Doors drummer John Densmore is remembering his former band mate, keyboardist Ray Manzerek.

Doors drummer John Densmore is remembering keyboard player, the late Ray Manzerek as a "gifted musician" and said that Ray was an "essential" member of the group.

On John's official Facebook page, he writes, "there was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words", and "felt totally in sync" with Ray, and that he and Ray were "of one mind, holding down the foundation" of Robby Kreiger's guitar noise and Jim's voice. John says he will miss Ray, whom he calls his "musical brother".

John and the other band members had a falling out several years ago that lead to them not speaking until recently. Ray and Robby wanted to carry on as The Doors, despite John's objections. The tiff ended in a court battle and the dirty laundry was aired in John's book, The Doors: Unhinged. John said he wrote the book as a peace offering to them, in hopes they would see his point of view, and it worked. They were talking as recently as two weeks ago about doing a one off gig for charity.

Ray passed away yesterday at the age of 74 at a hospital in Germany following a battle with cancer.

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