Hub · 1944

Ray Davies

Muswell Hill, London, England · Vocals · Rhythm Guitar · Songwriting

The Kinks songwriter/vocals pillar; British social vignette and power-chord You Really Got Me origin.

Ray Davies, 2011
Photographer via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 2.0Source →

Hub

Primary writer across Kinks decades: riff singles and village-green narrative from one chair.

Born 1944, London. Forms The Kinks with brother Dave. You Really Got Me (1964) cites Dave’s sliced amp distortion and Ray’s hook writing—proto hard-rock riff on UK charts. Mid-late 60s shift to character songs (Waterloo Sunset, Village Green). Hub: songwriter continuity through lineup and US-ban eras; Dave’s lead guitar is the other half of the sound, Ray owns the catalog spine.

Tenures

  1. The Kinks

    1963–1996

    Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

    Founding songwriter/vocals through classic and later Kinks eras.

    Band →

  2. Ray Davies (solo)

    1985–present

    Vocals, Songwriting

    Solo and theatre-adjacent writing outside full Kinks activity.

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