Founded in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, after a meeting between UCLA film school students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, "The Doors" became one of the premier acts of the late 1960s. The two had known each other at UCLA and met by chance on Venice beach in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and, at Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive". Manzarek immediately suggested they form a band.
Vox-Organ-Player Ray Manzarek was already in the band called Rick And The Ravens with his brother Rick Manzarek while Robby Krieger and John Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, and knew Manzarek from shared meditation instruction. In August Densmore joined the group and, along with members of the Ravens and an unidentified female bass player, recorded a six-song demo on September 2. This was widely bootlegged and appeared in full on the 1997 Doors box set.
That month the group recruited talented guitarist Robby Krieger and the final lineup—Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore—was complete. Manzarek solved their lack of bassist by playing bass on a Fender Rhodes bass keyboard with his left hand and keyboards with his right hand.
Many of The Doors' originals were composed communally, with Morrison usually contributing the lyrics and some melody, while the others hammered out the beat and flow of the song. Among their biggest hits are “Riders on the Storm”. “LA Woman”, “Light My Fire”, “Touch Me” and “Waiting for the Sun”.
The Doors quickly earned a reputation as a challenging and entertaining live act, as well as having a rebellious reputation. Jim Morrison was arrested on stage in New Haven for foul language, which he had directed toward police at the concert. In one appearance on September 17, 1967 with a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on the Columbia Broadcasting System network, the network's censors demanded the group change its lyrics in its song, Light My Fire, altering the line, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" because of the reference to drugs. However, Morrison sang the original line instead, and on live television with no delay CBS was powerless to stop it. Ed Sullivan was so furious that he refused to shake their hands and they were never invited back. Morrison later insisted he was nervous during the performance and forgot to change the line.
In 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to take some time out and moved to Paris with girlfriend Pamela Courson, in March. He had visited the previous summer and, for a time, seemed contented to write and explore the city. But by June he was once again drinking heavily and suffered a fall from a second story window in May. On June 16 the last known recording of Morrison was made when he befriended two street musicians at a bar and invited them to a recording studio. The drunken results were later released on bootleg CD.
Morrison died under mysterious circumstances on 3 July 1971; his body was found in the bathtub of his apartment. It was concluded that he died of a heart attack, although it was later revealed that no autopsy had been performed before Morrison's body was buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery on July 7.
The remaining Doors continued for some time. After initially considering replacing Morrison with a new singer, Krieger and Manzarek took over on vocals, and released two more albums, Other Voices and Full Circle. The Doors also toured during this time. Both albums sold well, but not in the numbers of the Morrison era releases, and the Doors ceased all performing and recording activities at the end of 1972.
Vox-Organ-Player Ray Manzarek was already in the band called Rick And The Ravens with his brother Rick Manzarek while Robby Krieger and John Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, and knew Manzarek from shared meditation instruction. In August Densmore joined the group and, along with members of the Ravens and an unidentified female bass player, recorded a six-song demo on September 2. This was widely bootlegged and appeared in full on the 1997 Doors box set.
That month the group recruited talented guitarist Robby Krieger and the final lineup—Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore—was complete. Manzarek solved their lack of bassist by playing bass on a Fender Rhodes bass keyboard with his left hand and keyboards with his right hand.
Many of The Doors' originals were composed communally, with Morrison usually contributing the lyrics and some melody, while the others hammered out the beat and flow of the song. Among their biggest hits are “Riders on the Storm”. “LA Woman”, “Light My Fire”, “Touch Me” and “Waiting for the Sun”.
The Doors quickly earned a reputation as a challenging and entertaining live act, as well as having a rebellious reputation. Jim Morrison was arrested on stage in New Haven for foul language, which he had directed toward police at the concert. In one appearance on September 17, 1967 with a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on the Columbia Broadcasting System network, the network's censors demanded the group change its lyrics in its song, Light My Fire, altering the line, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" because of the reference to drugs. However, Morrison sang the original line instead, and on live television with no delay CBS was powerless to stop it. Ed Sullivan was so furious that he refused to shake their hands and they were never invited back. Morrison later insisted he was nervous during the performance and forgot to change the line.
In 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to take some time out and moved to Paris with girlfriend Pamela Courson, in March. He had visited the previous summer and, for a time, seemed contented to write and explore the city. But by June he was once again drinking heavily and suffered a fall from a second story window in May. On June 16 the last known recording of Morrison was made when he befriended two street musicians at a bar and invited them to a recording studio. The drunken results were later released on bootleg CD.
Morrison died under mysterious circumstances on 3 July 1971; his body was found in the bathtub of his apartment. It was concluded that he died of a heart attack, although it was later revealed that no autopsy had been performed before Morrison's body was buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery on July 7.
The remaining Doors continued for some time. After initially considering replacing Morrison with a new singer, Krieger and Manzarek took over on vocals, and released two more albums, Other Voices and Full Circle. The Doors also toured during this time. Both albums sold well, but not in the numbers of the Morrison era releases, and the Doors ceased all performing and recording activities at the end of 1972.
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