Danny Sugerman
Background information
Birth nameDaniel Stephen Sugerman
Born(1954-10-11)October 11, 1954
OriginLos Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 5, 2005(2005-01-05) (aged 50)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Music manager
Years active1967–2005

Daniel Stephen Sugerman (October 11, 1954 – January 5, 2005) was the second manager of the Los Angeles–based rock band the Doors. He wrote several books about Jim Morrison and the Doors, including No One Here Gets Out Alive (co-authored with Jerry Hopkins), and the autobiography Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess.[1]

Early life

Sugerman grew up in Beverly Hills, his neighbors were Fred Astaire, Steve McQueen and Raquel Welch. At eleven, his Jewish-American[2] parents divorced and his mother Harriet moved Danny and his siblings to Westchester, Los Angeles where she lived with a prosecuting attorney who was a harsh disciplinarian. He attended Westchester High School in Los Angeles, where he regularly authored articles about The Doors in the student newspaper. He attended summer camp near Lakeshore City, California with Todd Fisher, Steven Crane Jr. and sons of Ken Venturi and Don Knotts. He graduated in 1972.

Career

He began working with the Doors when he was 12 years old, answering their fan mail. At age 17 he replaced the Doors' original manager, Bill Siddons, following the death of Morrison in July 1971.

He later went on to manage Ray Manzarek's solo career and first album. He was also Iggy Pop's manager for a period, and produced his song "Repo Man", before they both ended up in mental hospitals suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.[3] It was during this time that he was also manager for the L.A based glam/punk band, The Joneses, whose founder and lead singer, Jeff Drake, supplied them with high quality heroin. He also wrote Appetite For Destruction: The Days of Guns N' Roses in 1991.

Personal life

For a time, Sugerman dated Mackenzie Phillips in the 80's. He later married Fawn Hall of the Iran–Contra affair fame in 1993 and they remained married until his death.[4][5] They briefly met MP3.com co-founder Rod Underhill while Hall was employed there. Underhill later stated that "Sugerman was very interesting. He had appeared to go out of his way to appear visually like Jim Morrison. Same type of haircut, similar clothing. The similarity was uncanny." Sugerman discussed his idolization of Morrison in detail, in part of his book Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess.

Sugerman was a recovering heroin addict who found solace in Buddhism.[6]

Death

He died on January 5, 2005, in Los Angeles, from lung cancer,[7] and is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Books

  • No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980, with Jerry Hopkins)
  • The Doors, the Illustrated History (1983)
  • Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess (1989)
  • Appetite For Destruction: The Days Of Guns N' Roses (1991)

References

  1. ↑ "Archives - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ↑ "Doors Manager Danny Sugerman Dies at 50". Rolling Stone. 6 January 2005.
  3. ↑ Sugerman, D. (1995). Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour Excess. NY: Brown and Company
  4. ↑ Al Kamen (April 18, 2012). "Catching up with Fawn Hall". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Daily News - Google News Archive Search". April 12, 1993. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Doors Manager Danny Sugerman Dies at 50". Rolling Stone. 6 January 2005.
  7. ↑ Doors Manager Danny Sugerman Dies at 50: Doors manager, writer succumbs to cancer By Steve Baltin, January 6, 2005 12:00 AM ET. Accessed via the internet June 26, 3013
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