The Kinks facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
The Kinks
Original line-up in 1965
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Rock
pop
hard rock
punk
psychedelic rock
Years active 1964-1996
Past members
  • vocals, guitar, keyboard Ray Davies (until 1996, founding member)
  • vocals, guitar Dave Davies (until 1996, founding member)
  • bass Jim Rodford (1978-1996)
  • keyboard Ian Gibbons (1979-1988, 1993-1996)
  • drums Bob Henrit (1984-1996)
  • bass Peter Quaife † (until 1969, founding member)
  • drums Mick Avory (until 1984, founding member)

The Kinks were an English rock band. They first became popular in the 1960s. The band had a lot of hits during the 1960s and 70s.The band was formed in 1964 by the brothers Ray and Dave Davies.

The Kinks are one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a wide range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk and country. Between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group released a lot of commercially and critically successful singles and LPs. The group reached a reputation for songs and concept albums which show English culture and lifestyle. Albums such as Face to Face, Something Else, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround and Muswell Hillbillies, are considered among the most influential recordings of the period. The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums.

In 1990 the original four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005.

Bandmembers

Ray Davies
Active: Feb 1964–1996
Instruments: lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, keyboards
Release contributions: all Kinks releases
Ray Davies was a member of the original band formed in 1964.
Dave Davies
Active: Feb 1964–1996
Instruments: lead guitar, vocals
Release contributions: all Kinks releases
Dave Davies was a member of the original band formed in 1964.
Mick Avory
Active: Feb 1964–1984
Instruments: drums and percussion
Release contributions: all Kinks releases from Kinks (1964) to Word of Mouth (1984)
Mick Avory was a member of the original band formed in 1964.
Active: Feb 1964–June 1966, Nov 1966–Mar 1969
Instruments: bass guitar, backup vocals
Release contributions: from Kinks (1964) to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
Pete Quaife was a member of the original band formed in 1964.
John Dalton
Active: June–Nov 1966, Apr 1969–1976, 1978
Instruments: bass guitar, vocals
Release contributions: all releases from Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) to Misfits
Dalton briefly covered for Quaife in 1966 only to replace him full-time in 1969 after the latter quit.
John Gosling
Active: 1970–1978
Instruments: keyboards, vocals
Release contributions: all releases from Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) to Misfits (1978)
The band expanded into a five piece in 1970.
Andy Pyle
Active: 1976–1978
Instruments: bass guitar, vocals
Release contributions: Sleepwalker (1977) and Misfits (1978)
Andy Pyle replaced John Dalton after the latter quit the band in 1976, only in turn to be replaced by Dalton.
Gordon John Edwards
Active: 1978
Instruments: keyboards, vocals
Release contributions: none
Gordon John Edwards briefly toured with the band during 1978.
Jim Rodford
Active: 1978–1996
Instruments: bass guitar, backup vocals
Release contributions: all releases from Low Budget (1979) to To the Bone (1996)
Jim Rodford stepped in when Dalton finally left the band in 1978
Ian Gibbons
Active: 1979–1989, 1993–1996
Instruments: keyboards, backup vocals
Release contributions: all releases from Give the People What They Want (1981) to To the Bone (1996), apart from Phobia (1993)
Ian Gibbons joined the band after the band recorded Low Budget.
Bob Henrit
Active: 1984–1996
Instruments: drums and percussion
Release contributions: all releases from Think Visual (1986) to To the Bone (1996)
Bob Henrit replaced Mick Avory in 1984 after Avory and Davies quarreled in the studio.
Mark Haley
Active: 1989–1993
Instruments: keyboards, backup vocals
Release contributions: none
After Gibbons left the band Mark Haley toured with them.

Images for kids

  • Four members of the band the Kinks stand onstage, during a television appearance. From left to right is Ray Davies, wearing a leather suit and long black pants. He is strumming an acoustic guitar and preparing to sing into a microphone placed in front of him. Next is Mick Avory, seated and playing the drums. He is wearing a bright coloured long sleeve shirt and dark pants. After him is bassist Pete Quaife, playing his instrument and wearing set of clothes similar to Avory's. Last is Dave Davies, wearing what appears to be a leather suit with a short tie, black pants and high-heeled loafers. He plays an elaborate v-shaped electric guitar and is standing behind a microphone.

    Ray Davies plays a Fender acoustic, Dave Davies a prototype Gibson Flying V, on the Dutch TV programme Fenklup on 29 April 1967.

  • Clissold Arms, Fortis Green, N2 (8006324382)

    The Kinks farewell party was at the Clissold Arms, where they had first performed in 1960.

  • A brown brick building. Visible is a door at left, with a bowfront window at right.

    6 Denmark Terrace, the childhood home of the Davies brothers. The front room is where the family's frequent Saturday night parties were held.

  • On a bench in a park sit five men, two seated and three standing behind the bench. Clockwise from left is a man in a black suit with Khaki pants; a man in a black suit with black pants; a man wearing a brown coat with Khaki pants and raising his arm jokingly as if to stab the sleeping man below him; a man, wearing a grey/light green coat and Khaki pants and holding out a hat above the sleeping man's head. The sleeping man is wearing green.

    Publicity photo taken during a Swedish tour in 1965

  • Four men sitting or standing next to each other. The man furthest left gazes upwards; he wears a black leather suit. The man to the right is seated, wears black and stares towards the left. Behind and to the right of him stands another man, barely visible and staring straight ahead; he wears white. Next to him, and furthest right, stands a man dressed in white; his gaze is turned towards the left of the image, and his face is viewed in profile. All men stand in front of a black background.

    With the newly hired John Dalton in 1969. From left: Dave Davies, Ray Davies, Dalton, Mick Avory

  • Five smiling men in a row, diagonal to camera angle. The man on the left (farthest to the back) has very long hair and a full beard; he wears a white T-shirt and tie-dyed pants. Next to him, Dave Davies, also with very long hair, wears reflective sunglasses, a black short-sleeved shirt and jeans. In the middle, Mick Avory wears an unbuttoned leather vest and white pants. The man to his right wears a heavy, probably brown leather jacket with a design that is possibly Native American. On the far right, in front, Ray Davies wears a giant paisley kerchief knotted like a tie, over a white jacket.

    The Kinks, ca. 1971. From left: John Gosling, Dave Davies, Mick Avory, John Dalton, Ray Davies (the band's line-up 1970–1976, 1978)

  • A grinning man stands with his arms spread wide. He bends his elbows and folds them towards his body, creating a shrug expression. He is wearing an abstract, patchwork, bathrobe-like coat, with black pants and shoes. He holds a cigar in his right hand and wears a straw hat.

    Ray Davies in character as Mr Flash, the anti-hero of the Preservation series

  • Three people stand onstage next to each other singing. The man in the middle wears white clothes and on either side is a woman wearing black.

    Ray Davies and backup singers, at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 29 April 1977

  • A man stands onstage with a guitar strapped across his chest. It hangs limp and unused, as he is focusing on singing into a microphone directly in front of him, which he grasps with his left hand. He wears a black-and-white, vertically striped suit.

    Ray Davies in Brussels, 1985, as the group's popularity began to dwindle

  • A man, wearing blue, plays an electric guitar and gazes down on the ground.

    Dave Davies at the Dakota Creek Roadhouse, 2002

  • A man sits on a stool, smiling and facing the camera while playing guitar. He wears brown, and the background behind him is black.

    Ray Davies performing in Ottawa, 2008


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