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Ray Manzarek @ 74 - The Doors' keyboardist.

Ray Manzarek, whose keyboard playing was a central element to the sound of '60s rock group The Doors, has died at the age of 74, it was reported on the band's Facebook page.

According to the band's Facebook page, Manzarek died shortly after noon on Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, while surrounded by his wife Dorothy and his brothers Rick and James.

Manzarek had been battling bile duct cancer.

Born Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr. in Chicago, Manzarek formed The Doors in 1965, after meeting fellow UCLA film student Jim Morrison, who became the group's vocalist. After their stints at UCLA, the pair had a chance meeting at Venice Beach, during which Morrison told Manzarek that he had been writing songs. The group was filled out by drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, whom he'd met at a lecture on transcendental meditation.

Propelled by Manzarek's distinctive organ sound and Morrison's crooned, poetic lyrics, the group would go on to have a string of hits, most notably "Light My Fire," from their 1967, self-titled debut album. Other hits, including "Love Me Two Times," "Touch Me" and "L.A. Woman" followed, until Morrison's 1971 death. Though the surviving members would carry on briefly following Morrison's death, they never matched the success they achieved with their darkly charismatic frontman.

http://www.thewrap.com/music/article...-dead-74-92846

https://www.facebook.com/thedoors