Ray Manzarek 
Ray Manzarek
(Original Elektra Records bio, 1967 excerpted
from "The Doors The Illustrated
History" by Danny Sugerman)
Raymond Daniel Manzarek, born February 12, 1939, in Chicago.
Keyboard player, attended UCLA Film School.
I grew up in Chicago and left when I was 21 for Los Angeles. My
parents gave me piano lessons when I was around nine or ten. I
hated it for the first four years -- until I learned how to do it
--
then it became fun, which is about the same time I first heard
Negro music. I was about 12 or 13, playing baseball in a
playground; someone had a radio tuned into a Negro station.
From then on I was hooked. I used to listen to Al Benson and Big
Bill Hill -- they were disk jockeys in Chicago. From then on all
the
music I listened to was on the radio. My piano playing changed; I
became influenced by jazz. I learned how to play that stride
piano
with my left hand, and knew that was it: stuff with a beat --
jazz,
blues, rock.
At school I was primarily interested in film. It seemed to
combine
my interests in drama, visual art, music, and the profit motive.
Before I left Chicago I was in theater. These days, I think we
want our theater, our entertainment to be larger than life. I
think
the total environmental thing will come in. Probably Cinerama
will
develop further.
I think The Doors is a representative American group. America is
a melting pot and so are we. Our influences spring from a myriad
of sources which we have amalgamated, blending divergent styles
into our own thing. We're like the country itself. America must
seem to be a ridiculous hodgepodge to an outsider. It's like The
Doors. We come from different areas, different musical areas.
We're put together with a lot of sweat, a lot of fighting. All of
the
things people say about America can be said about The Doors.
All of us have the freedom to explore and improvise within a
framework. Jim is an improviser with words.