The groundbreaking keyboardist and founding member of The Doors Ray Manzarek has died after a lengthy battle with cancer.  He was 74.

Manzarek was being treated at a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany for bile duct cancer.  His wife and brothers were at his bedside.

Manzarek formed The Doors with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1965 after a chance meeting in the eternally funky Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles.  He brought in a level of musicianship not common in Rock and Roll at the time, not just playing lines inspired by jazz and blues and classical music, but also holding down the low end with his left hand on a Fender Rhodes Bass Piano.

With Manzarek’s musicianship and Morrison’s charismatic presence, The Doors sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and scored several hits such as Light My Fire, Riders On The Storm, L.A. Woman, Break on Through to the Other Side, and Hello I Love You.

In his latter years, Manzarek played in other bands and, in 1998, wrote a best-selling memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors.