Ray Manzarek

Raymond Daniel Manzarek, Jr. or Manczarek (b. February 12, 1939, Illinois) is an American musician, singer, producer, movie director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, and the Doors of the 21st century (renamed Riders on the Storm) since 2001. Ray Manzarek is of Polish descent, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, as were his parents. Growing up, he took private piano lessons from Bruno Michelotti and others. He went to Everett Elementary School on S. Bell St. and attended St. Rita High School in Chicago. He majored in economics at DePaul University. In 1962-65, he studied in the Department of Cinematography at UCLA, where he met another film student named Jim Morrison. Forty days after finishing film school, thinking they had gone their separate ways, they met by chance. Morrison said he had written some songs, and Manzarek expressed an interest in hearing them, whereupon Morrison sang a rough version of "Moonlight Drive." In January 1966... full article at wikipedia