1963-Ray DaviesVocals, guitar1963-
Dave DaviesGuitar1963-
Peter QuaifeBass1963-1969
Mick AvoryDrums1963-1984
John DaltonBass1971-1978
John GoslingKeyboards1971-1978
Andy PyleBass1976-1978
Jim RodfordBass, vocals1978-2018
Gordon EdwardsKeyboards1978
Ian GibbonsKeyboards1979-1988
Bob HenritDrums1984-
Mark HaleyKeyboards1989-
The Kinks were formed by the Davies brothers, who generally do not get along. Their family structure may have something to do with it: Ray and Dave Davies were the seventh and eighth children in their family. The first six were girls.
Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders were a couple in the early '80s. They had a daughter, Natalie, in 1983 but never married.
Early names were The Ravens and The Bo Weevils. The Kinks is based on the word "Kinky," which they heard on the TV show The Avengers.
In 1965 they embarked on their first American tour. It was a disaster, with erratic bookings and a great deal of conflict within the band. Along the way, they incurred the wrath of the musician's union, which refused to work with the band, effectively keeping them out of America until December, 1969. This tanked their sales in that country and kept them from performing at Woodstock.
Ray Davies was shot in 2004. While visiting New Orleans with his wife, a mugger stole her bag. Davies gave chase and the perpetrator shot him in the leg, causing severe injuries.
Ray Davies' sister Rene died the day he turned 13. She gave him his first guitar that year as a birthday present.
Ray Davies has dabbled in film throughout his career, primarily in the '80s. In 1986, he was in the movie Absolute Beginners. He also directed the 1984 movie Return to Waterloo.
Mick Avory almost joined the Rolling Stones. He played with them at a few early live shows.
In 1969, The Kinks wrote one of the first rock operas: Arthur, or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire. It was released the same year as the Who's more successful Tommy, so many have forgotten about it.
Jim Rodford had been a member of Argent and helped refine the messy, booze-infested live shows for which the Kinks had become known during most of the Seventies. Later member Bob Henrit had also been a member of Argent.
Ray Davies was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to the arts. He recalled to The London Times: "When I got the notification I thought it was a tax demand. I didn't open it for ages."
Asked by Mojo magazine what his all-time favorite album is, Ray Davies replied: "Otis Blue by Otis Redding. He had the perfect backing group, and he filled all the gaps between Southern gospel, pop music, The Beatles."
During The Kinks' 1965 US tour, John Wayne Gacy promoted their Springfield, Illinois show. Gacy was later executed for 33 murders. "He threw us a party and I felt he was a really nice guy. Which shows what a good judge of character I was," Dave Davis recounts in his autobiography Living On A Thin Line.
The Kinks' 1965 UK tour took a tumultuous turn as tensions within the band began to surface. It all came to a head during their performance at the ABC Cinema in Cardiff, Wales, on June 14, 1965. Seeking revenge for a drunken altercation the previous night at a Taunton hotel, Dave Davies vented his frustration by kicking over Mick Avory's drum kit. In a swift retaliation, Avory struck Dave on the head with the hi-hat stand, causing the guitarist to lose consciousness. The concert was abruptly halted, and the band was forced to exit the stage. As a result, the remaining tour dates in the UK were canceled, and The Kinks had no choice but to return to London, their plans shattered by the internal strife.
