UCLA alumnus Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of the rock ’n’ roll band The Doors, died Monday afternoon, in Rosenheim, Germany after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.
During the 1960s, Manzarek helped light the fire of a generation with his psychedelic rock as a member of The Doors. He transcended the role of the keyboard in rock music, surging a path with his organ-driven solos and famous melodies. Without the life of Ray Manzarek, rock ’n’ roll would not be the same today, said Thomas Harrison, a professor at UCLA who has taught classes in rock lyrics that focused heavily on The Doors.
Manzarek was born in 1939 in Chicago, Ill., and grew up taking piano lessons. Born Raymond Manczarek, he came to UCLA in 1962 to study film at the department of cinematography, where he met his bandmate Jim Morrison. Manzarek later said, in a 1989 interview about his time at UCLA, that he originally was enrolled in law school for two weeks, before dropping out and realizing the department of cinematography was perfect for him.
“Music, theater, photography, all of it; the cinema combining all of the art forms, writing, acting, music, cameras,” Manzarek said. “All the things that I was interested in all went together into the film.”
After graduation in 1965, Manzarek, impassioned by Morrison’s poetry, formed a band with Morrison to create a vital turn in rock ’n’ roll history.
Robby Krieger, the guitarist of The Doors and the band Manzarek-Krieger since 2002, said in a statement Monday that he was deeply saddened by Manzarek’s passing but thankful for the many years the two played together.
“He always saw the good side of people,” Krieger said in the statement. “That was his genius. He was the only guy at UCLA that saw something good about Jim. … I will always miss (Ray).”
After the addition of Krieger on the guitar and John Densmore on drums, The Doors began playing in music clubs around Los Angeles, and by 1966 became the house band for Whisky a Go Go on Sunset Boulevard. The Doors’ presence at Whisky a Go Go shaped the legacies of both the band and the venue, said Jake Perry, a booking agent at Whisky a Go Go.
“Ray Manzarek is an integral part of the Whisky’s history,” said Perry. “He’s influenced every artist that has passed through here. And he may not be with us anymore, but his music and legacy lives on forever.”
When The Doors rose to fame in 1967 from the success of its eponymous debut album, it was Manzarek’s keyboard licks on songs such as “Light My Fire,” “Break On Through (to the Other Side)” and “Soul Kitchen” that signaled a change in rock ’n’ roll music.
The Doors’ lineup, which lacked a bassist, quickly became two-fifths Manzarek as he delegated the bass part to his left hand while using his right to play some of the most memorable riffs and melodies of psychedelic rock.
Dylan Robin, a fourth-year psychology student and guitarist in the UCLA band The Ten Thousand, said Manzarek’s innovative playing style and accompaniments to Morrison’s voice on “Break On Through (to the Other Side)” and “Touch Me” colored much of rock music that followed.
“There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison’s words,” said Densmore in a statement Monday. “It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother.”
In the short period between 1967 and Morrison’s 1971 death, Manzarek redefined the role of the keyboard in rock ’n’ roll. With classic organ solos and melodies on “Riders on the Storm,” “Hello, I Love You” and countless more, Manzarek paved a legacy that still reaches musicians and music lovers alike today.
“If you’re a fan of rock ’n’ roll music, you have to hold Manzarek to the same level as Jim Morrison,” said Robin. “Manzarek’s keyboard characterized The Doors’ sound as much as Morrison did. I always thought that his energy was the coolest energy from anyone in The Doors.”
After The Doors came to a close in 1973, Manzarek remained a force in the music industry, mentoring and working with musicians from punk to blues. He went on to become a best-selling author and a Grammy-nominated musician. In 2002, he rejoined guitarist Krieger for Manzarek-Krieger, and toured for the last decade.
“Manzarek’s aggressive playing channels the cool fury of rock ’n’ roll,” said Jordan Scharf, a first-year bioengineering student and jazz pianist who owns every Doors’ album. “There’s a long list of musicians that still try to emulate him today, myself included.”
Manzarek was the guiding spirit and talent of The Doors, said Harrison. The primacy of the organ in rock ’n’ roll, and the melodious articulation of his keyboard playing made the world understand how important rock was.
Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy, brothers Rick and James Manczarek, son Pablo Manzarek, Pablo’s wife Sharmin and their three children Noah, Apollo and Camille, according to a statement by Manzarek’s publicist, Heidi Ellen Robinson-Fitzgerald. Funeral arrangements are pending.