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Legend has it that on June 21st 1944 Ray Davies is born in Muswell Hill London to Fred and Annie Davies, the seventh child with six sisters previous

Feb 3rd 1947 - Brother, Dave Davies is reputed to have been born in Muswell Hill

June 1957 - Ray gets his first guitar as a gift from his oldest sister Rene

July - Receives first guitar lessons from brother in law, Mike Piker

Sept 1960 - With brother Dave, they perform their first shows

1961 William Grimshaw school mate, Pete Quaife, joins the brothers, to form their first band with John Start on drums from the same school. They are named the Ray Davies Quartet and play local dances covering the likes of the Ventures, The Shadows, Duane Eddy and Bo Diddley

1962 - Fellow school mate, Rod Stewart, briefly rehearses with the band on vocals but leaves to join the Moontrekkers

Sept 1962 - Ray enters Hornsey Art School in nearby Crouch End

Pete Quaife meets Robert Wace and Grenville Collins who want the band as Robert's back up group

1963 - Band briefly change name to the Ramrods and again to the Boll Weevils. At the end of the year Ray leaves Hornsey Art School for Croydon Art School for its film and theatre program. The band lay some of their first recordings down including "I Believed In You" & "One Fine Day" and again change their name to The Ravens.

Jan 1964 - Ray finally handles the lead vocals and the band sign to Pye Records with a final name change name - The Kinks. Mick Avory joins the band shortly after an audition at the Camden Head. Shel Talmey is assigned to be he bands in house producer and they release their first single "Long Tall Sally" which charts at 42 in the UK.

1964 - "You Really Got Me" is released in August and tops the UK charts (7 in the US) and their debut album "The Kinks" in October which charts at 4. They see the year off with "All Day and All of the Night" charting at number 2 (7 again in the US) and firmly putting the band on the map. Their guitar sound will be copied the world round, spawning garage bands and eventually to laying the groundwork for punk and heavy metal. The band is number 2 in the NME Poll winners just behind the Stones

Dec 12th 1964 - Ray marries Rasa Didzpetris at St Joeseph's Church, Packington, Bradford. Rasa will sing backing vocals on many of their sixties recordings.

Jan, 1965 - Kinks tour Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the States

1965 - Another number one hit in the UK with "Tired of Waiting For You" and "Well Respected Man", more top 10s follow with "Set Me Free" and "See My Friends", "Till the End of the Day" sees the band touring throughout the States and Europe. The year is bookend by the UK releases of "Kinda Kinks and "The Kinks Kontroversy" albums which both chart

July, 1965 - Problems with a US Agency and the US Musicians Union will cause them to get banned from touring the States until 1969.

1966 - Singles, "Dedicated Flower of Fashion" and "Sunny Afternoon" both top charts in the UK and the US top 40. The year ends with "Dead End Street" at number 6 and the bands first themed album "Face to Face" which has sees Rays writing change to social observations of British society.

1967 - "Waterloo Sunset" released and charts at number 2 and followed by the album "Something Else By The Kinks" and the single "Autumn Almanac" at number 5.

1968 - Release of "Live at Kelvin Hall" lp in the UK. Ray writes a series of songs for a weekly BBC special sung by others called "At the Eleventh Hour"

June 1968 - "Days" enters the charts at 10, originally intended for release on the next album is kept off until the re-release

Nov 22nd 1968 - The band's cult classic "The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society" is released but strangely enough does not chart. In years to come it is often citied as one of the top twenty albums ever made and the first of many of their pioneering rock operas

1969 - Ray produces US act the Turtles and begins work on his next theatrical project "Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire" which is to be made into a Granada UK TV program, sadly the production company abandons it at the end of the year.

October 1969 - The band are finally allowed a US work visa and tour the US throughout the rest of the year and into the next.

1970 - Ray acts in the TV film The Long Distance Piano Player which is broadcast later in the year on BBC

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