Ray Davies | |
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 Davies performing in 1977 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Raymond Douglas, Godfather of Britpop |
| Born | Raymond Douglas Davies (1944-06-21)21 June 1944 (age 81) London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1962–present |
| Formerly of | The Kinks |
| Website | raydavies |
Sir Raymond Douglas DaviesCBE (/ˈdeɪvɪz/DAY-viz;[1][2] born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for therock bandthe Kinks, which he led, with his younger brotherDave providing lead guitar and backing vocals, and both of them were the only consistent members during the band's existence. He has also acted in, directed and produced shows for theatre and television. Known for focusing his lyrics on rock bands,English culture, nostalgia and socialsatire, he is often referred to as the "Godfather ofBritpop",[3] though he disputes this title.[4] He was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Kinks in 1990. After the dissolution of the Kinks in 1996, he embarked on a solo career.
Raymond Douglas Davies was born at 6 Denmark Terrace in theFortis Green area ofLondon on 21 June 1944.[5] He is the seventh of eight children born to working-class parents, including six elder sisters and younger brotherDave Davies.[5] His father, Frederick George Davies,[6] was a slaughterhouse worker.[7] Frederick liked to hang out in pubs and was considered a ladies' man. He was born inIslington and his registered birth name was Frederick George Kelly.[8]
Frederick's father, Henry Kelly, was agreengrocer who married Amy Elizabeth Smith atSt Luke's Church inKentish Town in 1887, and they had two children, Charles Henry and Frederick George.[7] However, the marriage failed and Amy moved in with Harry Davies, bringing her two small children and her mother.[9] Harry Davies, born inMinsterley in 1878, was anostler who had moved with his family from Shropshire to Islington.[10] Frederick George had changed his surname to Davies by the time he married Annie Florence Willmore (1905–1987)[11] in Islington in 1924.[7] Annie came from a "sprawling family". She had a sharp tongue and could be crude and forceful.[12]
When Davies was still a small child, one of his older sisters became a star of the dance halls, and soon had a child out of wedlock by an African man, an unauthorized immigrant who subsequently disappeared from her life. The child, a daughter, was ultimately raised by Ray's mother.[13] Ray attended William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School inMuswell Hill along withRod Stewart[14] (now calledFortismere School).[15] His first Spanish guitar was a birthday gift from his eldest sister Rene, who died at the age of 31 from aheart attack on the day before Ray's 13th birthday, while she was out dancing at the Lyceum Ballroom in theStrand, London in June 1957.[14][16]
Davies was an art student atHornsey College of Art in London in 1962–63. In late 1962 he became increasingly interested in music. At a Hornsey College Christmas dance, he sought advice fromAlexis Korner who was playing at the dance withBlues Incorporated, and Korner introduced him toGiorgio Gomelsky, a promoter and future manager ofthe Yardbirds. Gomelsky arranged for Davies to play at his Piccadilly Club with the Dave Hunt Rhythm & Blues Band, and on New Year's Eve, the Ray Davies Quartet opened forCyril Stapleton at the Lyceum Ballroom. A few days later he became the permanent guitarist for the Dave Hunt Band, an engagement that would only last about six weeks.[17] The band were the house band at Gomelsky's new venture, theCrawdaddy Club inRichmond-upon-Thames. When the Dave Hunt band were snowed in during thecoldest winter since 1740, Gomelsky offered a gig to a new band calledthe Rolling Stones, who had previously supported Hunt at the Piccadilly and would take over the residency. Davies then joined the Hamilton King Band until June 1963. The Kinks (then known as the Ramrods) spent the summer supportingRick Wayne on a tour of US airbases.[17]
After the Kinks obtained a recording contract in early 1964, Davies emerged as the chief songwriter andde facto leader of the band, especially after the band's breakthrough success with his early composition "You Really Got Me", which was released as the band's third single in August of that year. Davies led the Kinks through a period of musical experimentation between 1966 and 1975, with notable artistic achievements and commercial success.[18]
The Kinks' early recordings of 1964 ranged from covers ofR&B standards like "Long Tall Sally" and "Got Love If You Want It" to the chiming, melodicbeat music of Ray Davies's earliest original compositions for the band, "You Still Want Me" and "Something Better Beginning", to the more influentialproto-metal,protopunk,power chord-basedhard rock of the band's first two hit singles, "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night".
However, by 1965, this raucous, hard-driving early style had gradually given way to the softer and more introspective sound of "Tired of Waiting for You", "Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl", "Set Me Free", "I Go to Sleep" and "Ring the Bells". With the eerie, droning "See My Friends"—inspired by the untimely death of the Davies brothers' older sister Rene in June 1957—the band began to show signs of expanding their musical palette even further. A rare foray into earlypsychedelic rock, "See My Friends" is credited by Jonathan Bellman as the first Western pop song to integrate Indianraga sounds—released six months beforethe Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[19]
Beginning with "A Well Respected Man" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" (both recorded in the summer of 1965), Davies's lyrics assumed a new sociological character. He began to explore the aspirations and frustrations of common working-class people, with particular emphasis on the psychological effects of theBritish class system.Face to Face (1966), the first Kinks album composed solely of original material, was a creative breakthrough. As the band began to experiment with theatrical sound effects andbaroque musical arrangements (Nicky Hopkins playedharpsichord on several tracks), Davies's songwriting fully acquired its distinctive elements of narrative, observation and wry social commentary. His topical songs took aim at the complacency and indolence of wealthy playboys and the upper class ("A House in the Country", "Sunny Afternoon"), the heedless ostentation of a self-indulgent spendthriftnouveau riche ("Most Exclusive Residence For Sale"), and even the mercenary nature of the music business itself ("Session Man").
By late 1966, Davies was addressing the bleakness of life at the lower end of the social spectrum: released together as the complementary A-B sides of asingle, "Dead End Street" and "Big Black Smoke" were powerful neo-Dickensian sketches of urban poverty. Other songs like "Situation Vacant" (1967) and "Shangri-La" (1969) hinted at the helpless sense of insecurity and emptiness underlying the materialistic values adopted by the English working class. In a similar vein, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (1966) wittily satirized the consumerism andcelebrity worship ofCarnaby Street and 'Swinging London', while "David Watts" (1967) humorously expressed the wounded feelings of a plain schoolboy who envies the grace and privileges enjoyed by a charismatic upper class student.
The Kinks have been called "the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands"[20] on account of Ray Davies's abiding fascination withEngland's imperial past and his tender, bittersweet evocations of "a vanishing, romanticized world of village greens, pubs andpublic schools".[20] During the band's mid-period, he wrote many cheerfully eccentric—and often ironic—celebrations oftraditional English culture and living: "Village Green" (1966), "Afternoon Tea" and "Autumn Almanac" (both 1967), "The Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" (1968), "Victoria" (1969), "Have a Cuppa Tea" (1971) and "Cricket" (1973). In other songs, Davies revived the style of British music hall andtrad jazz: "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", "Sunny Afternoon", "Dandy" and "Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (all 1966); "Mister Pleasant" and "End of the Season" (both 1967); "Sitting By the Riverside" and "All of My Friends Were There" (both 1968); "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" (1969); "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" and "Alcohol" (both 1971); "Look a Little on the Sunny Side" (1972); and "Holiday Romance" (1975). Occasionally, he varied the group's sound with more disparate musical influences, such asraga ("Fancy", 1966),bossa nova ("No Return", 1967) andcalypso ("I'm on an Island", 1965; "Monica", 1968; "Apeman", 1970; "Supersonic Rocket Ship", 1972).
Davies is often at his most affecting when he sings of giving up worldly ambition for the simple rewards of love and domesticity ("This is Where I Belong", 1966; "Two Sisters", 1967; "The Way Love Used to Be", 1971; "Sweet Lady Genevieve", 1973; "You Make It All Worthwhile", 1974), or when he extols the consolations of friendship and memory ("Waterloo Sunset", 1967; "Days", 1968; "Do You Remember Walter?", 1968; "Picture Book", 1968; "Young and Innocent Days", 1969; "Moments", 1971; "Schooldays", 1975).[citation needed] Yet another perennial Ray Davies theme is the championing of individualistic personalities and lifestyles ("I'm Not Like Everybody Else", 1966; "Johnny Thunder", 1968; "Monica", 1968; "Lola", 1970; "Celluloid Heroes", 1972; "Where Are They Now?", 1973; "Sitting in the Midday Sun", 1973). On his 1967 song "Waterloo Sunset", the singer finds a fleeting sense of contentment in the midst of urban drabness and solitude.
Davies's mid-period work for the Kinks also showed signs of an emerging social conscience. For example, "Holiday in Waikiki" (1966) deplored the commercialisation of a once unspoiledindigenous culture. Similarly, "God's Children" and "Apeman" (both 1970), and the songs "20th Century Man", "Complicated Life" and "Here Come the People in Grey" fromMuswell Hillbillies (1971), passionately decriedindustrialization andbureaucracy in favour of simplepastoral living. Perhaps most significantly, the band's acclaimed 1968 concept albumThe Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society gave an affectionate embrace to "Merry England" nostalgia and advocated the preservation of traditional English country village andhamlet life.
A definitive testament to Davies's reputation as a songwriter of insight, empathy and wit can be heard on the Kinks' landmark 1969 albumArthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). Originally conceived as the soundtrack to a television play that was never produced, the band's firstrock opera affectionately chronicled the trials and tribulations of a working-classeveryman and his family from the very end of theVictorian era through the First World War and Second World War, thepostwar austerity years, and up to the 1960s. The overall theme of the record was partly inspired by the life of Ray and Dave Davies's brother-in-law, Arthur Anning, who had married their elder sister Rose—herself the subject of an earlier Kinks song, "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home" (1966)—and had emigrated to Australia after the war.[21] Throughout a dozen evocative songs,Arthur fulfills its ambitious subtitle as Davies embellishes an intimate family chronicle with satirical observations about the shifting mores of the English working class in response to the declining fortunes of theBritish Empire.
The Kinks followed upArthur withLola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970), a satirical take on the travails of the recording industry. This album proved to be another critical achievement as well as a commercial hit, spawning "Lola", their first US Top Ten single since "Tired of Waiting for You" in 1965.Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One would also prove to be the band's final album before signing with RCA Records. This period on theRCA label (1971–75) producedMuswell Hillbillies,Everybody's in Show-Biz,Preservation Act 1 andAct 2,Soap Opera andSchoolboys in Disgrace.
When the Kinks changed record labels fromRCA toArista in 1976, Davies abandoned his recent propensity for ambitious, theatricalconcept albums androck operas (see above) and returned to writing more basic, straightforward songs. During this decade the group founded their own London recording studio "Konk" which employed newer production techniques to achieve a more refined sound on the albumsSleepwalker (1977) andMisfits (1978).[22][14] Davies's focus shifted to wistful ballads of restless alienation ("Life on the Road", "Misfits"), meditations on the inner lives of obsessed pop fans ("Juke Box Music", "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy"), and exhortations ofcarpe diem ("Life Goes On", "Live Life", "Get Up"). A notable single from late 1977 reflected the contemporary influence ofpunk rock, "Father Christmas" (A-side) and "Prince of the Punks" (B-side—inspired by Davies's troubled collaboration withTom Robinson).
By the early 1980s, the Kinks revived their commercial fortunes considerably by adopting a much more mainstreamarena rock style; and the band's four remaining studio albums for Arista—Low Budget (1979),Give the People What They Want (1981),State of Confusion (1983) andWord of Mouth (1984)—showcased a decidedly canny andopportunistic approach. On "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman", Davies vented hisexistential angst about the1979 energy crisis over a thumpingdisco beat; on "A Gallon of Gas", he addressed the same concern over a traditional acoustictwelve-bar bluesshuffle. In contrast, "Better Things" (1981), "Come Dancing" (1982), "Don't Forget to Dance" (1983) and "Good Day" (1984) were sentimental songs of hope and nostalgia for the agingAir Raid Generation. However, with "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" (1979), "Destroyer" (1981), "Clichés of the World (B Movie)" (1983) and "Do It Again" (1984), the Davies brothers created heavy-riffinghard rock that conveyed an attitude of bittercynicism andworld-weary disillusionment.
I write songs because I get angry, and now I'm at the stage where it's not good enough to brush it off with humour.
Aside from the lengthy Kinks discography, Davies has released seven solo albums: the 1985 releaseReturn to Waterloo (which accompanied a television film he wrote and directed), the 1998 releaseThe Storyteller,Other People's Lives in early 2006,Working Man's Café in October 2007,The Kinks Choral Collection in June 2009,Americana in April 2017, and its sequel,Our Country: Americana Act II in June 2018.
In 1986, Davies contributed the track "Quiet Life" to the soundtrack of theJulien Temple filmAbsolute Beginners that is a musical film adapted fromColin MacInnes'book of the same name about life in late-1950s London. The song was released as a single. Davies appeared in the film, in which he also sang "Quiet Life".
In 1990, Davies was inducted, with the Kinks, into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2005, into theUK Music Hall of Fame.[24]
Davies published his "unauthorised autobiography",X-Ray, in 1994.[25] In 1997, he published a book of short stories entitledWaterloo Sunset. He has made three films,Return to Waterloo in 1985,Weird Nightmare (a documentary aboutCharles Mingus) in 1991, andAmericana.
Davies was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire, by QueenElizabeth II, in the2004 New Year Honours.[26]
In 2005, Davies releasedThe Tourist, a four-songEP, in the UK; andThanksgiving Day, a five-song EP, in the US.[27][28]
A choral album,The Kinks Choral Collection, on which Davies had been collaborating with theCrouch End Festival Chorus since 2007, was released in the UK in June 2009 and in the US in November 2009. The album was re-released as a special extended edition including Davies's charity Christmas single "Postcard From London" featuring Davies's former girlfriend and leader ofthe Pretenders,Chrissie Hynde. The video for the single was directed byJulien Temple and features London landmarks includingWaterloo Bridge,Carnaby Street,the statue of Eros steps and theCharlie Chaplin statue inLeicester Square. The duet was originally recorded withKate Nash.[29] His first choice had beenDame Vera Lynn.[30]
In October 2009, Davies performed "All Day and All of the Night" withMetallica at the25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert.[31]
Davies was a judge for the 3rd (in 2004) and 7th (in 2008) annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[32]
Davies played atGlastonbury Festival in 2010, where he dedicated several songs to the Kinks' bassistPete Quaife, who died a few days before the festival.[33]
A collaborations album,See My Friends, was released in November 2010 with a US release to follow in early 2011.[34]
2011 also marked Davies's return toNew Orleans, Louisiana, to play theVoodoo Experience Music festival. His setlist included material by the Kinks and solo material.[35] That autumn, he toured withthe 88 as his backing band. In August 2012, Davies performed "Waterloo Sunset" as part of the closing ceremony of theLondon 2012 Summer Olympics, watched by over 24 million viewers in the UK; the song was subsequently cut by NBC from the US broadcast, in favour of a preview of its upcoming showAnimal Practice.
On 18 December 2015, Ray joined his brother Dave for an encore at London's Islington Assembly Hall. The two performed "You Really Got Me", marking the first time in nearly 20 years that the brothers had appeared and performed together.[36]
In April 2017, Davies released the albumAmericana. Based on his experiences in the US it follows on from the short DVDAmericana — a work in progress (found on the deluxe CDWorking Man's Cafe from 2007), and his biographical bookAmericana from 2013. A second volumeOur Country: Americana Act II was released in June 2018. For his backing band onAmericana Davies choseThe Jayhawks, an alt-country/country-rock band from Minnesota.[37][38]
He wasknighted in the2017 New Year Honours for services to the arts.[39]
In 1981, Davies collaborated withBarrie Keeffe in writing his first stage musical,Chorus Girls, which opened at theTheatre Royal Stratford East, London,[40] starringMarc Sinden, and had a supporting cast ofMichael Elphick,Anita Dobson,Lesley Manville,Kate Williams andCharlotte Cornwell. It was directed by Adrian Shergold, thechoreography was byCharles Augins, andJim Rodford played bass as part of the theatre's "house band".[citation needed]
Davies wrote songs for a musical version ofJules Verne'sAround the World in 80 Days; the show,80 Days, had a book by playwrightSnoo Wilson. It was directed byDes McAnuff and ran at theLa Jolla Playhouse'sMandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego from 23 August to 9 October 1988. The musical received mixed responses from the critics. Davies's multi-faceted music, McAnuff's directing, and the acting, however, were well received, with the show winning the "Best Musical" award from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle.[41]
Davies's musicalCome Dancing, based partly onhis 1983 hit single with 20 new songs, ran at theTheatre Royal Stratford East, London in September–November 2008.[42]
Sunny Afternoon, a musical based on Ray Davies's early life and featuring Kinks songs, opened to critical acclaim atHampstead Theatre. The musical moved to theHarold Pinter Theatre in London'sWest End in October 2014. The musical won four awards at the 2015Olivier Awards, including one for Ray Davies: the Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music .[43]Sunny Afternoon made its North American debut in March 2025 atChicago Shakespeare Theater.[44]
Davies has been married three times and has four daughters.
In 1964, he married Rasa Didzpetris. The couple had two daughters, Louisa and Victoria.[14][57]
He changed his legal name bydeed poll to Raymond Douglas for five years, which allowed him anonymity for his second marriage in 1974 to Yvonne Gunner.[14][58] The couple had no children and divorced in 1981.[58]
In the 1980s, Davies had a relationship withChrissie Hynde ofthe Pretenders. The couple had a daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde.[59]
His third marriage was to Irish ballet dancer Patricia Crosbie, with whom he had a daughter named Eva.[60]
In January 2004, Davies was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who had snatched his companion's purse as they walked through theFrench Quarter ofNew Orleans.[61] A man was arrested, but the charges were dropped because Davies had already returned to London and did not come back to New Orleans for the trial.[62]
In June 2011, Davies' doctor ordered him to stay at home and rest for six months afterblood clots were discovered in his lungs.[63]
| Year | Title[64] | Peak chart positions | Certification | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [65] | GER [66] | NED [67] | SWE [68] | US [69] | ||||||
| 1985 | Return to Waterloo | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1998 | The Storyteller | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2006 | Other People's Lives | 36 | 48 | 70 | 33 | 122[70] | ||||
| 2007 | Working Man's Café | — | — | — | 46 | 140 | ||||
| 2009 | The Kinks Choral Collection (with theCrouch End Festival Chorus) | 28 | — | 96 | — | — | ||||
| 2010 | See My Friends | 12 | 50 | 54 | — | — | ||||
| 2017 | Americana | 15 | 26 | 18 | 21 | 79 | ||||
| 2018 | Our Country: Americana Act II | 58 | 56 | 63 | 41 | — | ||||
| "—" denotes album did not chart in that territory. | ||||||||||
The following is a list of Davies compositions that were chart hits for artists other than the Kinks i.e. covers. Some were originally hits for the Kinks themselves. (SeeThe Kinks discography for hits by the Kinks.)
| Year | Title | Artist | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[72] | Canada | US Hot 100 | |||
| 1965 | "This Strange Effect" | Dave Berry | 37 | ||
| "Something Better Beginning" | The Honeycombs | 39 | |||
| 1966 | "A House in the Country" | The Pretty Things | 50 | ||
| "Dandy" | Herman's Hermits | 1 | 5 | ||
| 1978 | "You Really Got Me" | Van Halen | 49 | 36 | |
| "David Watts" | The Jam | 25 | |||
| 1979 | "Stop Your Sobbing" | The Pretenders | 34 | 65 | |
| 1981 | "I Go To Sleep" | The Pretenders | 7 | ||
| 1988 | "All Day and All of the Night" | The Stranglers | 7 | ||
| "Victoria" | The Fall | 35 | |||
| 1989 | "Days" | Kirsty MacColl | 12 | ||
| 1997 | "Waterloo Sunset" | Cathy Dennis | 11 | ||
| 2007 | "The Village Green Preservation Society" | Kate Rusby | 102 | ||
Ray Davies (pronounced his last name, by the way, as if it had no 'e') ...
