Ray Manzarek

All Music Guide:

One of the most influential keyboard players in the history of rock music, Doors member Ray Manzarek was born on February 12, 1939. Born to Polish immigrants in Chicago, IL, he grew up admiring the boogie-woogie piano players that became popular in the '50s. After dropping out of U.C.L.A.'s law program, he reconsidered going to graduate school, eventually going back under their prestigious film program. It was in this environment that Manzarek helped form the Doors. Being one of the most influential rock bands in America, they would go on to release several albums before the untimely death of lead singer Jim Morrison in July of 1971. Devastating the band, they attempted two albums without Morrison featuring Manzarek on vocals, but fan support was low and the band slowly fell apart. In 1973, he released his first solo album, The Golden Scarab, and began to tour again. 1974's The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's out of Control came next, but Manzarek was itching to work with a band again and eventually started Ray Manzarek's Nite City. They released an eponymous album in 1976 and Golden Days Diamond Nights in 1977, but they failed to capitalize on the success of the original Doors and fell apart again. It was soon after that that the punk movement became a driving force in Los Angeles, and the band X contacted Manzarek about working with them in a production capacity. The end result was Los Angeles, one of the all-time most important punk albums. Reinvigorated, he began work on Carmina Burana, a high concept solo album about opera and minstrels that was released in 1983. Unfortunately, the effort was viewed as too pretentious and he quietly faded away for almost ten years. When Oliver Stone's film biography The Doors was released in 1991, Manzarek came out of semi-retirement to voice his displeasure in how the band was portrayed by the controversial filmmaker. In 1993, he released an album of Michael McClure's beat poetry over his keyboard playing, Love Lion, to a warm reception. The duo toured the country with the act, while Manzarek worked on his autobiography and a Doors tribute album. Both eventually came out, and he has continually voiced his desire to make a musical based on the career of his former band. At the turn of the century, he released an album with British musician/actor Darryl Read and saw his son score a major-label record deal with his band A.I. Although he has made some challenging and interesting music since that time, including the soundtrack to the film Love Her Madly in 2006, his huge influence over the world of rock will forever associate him with the Doors, and luckily Manzarek seems completely comfortable with that legacy.

Wikipedia:

Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek (born February 12, 1939), is an American musician, singer, producer, film director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, Nite City from 1977–1978 and Manzarek-Krieger since 2001.

Early life and career

Manzarek is of Polish descent, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, as were his parents. Growing up, he took private piano lessons from Bruno Michelotti and others. He originally wanted to play basketball, but he only wanted to play power forward or center. When he was sixteen his coach insisted either he play guard, or not at all, and he quit the team. Manzarek said later if it was not for that ultimatum, he might never have been in The Doors. He went to Everett Elementary School on S. Bell St. and attended St. Rita High School in Chicago.

In 1962–1965, he studied in the Department of Cinematography at UCLA, where he met film student Jim Morrison. At UCLA, Ray also met Dorothy Fujikawa who would later become his wife. Forty days after finishing film school, thinking they had gone their separate ways, they met by chance on Venice Beach in California. Morrison said he had written some songs, and Manzarek expressed an interest in hearing them, whereupon Morrison sang a rough version of "Moonlight Drive." Manzarek liked the songs and co-founded the Doors with Morrison at that moment.

Manzarek met drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger at a Transcendental Meditation lecture. Densmore says, "There wouldn't be any Doors without Maharishi."

In January 1966, The Doors became the house band at The London Fog on the Sunset Strip. According to Manzarek, "Nobody ever came in the place...an occasional sailor or two on leave, a few drunks. All in all it was a very depressing experience, but it gave us time to really get the music together." The same day The Doors were fired from The London Fog, they were hired to be the house band of the Whisky a Go Go. Their first performance at the Whisky was with the group Them.

The Doors' first recording contract was with Columbia Records. After a few months of inactivity, they learned they were on Columbia's drop list. At that point, they asked to be released from their contract. After a few months of live gigs, Jac Holzman "rediscovered" the Doors and signed them to Elektra Records.

The Doors lacked a bassist, so Manzarek usually played the bass parts on a Fender Rhodes piano Bass. His signature sound is that of the Vox Continental combo organ, an instrument used by many other psychedelic rock bands of the era. He later used a Gibson G-101 Kalamazoo combo organ (which looks like a Farfisa) because the Continental's plastic keys frequently broke according to Manzarek.

Manzarek occasionally sang for The Doors, including the live recordings of "Close To You" and on the B-side of "Love Her Madly", "You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further)". He also sang on the last two Doors albums, recorded after Morrison's death, Other Voices and Full Circle.

Later career and influence

Manzarek has been in several groups since the Doors, including Nite City. He recorded a rock adaptation of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with Philip Glass, produced and backed Echo & the Bunnymen and Los Angeles band , played with Iggy Pop, backed San Francisco poet Michael McClure's poetry readings and he has done improvisational composition with poet Michael C. Ford. Ray also worked extensively with "Hearts of Fire" screenwriter and former SRC front man Scott Richardson on a series of spoken word and blues recordings entitled "Tornado Souvenirs".

His memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, was published in 1998. The Poet in Exile (2001) is a novel exploring the urban legend that Jim Morrison may have faked his death. Manzarek's second novel, Snake Moon, released in April 2006, is a Civil War ghost story.

In 2000, a collaboration poetry album titled: Freshly Dug was released with British singer, poet/actor and pioneer Punk rocker Darryl Read. Read had previously worked with Ray on the Beat Existentialist album in 1994, and their latest poetical/musical collaboration was in 2007 with the album "Bleeding Paradise."

On August 4, 2007, Manzarek hosted a program on BBC Radio 2 about the 40th anniversary of the recording of "Light My Fire" and the group's musical and spiritual influences.

In April 2009, Manzarek and Robby Krieger appeared as special guests for Daryl Hall's monthly concert webcast Live From Daryl's House. They performed several Doors tunes ("People Are Strange", "The Crystal Ship", "Roadhouse Blues" and "Break on Through (To the Other Side)") with Hall providing lead vocals.

After living many years in Hollywood, Manzarek now resides in Napa County, California in a house he remodeled extensively. He also plays with local bands in the Napa area.

In 2009, Manzarek collaborated with "Weird Al" Yankovic, playing keyboards on the single "Craigslist" which is a style parody of the Doors.

Manzarek was a co-producer on a few tracks for Universal Recording artist Michael Barber. A track recently appeared on the Intenet titled "Be Ok," on Michael's Universal Records Debut.

In May 2010, Manzarek recorded with slide guitarist Roy Rogers in Studio D in Sausalito. The album Translucent Blues, released in mid-2011, was ranked #3 on the Top 100 Roots Rock Albums of 2011 by The Roots Music Report.

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