User blog:Jeremiah Garland/RIP Ray Manzarek

As many of you may or may not have heard, legendary rock organist Ray Manzarek passed away yesterday at age seventy-four. For those of you who don't know who this talented musician was, he was a founding member of the 1960s psychedelic-rock band, the Doors, along with frontsman Jim Morrison. He is arguably the greatest organist in rock history, and the number of iconic riffs, hooks, and solos he performed with the Doors are certainly a defining sound of the band. After Jim Morrison died in 1971, aged twenty-seven, Manzarek, along with Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore, continued on the legacy of the band, sharing the role of vocals with Krieger. Manzarek, perhaps Morrison's closest friend, helped him fight his chaotic alcoholism, and kept the band together long enough to forge such hits as "Riders on the Storm", "Break On Through", and "Light My Fire". His uncontested contributions to the sound of the era, rising from the mid-late '60s California scene, was integral in making the Doors one of the highest-selling American bands in history, and changed rock music forever. He died in Mannheim, Germany, due to bile duct cancer. May he rest in peace, and may his soul once again jam with Jim.