John Paul Densmore , born December 1 1944 is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer of the rock group The Doors.Born in Los Angeles, Densmore attended Santa Monica City College and Cal State Northridge; at the latter he studied ethnic music under jazz cellist Fred Katz.
He joined The Doors in 1965 and remained a member until the band’s dissolution in 1973. Densmore met keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger at a Transcendental Meditationlecture. Densmore says, “There wouldn’t be any Doors without Maharishi.” According to Densmore’s own book, he quit the band on one occasion in reaction to Jim Morrison’s increasingly self-destructive behavior, although he returned the next day. He repeatedly suggested that the band stop touring, but Krieger and Manzarek were resistant to this notion. After the Doors’ last performance with Morrison in New Orleans in 1970, the band agreed to discontinue performing live.