Ray Davies (born 1944) and his brother Dave (born 1947) were the two youngest of eight children born to working class parents who lived in Muswell Hill. He had six older sisters, one of whom gifted Ray a guitar on his 13th birthday, before she tragically died at a West End dance hall before being able to give it to him in person. Davies began to compose on the upright piano in the living room, and at 16 he led The Ray Davies Quartet, performing at local dances. He attended Hornsey College of Art in the early 1960s, but the band began to attract attention. With Dave on lead guitar, schoolfriend Pete Quaife on bass guitar and by 1964 Mick Avory on drums, the band changed its name from The Ramrods to the Boll Weevils to The Kinks, and were soon signed to Pye Records.
In the summer of 1964, The Kinks recorded their third single ‘You Really Got Me’, built around a pungent guitar riff by Dave Davies, that has led to the song being identified as the first hard rock song. It was their first number one, and was followed up with the similarly riff-based ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ (no 2) and the more melodic ‘Tired Of Waiting For You’, which became the band’s second number one. By the end of 1966, The Kinks had scored 10 top ten hits, all penned by Ray Davies, including ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’, ‘Dead End Street’ and ‘Waterloo Sunset’. The 1967 song ‘Death Of A Clown’ released as a Dave Davies single was co-written by the brothers.
Ray Davies writing became increasingly character driven, and though still artistically successful in albums like ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’, the hits became fewer. Still the lyrically innovative song ‘Lola’ reached number 2 in 1970, and a late success came from the 1984 hit ‘Come Dancing’. Davies’ songwriting, his distinctive vocals and the talents of the band members mean that there are many lesser known gems in The Kinks’ back catalogue if you delve deeper into albums like ‘The Kink Kontroversy’ (1966), ‘Face To Face’ (1966), ‘Something Else’ (1967), and later albums like ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ (1973) and ‘Misfits’ (1978). The 1965 song ‘I Got To Sleep’ was never recorded by The Kinks, but has been covered by Chrissie Hynde, Cher Peggy Lee, and more recently Sia.
Since the late 1980s, Davies has mostly worked as a solo artist. He has also composed for a few stage musical. The ‘catalogue musical’ ‘Sunny Afternoon’, based on the songwriter’s life, has proved successful, garnering four Olivier awards in 2015. Davies was nighted for ‘Services ot Music’ in 2017.
Key Songs:
‘You Really Got Me’ (1964)
‘Tired Of Waiting For You’ (1964)
‘Set Me Free’ (1965)
‘I Go To Sleep’ (1965)
‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’ (1966)
‘Sunny Afternoon’ (1966)
‘Waterloo Sunset’ (1967)
‘Lola’ (1970)