Robby Krieger

Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me", and "Love Her Madly". When the Doors disbanded shortly after the death of lead singer Jim Morrison, Krieger continued to perform and record with other musicians including former Doors bandmates John Densmore and Ray Manzarek. In the 2023 edition of Rolling Stone's 250 greatest guitarists of all time, he was positioned at number 248.

Robby Krieger was born on January 8, 1946 in Los Angeles, California to a Jewish family. His father, Stuart "Stu" Krieger, was an engineer and a fan of classical music, while his mother, Marilyn Ann (née Shapiro), enjoyed "Frank Sinatra and stuff like that".

Krieger attended a Hebrew school with his twin brother Ronny. While Krieger was a boarding student at a private school called Menlo School in Atherton, California, there was study time at night that allowed him to teach himself to play the guitar. He began by first de-tuning a ukulele to the bottom four strings of a guitar and mimicking a record he had. Later, in the mid-1960s, scholar Frank Chin taught Krieger how to play the flamenco guitar.

After graduating high school, Krieger attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. His musical development included listening to guitarists Wes Montgomery, Albert King and Larry Carlton who influenced his style. Krieger's flamenco guitar playing can be heard in the song "Spanish Caravan".

Krieger became a member of the Doors in 1965, joining keyboard player Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and vocalist Jim Morrison, after Manzarek's brothers left the group. At an early Doors rehearsal, Morrison heard Krieger playing bottleneck guitar and initially wanted the technique featured on every song on the first album. Krieger's fingerstyle approach to the electric guitar, broad musical tastes, and songwriting helped establish the Doors as a successful rock band in the 1960s. Together with Densmore, he studied under Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar at the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles.

Krieger occasionally sang lead vocals with the Doors. He can be heard on the song "Runnin' Blue". He also sang on the last two Doors albums, recorded after Morrison's death, Other Voices and Full Circle.

After Morrison's death in 1971, Krieger, Manzarek, and Densmore carried on as a trio. They released two more albums as the Doors before disbanding in 1973, though they did reconvene a few years later to create music for poetry that Morrison had recorded shortly before his death, released as the 1978 album An American Prayer.

After the Doors disbanded in 1973, Krieger formed the Butts Band with Densmore. He recorded as a jazz-fusion guitarist, making a handful of albums in the 1970s and 1980s, including Versions (1982), Robby Krieger (1985), and No Habla (1989). His first solo release was Robbie Krieger & Friends in 1977.