Original Kinks Bassist Pete Quaife Dead at 66.
One of my top three British groups.
A decade living with renal failure must have been hell on earth for him. R.I.P. indeed, Pete.
I’ve often wondered how he and Mick (Avory) were able to “stand” being around Dave and Ray, and I totally agree with him about Village Green Preservation Society.
Thanks for posting this, x-ray vision.
Q
Pete Quaife was a quiet guy with a great sense a humour. Some rough innings in the last few years, but he was quite positive about it (he’d been suffering renal failure for about ten years, and wrote and illustrated a little book about it for other patients in a similar situation.)
Just a nice man; I know that Dave Davies is devastated, so Ray must be feeling shattered as well, as they were schoolfriends.
The way my summer syllabus works out, I lectured on the British Invasion yesterday, and it was rather bittersweet when I got to the Kinks. Had a nice clip of PQ from 1964 with his Rick bass – almost as big as he was! And, if I’m not mistaken, the first Rickenbacker bass imported to England (I know he and Chris Squire were among the earliest British musicians to play them.)
Ms Boods,
IIRC, many posts ago you and I shared our written love and admiration for The Kinks?
At the time, however, I don’t think I was aware you were an educator, and I wish I could have been “a fly on the wall” during your lecture.
I don’t know who to credit with this, but someone once said of Paul Revere and The Raiders, “If you dress that way, you’d better be able to perform!”, and so it was with Mr. Quaife and company: In their Victorian dress, the signature riffs and the lyrics, they made this then-15 year old kid listen to not only their rock tunes, but also the “story” songs which followed.
Just as those first album covers showed, I imagined them as being a bit tongue in cheek “haughty”.
Sorry to admit I don’t know, but had Pete a kidney transplant?
Thanks
Q
Damn. 
To the best of my knowledge, PQ endured dialysis for about ten years, but did not have a transplant. Here’s a link to the little book he illustrated, called The Lighter Side of Dialysis.*
http://kidneykorner.com/AK/Comics.html
*This is just for information; I am not affiliated with the sales or distribution of this book in any way. I’m just a lowly uni professor (popular music history and ancient history, which I suppose to some students is the same thing.)
Just heard the news in this thread.
Not played any Kinks for a while; time to dig some out!
I’ve been so looking forward to seeing Do It Again (the story of one fan’s attempt to reunite the band). I still want to see it, but it will be a bittersweet experience, I am sure.
This is a real shame. Pete did seem like a level-headed, unassuming guy, and he certainly should get credit for enduring the Ray and Dave show through their most turbulent years.
There goes all hope of a reunion of the original four, something I still longed for, as unlikely as it seemed.
R.I.P. Pete.
Sad news.
First time I ever saw the Kinks live was when they were the opening act for The Who in Chicago - the Who was performing Tommy in its entirety.
The Kinks almost stole the show - but then again, competing against Tommy was no easy feat that night.
That show was rather disastrous for The Kinks. After the gig Dave got drunk and went on a rampage at the hotel. He cut his and and had to go to the hospital to get it stitched up. They had to cancel the next night in Chicago as well as the show after that.
:smack: Oops, left out an important letter there. It should read, “He cut his hand and had to go to the hospital…”
Wow, I had no idea about all of that and just looked it up.
It was October 31, 1969 at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago.
I remember everyone hated Aaron Russo (the owner/manager) for overselling that show. People just kept coming in, and coming in and coming in. Although reports say the theater held 2000 people, I would bet he crammed easily another 1000 in there that night as you quite literally could not move. I recall being stuck behind a post, hanging on for dear life and leaning over to the right for about 5 hours…took weeks for my neck to stop hurting. It is amazing nobody got killed in that place.
Still - reading about it now, I realize I was just one happy stoner going to a concert and didn’t realize how much of an event it really was.
Ray was a headliner at (the surprisingly hot and sunny) Glastonbury Festival this weekend. He dedicated “See My Friends” and “Waterloo Sunset” to Quaife, saying, * “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him.” *
Good for you, Ray, you sonofabitch.
Took you long enough, didn’t it???
Quasi
(And yes , I mean it!)