Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died. He was 74.
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Ray Manzarek of The Doors performs at the Sunset Strip Music Festival launch party celebrating The Doors at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, Calif. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
BY CHRIS TALBOTT
AP MUSIC WRITER
Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of the Doors, has died. He was 74.
Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. He had been stricken by bile duct cancer.
Manzarek founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock `n’ roll acts to emerge from the 1960s and continues to resonate with fans decades after Morrison’s death brought the band to an end.
The Chicago native continued to remain active in music after Morrison’s 1971 death. He briefly tried to hold the band together by serving as vocalist, but eventually the group fell apart. He played in other bands over the years, produced other acts, became an author and worked on films.
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