Peter Quaife, the original bassist with the Kinks, has died aged 66.
He had been undergoing kidney dialysis for more than a decade. He played on some of the Kinks’ most memorable hits, including All Day and All of the Night and Dedicated Follower of Fashion. As a co-founder of the group, Quaife was part of one of the most influential music acts of the 1960s.
Formed in Muswell Hill, North London, the Kinks first came to prominence in 1964 with their third single, You Really Got Me, written by Ray Davies.
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 17 Top 20 singles and 5 Top 10 albums. Quaife was reported as saying how unhappy he was during his time in the band, however, not least because of the fractious relationship between the brothers Ray and Dave Davies.
He never forgot his pride at his musical achievement, though. In 2006 he told Jukebox magazine that “Making that album [the band’s landmark Village Green Preservation Society] was the high point of my career.” He went on: “For me it represents the only real album made by the Kinks ... in which we all contributed something.”
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Quaife was replaced by John Dalton, who had previously filled in for him when he broke his leg in a car accident. Dalton was replaced by Jim Rodford in 1978.
After leaving the Kinks in 1969, Quaife founded a new band, the country and rock outfit Mapleoak, but he failed to replicate the Kinks’ success.
In 1980 he moved to Ontario, Canada, to work as a graphic artist. In 1981 he made his only post-1960s concert appearance with the Kinks, playing bass in an encore number at a show in Toronto.
Quaife lived in Canada for more than two decades, but moved to Denmark in 2005.
In the 1990s, Britpop acts such as Blur and Oasis cited the band as a major influence. The Kinks broke up in 1996, a result of the commercial failures of their last few albums.