38 Facts About Ray Davies

Sir Raymond Douglas Davies is an English musician.

Ray Davies was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing vocals.

Ray Davies has acted in, directed, and produced shows for theatre and television.

Ray Davies was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Kinks in 1990.

Raymond Douglas Davies was born at 6 Denmark Terrace in the Fortis Green area of London on 21 June 1944.

Ray Davies is the seventh of eight children born to working-class parents, including six elder sisters and younger brother Dave Davies.

Ray Davies's father, Frederick George Davies, was a slaughterhouse worker.

Ray Davies was born in Islington and his registered birth name was Frederick George Kelly.

Ray Davies was an ostler who had moved with his family from Shropshire to Islington.

Ray Davies had a sharp tongue and could be crude and forceful.

When Ray 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 illegal immigrant who subsequently disappeared from her life.

Ray Davies attended William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in Muswell Hill along with Rod Stewart.

Ray Davies's first Spanish guitar was a birthday gift from his eldest sister Rene, who died at the age of 31 from a heart attack on the day before his 13th birthday, while she was out dancing at the Lyceum Ballroom in the Strand, London in June 1957.

Ray Davies then joined the Hamilton King Band until June 1963; the Kinks spent the summer supporting Rick Wayne on a tour of US airbases.

Ray Davies led the Kinks through a period of musical experimentation between 1966 and 1975, with notable artistic achievements and commercial success.

Ray Davies began to explore the aspirations and frustrations of common working-class people, with particular emphasis on the psychological effects of the British class system.

Ray Davies is often at his most affecting when he sings of giving up worldly ambition for the simple rewards of love and domesticity, or when he extols the consolations of friendship and memory.

Yet another perennial Ray Davies theme is the championing of individualistic personalities and lifestyles.

Ray Davies's focus shifted to wistful ballads of restless alienation, meditations on the inner lives of obsessed pop fans, and exhortations of carpe diem.

On " Superman", Ray Davies vented his existential angst about the 1979 energy crisis over a thumping disco beat; on "A Gallon of Gas", he addressed the same concern over a traditional acoustic twelve-bar blues shuffle.

Ray Davies appeared in the film, in which he sang "Quiet Life".

In 1990, Ray Davies was inducted, with the Kinks, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2005, into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

Ray Davies has made three films, Return to Waterloo in 1985, Weird Nightmare in 1991, and Americana.

On 4 January 2004, Ray Davies was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who had snatched the purse of his companion as they walked in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The shooting came less than a week after Ray Davies was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2005, Ray Davies released The Tourist, a four-song EP, in the UK; and Thanksgiving Day, a five-song EP, in the US.

Ray Davies was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Ray Davies played at the Glastonbury Festival 2010 where he dedicated several songs to the late Kinks' bassist, Pete Quaife.

Ray Davies's setlist included material by the Kinks and solo material.

On 18 December 2015, Ray Davies joined his brother Dave for an encore at London's Islington Assembly Hall.

Ray Davies was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to the arts.

In 1981, Ray Davies collaborated with Barrie Keeffe in writing his first stage musical, Chorus Girls, which opened at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London, starring Marc Sinden, and had a supporting cast of Michael Elphick, Anita Dobson, Lesley Manville, Kate Williams and Charlotte Cornwell.

Ray Davies wrote songs for a musical version of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days; the show, 80 Days, had a book by playwright Snoo Wilson.

Ray Davies has been married three times and has four daughters.

Ray Davies changed his legal name by deed poll to "Raymond Douglas" for five years, which allowed him anonymity for his second marriage in 1974 to Yvonne Gunner.

Ray Davies had a relationship with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders during the 1980s, during which time their daughter Natalie Rae Hynde was born.

In January 2004, Ray Davies was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who had snatched his companion's purse as they walked through the French Quarter of New Orleans.

In June 2011, Ray Davies' doctor ordered him to stay at home and rest for six months after blood clots were discovered in his lungs.