Ray Manzarek, founding Doors member and Napa resident, dies
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY L. PIERCE CARSON AND PUBLISHED BY NAPA VALLEY REGISTER ON MAY 20, 2013.
Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of the Doors who performed and lived in Napa Valley in recent years, has died at age 74.
A musician who had a dramatic impact on rock ‘n’ roll, Manzarek died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, after battling bile duct cancer for several months, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald.
Manzarek founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in Los Angeles. 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 an effective end to the band.
Manzarek, a Chicago native, continued to remain active in music. On the local scene, he performed with blues guitarist/vocalist Roy Rogers in early January this year at the Napa Valley Opera House and appeared with the Napa Valley Symphony as a guest artist for its September 2010 Napa River Festival.
