Ray Manzarek, the founding keyboardist of the Doors, died of cancer Monday at age 74. Mandalit del Barco at National Review Online writes:
One of the biggest selling bands of all time — and one of the most controversial — The Doors came together in 1965, after Manzarek moved to Los Angeles and recruited Jim Morrison to sing with his college band. Manzarek grew up on Chicago’s south side and resisted piano lessons when he was young, until he heard Chicago blues and jazz on the radio. His keyboard playing on such Doors classics as “Light My Fire,” “Riders on the Storm,” “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” and more provided a blues and jazz counterpoint to Morrison’s poetic swagger.
