Ray Manzarek, founding member and keyboardist of the Doors, dies at 74
Ray Manzarek, far right
, with the other members of the Doors at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Ray Manzarek, the founding member and keyboard player for the Doors whose haunting and sweetly melodic organ riffs loomed large in the psychedelic rock era, died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany. He was 74.
A spokesperson for the band, Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald, said the cause was bile duct cancer. She said the musician had struggled with complications related to the disease for several months and that his wife, Dorothy, and his brothers, Rick and James, were at his bedside when he passed away.
The Doors were one of rock and roll music’s most iconic and controversial acts. Formed in 1965, when Manzarek met aspiring poet and film student Jim Morrison on Venice Beach, the band went on to sell more than 100-million albums worldwide, with hits like “Light My Fire,” “Hello, I Love You,” “Break On Through to the Other Side,” “L.A. Woman” and “Roadhouse Blues.”
The Doors first came to San Francisco in January 1967 to open for the Young Rascals and Sopwith Camel at the Fillmore Auditorium. They also frequented local venues such as the Avalon Ballroom and Matrix Club, with bootleg recordings from the shows long circulating among fans.
When they performed a series of dates at the Winterland Ballroom in December 1967, the band stopped one of their shows mid-song so could watch themselves perform on “The Jonathan Winters Show.”
After Morrison’s death in 1971, the Doors – which also included drummer John Desnmore and guitarist Robby Krieger – attempted to carry on with Manzarek on vocals.
When they eventually split up, Manzarek became a best-selling author and solo artist. He also produced music for Echo and the Bunnymen and the Los Angeles band X; and performed with San Francisco poet Michael McClure, British actor Darryl Read and electronic composer Bal.
His memoir, “Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors,” was published in 1998.
Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr. was born on Feb. 12, 1939, in Chicago, Ill. He initially wanted to play basketball but refused to play guard, despite his coach’s insistence, so he quit the sport. He graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Economics. In 1962, he began studying cinematography at UCLA, along with Morrison. He also met his wife, Dorothy Fujikawa, there.
The Doors staged several hugely successful comebacks over the years, fueled by the Jim Morrison biography “No One Here Gets Out Alive,” co-authored by the band’s manager Danny Sugerman, and Oliver Stone’s sensationalized 1990 biopic, “The Doors.”
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
In 2000, the band was the subject of the tribute album “Stoned Immaculate” and a live VH1 special — both of which featured lead singers from contemporary bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, Creed and Smash Mouth filling in for Morrison.
Mr. Manzarek shared his thoughts on the enduring appeal of the Doors in an article in the Chronicle some 40 years after the band first broke. “I love how the young people of today can understand and get excited by the Doors’ music,” he said. “I love that. I think it’s a tribute to their intellect.”
He added, “People always ask me, ‘But don’t you get tired of playing ‘Light My Fire’?’ I always say back, ‘Do you get tired of having sex?’”
In 2002, Manzarek revitalized his touring career with Doors’ guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger, as Manzarek-Krieger.
“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” said Krieger. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”
In 2008, Mr. Manzarek had moved to Napa, often sitting in with local acts.
In another interview with the Chronicle, he recalled his last dream about Morrison.
“He was back, and nobody asked him where he had been,” Mr. Manzarek recalled. “He comes in and we’re in a rehearsal studio, sort of like the Doors workshop. It’s like what he said to me on the beach before we put the band together. I said to him, ‘What have you been up to?’ And he said, ‘I’ve been writing songs’ And that’s the point at which the dream ends. I never hear the songs. It’s so frustrating. I wake up just before Jim begins to sing, and I never get to hear the songs.
Mr. Manzarek is survived by his wife and brothers, as well as a son, Pablo, and three grandchildren, Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks fans to please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek’s name at
www.standup2cancer.orgHere is an interview we conducted with Mr. Manzarek in 2000.
http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2013/05/20/ray-manzarek-of-the-doors-dies-at-74/
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R.I.P. Ray Manzarek (Read 4,007 times)
