Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74

Ray Manzarek, a founding member and keyboardist of 1960s rock group The Doors, died on Monday at a medical clinic in Germany at age 74 following a battle with cancer, the group’s manager Tom Vitorino said.

Manzarek, who lived in Northern California’s Napa Valley wine country for the past decade, had been seeking treatment in Germany for bile duct cancer, Vitorino said. He died in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his wife and brothers.

Singer Jim Morrison and then-UCLA film student Manzarek formed The Doors in 1965 after a chance meeting at Los Angeles’ Venice Beach, and Manzarek’s keyboard work would go on to be a touchstone of hits like Break On Through to the Other Side and Light My Fire.

The band, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, sold some 100 million records since its heyday with psychedelic-era classics such as 1971’s Riders on the Storm.

Manzarek’s electric organ was a defining aspect next to Morrison’s booming voice in the band’s blues- and jazz-influenced take on rock and roll.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger said in a statement. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”