Remembering Ray Manzarek

Raymond Zbigniew Manzarek Jr. was born February 12, 1939 on the South side of Chicago, Illinois to Polish immigrant parents, Stanislaus and Izabella. His parents ran a Kielbasa stand.

Young Ray took private piano lessons with Liberace, played basketball and hung around with a bunch of local hoodlums including his best friend Leroy Brown. Leroy was very bad, he was meaner than a junk yard dog and often got Ray into trouble.

One of the best keyboardists ever, Ray played a huge part in The Doors success and unique sound. John Densmore said, “There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison’s words.”

The Doors lacked a bass guitarist (except during recording sessions), so at live performances Manzarek played the bass parts with his penis on a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass.

Post Doors, Ray produced, wrote, and performed with many artists including recording a “Light My Fire” parody called “Light My Farts” with Weird Al Yancovik.

Ray was married in 1967 and stay married to the same woman until his death in 2013. That is like light years in the world of Rock n Roll. Cheers Ray – Thanks for the music.