Publicist: Founding member of The Doors dies at 74

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died. He was 74.

Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. He had been stricken by bile duct cancer.

Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. 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 the band to an end.

Manzarek played Las Vegas with some frequency during his post-Doors career; the last was a co-bill with guitarist Robbie Krieger at Aliante Station in April of last year. In 2010, he played Red Rock Resort with blues guitarist Roy Rogers.

Manzarek and Krieger played Las Vegas at least five other times in the 2000s, with different singers and often different band names as the rights to the Doors moniker was contested in court.

A 1969 concert with the original lineup at the Ice Palace skating rink in Commercial Center has become something of a legend among longtime Las Vegans. That show came a year after Jim Morrison was arrested in Las Vegas for public intoxication, but the two events are often recalled as happening together.

For The Associated Press, Chris Talbot contributed to this report.

Contact Review-Journal entertainment reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.