Background

Ethnicity: Ray's father was a slaughterhouse worker of Welsh descent and mother was of Irish descent

Ray, born Raymond Douglas Davies, was born on June 21, 1944, in Fortis Green which is located in Muswell Hill, north of London, England. He was the seventh of eight children of Fred and Annie Davies, and with his younger brother Dave, he was one of the only two boys in his family.

Education

Ray was introverted as a child, but during his adolescence developed an affinity for soccer and considered becoming a professional player. He was also deeply interested in music and learned to play the guitar and piano. Especially fond of the blues, he listened to recordings of the genre's greats, including Leadbelly and Bill Broonzy.

Davies studied at William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School (present-day Fortismere School). After completing secondary schooling he enrolled in Hornsey College of Art in London to major in drama and fine arts. At the age of 19, Ray dropped out to join the Ravens.

Career

In 1963, Ray Davies joined his brother Dave's band The Ravens on rhythm guitar and vocals. The Ravens played straightforward rock and roll in the style of American rock pioneer Chuck Berry. He later rose to the position of chief songwriter and singer. Between 1964 and 1965, The Kinks released other hits such as "All Day and All of the Night," "Til the End of the Day," "Tired of Waiting for You," and others. Unfortunately, like most brothers, Ray and Dave Davies often were prone to sibling rivalry and could act violent towards each other and the rest of the band. This behavior may have contributed to the American Musicians Union issuing a four-year touring ban against them. Since this would prevent them from enjoying, the prosperity of the British Invasion that their contemporaries enjoyed, Ray decided to seek a new direction in songwriting.

Ray's songs reflected on his childhood and the days of the British Empire when the class system was going strong, and poverty was great. This style was evident on The Kinks' next four albums, "Face to Face" (1966), "Something Else by The Kinks" (1967), "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" (1968), and "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)" (1969). In 1970, they released perhaps their most famous LP, "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One." This record spawned their trademark "Lola," along with other great songs such as "Apeman," "Get Back in Line," "Powerman," and others. "Muswell Hillbillies" followed the next year, which was perhaps their last commercially successful album. From the 1970s in the early 1990s, the Kinks' career proved to be a roller coaster of commercial success, and failure. Perhaps part of the reason for this was the bitter rivalry between Dave and Ray Davies which could never be fully resolved.

In 1994 Davies published his "unauthorized autobiography," "X-Ray," to critical acclaim and launches it with some solo shows in the United Kingdom.

In February 1996 Ray wrote and performed "Storyteller, a one-man history of The Kinks and Ray Davies" Ray toured this internationally and records it for VH1 who build a series around it.

The band went through a revolving door of backing musicians, and in 1996, the Kinks separated. The Kinks played their last ever concert in Oslo at the Norwegian Wood Festival. Ray Davies began performing solo. He has four solo albums to date and is also involved in theater and television.

In 1998 Ray was commissioned to compose a fifty-minute choral piece, Flatlands, for the Norwich and Norfolk Festival featuring the Britten Symphonia. He also co-directed "Vision of England," a program for Anglia Television featuring this music which won a regional television award the following year.

In Summer 2003 Ray played in front of millions worldwide at Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. The same year Ray released two tribute albums - "This Is Where I Belong" on Rykodisc," and "Give the People What We Want" on Sub Pop.

In early 2004, Ray was shot while pursuing a thief who had snatched the purse of his companion in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Ray recuperates in New Orleans hospital where he writes the "Morphine Song" and others. A week before that, he was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music.

In 2005 Ray released first solo studio work with the Ep "The Tourist," it was renamed "Thanksgiving Day EP" in the states with the addition of an extra track. The same year the Kinks were inducted into the United Kingdom Music Hall of Fame by Pete Townsend, the first time they were all together since 1984.

In 2006 the release of Ray's first studio solo record, "Other Peoples Lives" on V2 Record arrived at great critical acclaim. Ray toured the United Kingdom and the United States in support.

In November 2007 V2 released Ray's second solo album "Working Man’s Café" which was launched with a show at the BBC Proms featuring the 60 pieces "Crouch End Festival Chorus."

On June 19 and 20th 2008 Ray performed two shows at the Hampton Court festival with his band plus choir. In September - November Ray performed his musical "Come Dancing" at the Stratford East Theatre in East London. Ray had been working on the musical for over ten years which he has written all the music for. It went on to win the What's On Stage Best off-West End Musical Award.

In June 2009 Ray released "The Kinks Choral Collection" which was his highest-charting album in the United Kingdom since the 60s. In support of the album, he played an outdoor show at Kenwood House Hampstead Heath with the Crouch End Festival Chorus. Also, Ray started his work on his collaborations album where he recorded with Alex Chilton, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Bon Jovi, Frank Black, Metallica, and many others.

In October 2009 Ray was invited by Metallica to sing with them at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at Madison Square Gardens. Ray was voted one of the best performers of the evening for the great versions of You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night with Metallica. Other performers that night include Lou Reed, U2, Mick Jagger, Ozzy and the Black Eyed Peas. The best of his solo recordings "Ray Davies Collected" was released.

In 2010 Ray toured the United States, United Kingdom and was featured at festivals throughout the summer.

Davies published a second memoir, "Americana," in 2013. Following its release, he worked on adapting the book into song, recording an album with the Jayhawks during the course of 2016. The resulting Americana appeared in April 2017. Also that year, he was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the Arts.

A follow-up to Ray's memoir-inspired release, "Our Country: Americana Act 2," arrived in 2018.

Achievements

• 

  Ray Davies is one of the most admired British songwriters, his songs have been covered by hundreds of artists. Well-known versions of his songs include The Jam's "David Watts," The Pretenders' "Stop Your Sobbing," The Stranglers' "All Day and All of the Night," David Bowie's "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" and Van Halen's "You Really Got Me."
  
  His influence has been significant. He has gained a considerable following in his own native Britain, and Pete Townshend from The Who has credited him as his favorite songwriter.
  
  In 1990, Davies and the Kinks were the third British band to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Davies was called "almost indisputably rock's most literate, witty and insightful songwriter." The Kinks were inducted into the United Kingdom Music Hall of Fame for their outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture.
  
  In 2004 he was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music. In 2004, Davies won the Mojo Songwriter Award. Ray's song "Waterloo Sunset" won the 2005 Q Classic Song Award. In 2006, Davies received the BMI Icon Award for his "enduring influence on generations of music makers" at the 2006 annual BMI London Awards. Davies was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2010.
  
  He was awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the Arts.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography

    (This subversively brilliant, one-of-a-kind rock autobiogr...)

    1994
  • Kink: An Autobiography

    (The co-founder of the long-lived English rock group The K...)

    1997
  • Americana: The Kinks, the Riff, the Road: The Story

    (As a boy in post-War England, legendary Kinks' singer/son...)

    2003

• music

  • Kinks 1964
  • Kinda Kinks 1965
  • The Kink Kontroversy 1965
  • Face to Face 1966
  • Something Else By The Kinks 1967
  • The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society 1968
  • Arthur 1969
  • Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. One 1970
  • Percy by The Kinks 1971
  • Muswell Hillbillies 1971
  • Everybody's in Show-Biz 1972
  • Preservation Act 1 1973
  • Preservation Act 2 1974
  • Soap Opera 1975
  • Schoolboys in Disgrace 1976
  • Sleepwalker 1977
  • Misfits 1978
  • Low Budget 1979
  • Give the People What They Want 1981
  • State of Confusion 1983
  • Word of Mouth 1984
  • Think Visual 1986
  • UK Jive 1991
  • Phobia 1993
  • Return To Waterloo 1985
  • The Storyteller 1998
  • Other People's Lives 2006
  • Working Mans Café 2007
  • Americana 2017
  • Our Country: Americana Act 2 2018

Religion

Davies has always been very cagey about religion. Jesus is notable in The Kinks' lyrics mainly for his absence.

Politics

Ray's disinclined to discuss politics ("My work is quite political but I don’t personally do politics"), but he did offer a few words on Brexit. "This is the biggest event in our lives. We're all connected by this event. It strikes me it's too late to do anything about it. But European control did become too all-embracing. I still believe countries should have their own identity. I know immigration is a huge issue, but what’s more important is commodities, business, equity, markets. That's what runs the world." He added: "We're defined by our geography. We're an over-populated island where it's difficult to get about. But I think we'll survive."

Views

Ray believes the internet is largely to blame for people's sense of disquiet about the world. "The world is at war. But it’s a war you can't define. It's cultural. It's emotional. It's not about bombs and guns - it's about belief."

Quotations: "When you are making a record and if you spend too much time over it, you have to record it a tone lower or cut the tones lower because you can't reach some of the notes, I find this. But when you go on stage, you have to put the key up and it really changes the whole thing."

"Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep."

"I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it's superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently - if I had walked around the studio or gone out - it wouldn't have turned out that way."

"No one can penetrate me. They only see what's in their own fancy, always."

Personality

Davies was in many ways unique among the frontmen in British rock bands from the 1960s. He never got into drugs or affiliated himself with "hippie" culture (nor did his band), although The Kinks did present themselves as hard-drinking. Davies was also never a Lothario in the ranks with his contemporaries, and he married at a very young age. By all accounts a quiet, unapproachable type off stage, Davies had a series of nervous breakdowns as a young man, which led to him being hospitalized twice.

Ray has never been comfortable with fanfare in general and resented being approached for autographs when the Kinks were having initial success on the charts. He lived like a hermit in some abandoned building during the 1990s.

Ray is a vegetarian, although he eats fish occasionally. He have a couple of vegetarian dishes that he has patented. He has a reputation for being difficult - he claims to have few friends.

Interests

• Cooking

• Writers

  William Blake, "1984" by George Orwell, "Under Milk Wood" by Dylan Thomas

• Sport & Clubs

  Soccer

• Music & Bands

  Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee Hooker

Connections

Ray Davies has been married three times. From 1964 to 1973 he was married to Rasa Dicpetris. From this marriage, Louisa Davies and Victoria Davies were born. Davies' second marriage was in 1974 to Yvonne Gunner. The couple had no children and divorced in 1981.

Davies had a relationship with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders during the 1980s, they have a daughter Natalie Rae Hynde. From 1981 to 1998 Ray was married to Irish ballet dancer Patricia Crosbie, with whom he had a daughter, Eva Davies.

Father:

Fred Davies

Mother:

Annie Davies

Brother:

Dave Davies

The Kinks separated in 1996, due to the creative tension between Ray and Dave and their declining commercial success.

During their decades as a band, the two brothers were known for their bickering and dust-ups, reportedly including fights on stage.

Sister:

Irene Davies

Ray lost his oldest sister Irene, or 'Rene', on his 13th birthday. She died of a heart attack just hours after giving him a life-changing birthday present - his first electric guitar.

Sister:

Rosie Davies

Ray's sister Rosie was the subject of the band's 1996 hit 'Rosie won't you please come home.' It is about her moving to Australia with her husband.

Sister:

Joyce Davies

ex-wife:

Rasa Dicpetris

ex-wife:

Yvonne Gunne

ex-girlfriend:

Chrissie Hynde

ex-wife:

Patricia Crosbie

Daughter:

Louisa Davies

Daughter:

Victoria Davies

Daughter:

Natalie Rae Hynde

Daughter:

Eva Davies

colleague:

Mick Avory

colleague:

Pete Quaife

colleague:

John Dalton

colleague:

Nicky Hopkins

References

• Ray Davies - Official Website
• Ray Davies - Facebook
• Ray Davies: A Complicated Life
  2015
• Ray Davies
  2007