Ray Manzarek -- who co-founded "The Doors" with Jim Morrison in 1965 and played keyboard -- has died, this according to the band's official Facebook page. Manzarek was 74.
According to the website, Manzarek passed away today at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer.
At the time of his death, Ray was surrounded by his wife Dorothy and his brothers Rick and James.
Jon Oliva's Pain and Savatage mastermind Jon Oliva will release his first-ever solo album, "Raise The Curtain", on June 21 in Europe and July 2 in North America via AFM Records. The 11-song CD, which contains ideas collected over the course of the last four or five years, was tracked this past winter at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida with producer Tom Morris, with Jon handling laying down nearly all the instrument tracks and vocals himself as well as playing drums on three songs.
The 2013 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony took place in downtown Los Angeles at the Nokia Theater. A truncated version of the evening's events will air on HBO on May 18th. The inductees to the Rock Hall class of 2013 were Rush, Heart, Donna Summer, blues legend Albert King, Randy Newman, and rappers Public Enemy. The prestigious Ahmet Ertegun Lifetime Achievement Award was given to record mogul Lou Adler and Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr.
The Rolling Stones will release their career-spanning documentary Crossfire Hurricane on DVD and Blu-ray on May 21st. The film, which was directed and compiled by Brett Morgen, premiered last year on HBO and features never before seen footage of the band spanning their 50 year career. Crossfire Hurricane features newly conducted interviews with past and present band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, and Mick Taylor. Late co-founder Brian Jones is featured through archival interviews.
Tom Petty says that playing a wide range of venues is a good thing for him and the Heartbreakers. The band will take a break from their current sessions for their upcoming album due out this year, to play a six-week spring and summer run. Petty talked to Rolling Stone about the tour, which features the band playing residencies in such intimate places as New York City's Beacon Theatre and L.A.'s Ford Theatre, saying, "This is a good thing to do every now and then. It gets the band members in tune with each other in a way that you don't get on a big tour.
Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was interviewed on the Australian edition of "60 Minutes" this weekend about his incredible career to promote dates with his new band, the Sensational Space Shifters. The 16-minute segment can now be seen at this location.
Frontiers Records will release Whitesnake's highly anticipated live concert, "Made In Japan", on deluxe 2CD/DVD edition, Blu-ray and DVD in North America on Tuesday, April 23.
