The origins of The Doors as a band is fairly well know. In 1991, it was even recreated in Oliver Stone's film, The Doors. They where formed in the late summer of 1965 on a beach in Venice, California when fellow film school student Ray Manzarek (keyboards) and Jim Morrison (vocals) decided to form a group (and make a million dollars).
Jim had already written 5 or 6 songs and Ray thought they were great. Robby Krieger (guitar) and John Densmore (drums) were recruited to fill out the lineup. The band took its name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception (although the term was originally referenced by William Blake).
Morrison loved rock and roll and the blues, but he never thought he would be a singer. He began to realize that music could be a vehicle for his poetry. During Jim's early live gigs he would sing with his eyes closed or his back to the audience. The Doors became the house band at the Whisky-A-Go-Go on the sunset strip. There they refined their craft and gelled as a band. And it was there that they were discovered by Jac Holzman of Elektra Records in 1966 and signed to a record contract.
Their self-titled debut album, The Doors, was released in 1967 and would be followed by five other studio albums before Morrison's death in 1971 at the age of 27.
Formed in Los Angeles, CA in 1965 and signed to the Elektra Records label. Band members included:
The Doors have sold over 35 million albums in the US nearly 100 million albums worldwide. They were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold albums. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.