Ray Manzarek

Raymond Daniel “Ray” Manzarek, born on February 12, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois, was the architect of the intoxicating keyboard sound of The Doors. Ray Manzarek’s impressive playing fused rockjazz, blues, bossa nova and a variety of other styles into something completely new and amazing.

The group was formed in 1965 when Jim Morrison and Chicago-born Ray Manzarek – both film students at UCLA – met in Venice Beach. The singer’s poetry was a perfect match for the classically trained keyboardist’s musical ideas, and so they decided to form a band. Several bassists auditioned for the group, but none could play the bass lines that Manzarek’s left hand played. Under contract to Elektra Records, the Doors released six studio albums, a live album and a compilation until Morrison’s tragic death in 1971.

Manzarek, warrior and Densmore released two albums as a trio under the name The Doors, with Manzarek and Krieger on vocals. Manzarek then founded the group Nite City, which drew comparisons with Mott the Hoople and Aerosmith. The band released their only album in 1977.

The surviving Doors joined forces to set the poems recorded by Morrison to music on the 1978 album “An American Prayer”. Manzarek produced and played on five albums by the L.A. band X, including “Los Angeles”, which is one of the highlights of the punk movement. The keyboardist wrote several books and recorded numerous solo albums. Manzarek underwent treatment at the St. Georg Clinic in Bad Aibling for bile duct cancer. Due to his poor state of health, he was transferred to Rosenheim Hospital, where he died on May 20, 2013 at the age of 74 as a result of his illness.