a manager.

Sugarman went on to manage the affairs of Densmore, keyboardist Ray
Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger after Morrison died of heart
failure in 1971.

Densmore, who visited Sugerman shortly before he died, said he had been
sick for some years. "Cigarettes took him out," he added.

Sugerman is survived by his wife, Fawn.