“Patricia Morrison Shocks Fans With Surprise Album Drop:Get Ready For a Rockabilly Revolution!
Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, a prolific lifelong writer who helped pioneer women in music journalism in the late 1960s, passed away on July 21 at the age of 75. She also wrote mysteries and popular science fiction books.
She was a fiction writer who kind of lived the life of a rock star. The day she spoke with Doors vocalist Jim Morrison in 1969 cemented her place in music history. Following a romantic relationship, Kennealy-Morrison gained immortality as the lady the singer dedicated herself to in a Celtic hand-fasting ceremony in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film “The Doors.” The author played a priestess officiating a pagan wedding in the film.
Ironically, though, Kennealy-Morrison is best known for her relationship with a rock singer, despite the fact that she was a gifted critic with a clear voice who recognized the limited prospects available to women in the music industry. She stated in 1970 for Jazz & Pop, the journal she produced, “For all its self hype to the contrary, rock is just another sad male chauvinist trip, with one key difference: it is got the power and the looseness with which to transform itself.”
Ellen Sander, a writer and Kennealy-Morrison’s classmate in the early rock press, wrote in an email to The Times, “Patricia was as fiery as they come.” She belonged to the initial group of rock journalists who made their way into print media by providing news and features that fed a fervent but at the time mostly unacknowledged readership. From what she saw as a narrow-minded group of rock music journalists, she developed into a popular genre fiction writer and created an incredible body of work.