Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek
Ray Manzarek
Background information
Birth name	Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr.
Born	February 12, 1939 (1939-02-12)
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genres	Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock, Jazz rock, hard rock, blues, jazz fusion, funk, Rock and Roll
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Keyboardist, Filmmaker
Instruments	Keyboards, Keyboard bass, Vocals, Marxophone, Guitar, Percussion
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Elektra
Associated acts	The Doors, The Butts Band, Nite City Manzarek-Krieger Rick & the Ravens
Website	TheDoors.com The Official Site of Ray Manzarek
Notable instruments
Vox Continental Gibson G-101 Rhodes Keyboard bass RMI Electra Piano

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." 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 X, 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.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2010, Manzarek was recording 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 (http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/index.php?page=home).

Discography

The Doors

Main article: The Doors discography

Solo

• The Golden Scarab (1973)
• The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's Out of Control (1974)
• Carmina Burana (1983)
• Love Her Madly (2006)
• Ballads Before The Rain (With Roy Rogers) (2008)
• Translucent Blues (With Roy Rogers) (2011)

Nite City

• Nite City (1977)
• Golden Days Diamond Night (1978)

Books

• Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors (1998) ISBN 0-425-17045-4
• The Poet in Exile (2001) Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002 paperback: ISBN 1-56025-447-5
• Snake Moon (2006) ISBN 1-59780-041-4

External links

• Official website
• The Doors official website
• Michael McClure & Ray Manzarek
• 1998 Fresh Air with Terry Gross interview
• Manzarek Interview from St. Petersburg Times (June 2005) about the legal battle with Densmore over the use of the Doors name
• Article about Ray Manzarek's recent work, March 1, 2006
• Article from the Napa Register (October 9, 2006) about Ray Manzarek
• Ben Fong-Torres speaks to Ray Manzarek about the book The Doors (video)
• December 2006 interview in Horror Garage magazine
• Undercover video interview, April 2007
• Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger on "Live From Daryl's House"
• Ray Manzarek PR in Ireland
• Ray Manzarek interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).