Pete Quaife

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Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife, (born on December 31 1943), is an English musician. He was a founding member and the original bass guitarist for The Kinks, from 1963 until 1969.

Quaife was born in Tavistock, Devon. Many stories falsely stated that it was Ray and Dave Davies who formed the Kinks. In fact, the band was originally called the (Golden) Ravens and performed at local venues such as the Hornsey Rec" Club at Crouch End Secondary School." playing classic R & B. The "Kinks" name came about on the signing of a recording contract! It was Ray and school friend Quaife who happened to form the band and then asked Dave to join. His rhythmic support (with drummer Mick Avory), backing vocals, and sense of humor were integral to the band's rise to fame in 1964-1965. Accessible and outspoken, he was commonly the voice of the band in early press interviews, rather than the moody, serious Ray, or the undisciplined Dave. He was temporarily replaced in the Kinks in mid-1966 by John Dalton, after a serious car crash left Quaife unable to perform. He resigned from the band shortly thereafter, but reconsidered and returned in November 1966. For the next two years he played on classic albums such as Something Else By The Kinks and The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and helped rehearse some songs on the album 'Arthur'. Quaife left the Kinks permanently in April 1969, having grown tired of the band's musical direction, and the dominant role of Ray Davies. He was again replaced on bass, this time permanently, by Dalton.

Quaife briefly played with his own London-based band Mapleoak, in 1969, then retired from music to work as a graphic artist. Along with the original Kinks, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. He had been living in Canada for more than two decades but moved back to Denmark after his marriage ended in a nasty divorce. Quaife has no formal association with the Kinks, but still enthusiastically talks of his time in the band, and makes appearances at fan gatherings. During a Kinks Meeting in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in September 2004 he read excerpts from a fictional account of a 1960's group he is currently working on, entitled "Veritas". He also joined in with the Kast Off Kinks on a few songs, much to the delight of the fans. He has also recently published an acclaimed series of cartoon books on "The Lighter Side of Dialysis".

According to a 2000 E-mail, Quaife stated that he had recently (as of February 13, 2000) been in the studio and recorded four demos of his own compositions which were to be released in CD form accompanying his novel "Veritas". The book and CD have yet to have a released.

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The Kinks
Ray Davies – Dave Davies – Bob Henrit – Pete Quaife – Ian Gibbons – Mick Avory
John Gosling – John Dalton – Andy Pyle – Gordon Edwards – Jim Rodford
Discography
Albums: The Kinks (1964) - Kinda Kinks (1965) - The Kink Kontroversy (1966) - Face to Face (1966) - Something Else by the Kinks (1967) - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968) - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969) - Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) - Muswell Hillbillies (1971) - Everybody's in Show-Biz (1972) - Sleepwalker (1977) - Misfits (1978) - Low Budget (1979) - Give the People What They Want (1981) - State of Confusion (1983)
Songs: "You Really Got Me" – "Waterloo Sunset" – "Lola"