Pete Quaife

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

The Kinks

After a brief period studying Commercial art, Quaife formed The Kinks in 1962 along with school friend Dave Davies and subsequently asked Dave's brother Ray Davies to join.^[1] The band was originally called the (Golden) Ravens and performed rhythm and blues at local venues such as the Hornsey Recreation Club at Crouch End Secondary School. The 'Kinks' name came about only upon the signing of a recording contract in late 1963.

The Kinks became a top chart act throughout the world beginning with their third single, 1964's "You Really Got Me". Quaife was commonly the voice of the band in early press interviews. He was temporarily replaced in the Kinks in mid 1966 by John Dalton, after a serious car crash left him unable to perform. He resigned from the band shortly thereafter, but reconsidered and returned in November 1966.

For the next two years Quaife played on 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 (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). Quaife left The Kinks permanently in April 1969. He was again replaced on bass, this time permanently, by Dalton.

Mapleoak

Quaife left The Kinks and founded a new band, the country/rock outfit, Mapleoak. The group's name derived from the heritage of its members: The 'Maple' represented the two Canadian members of the group (singer-songwriters Stan Endersby (born 17 July 1947, in Lachine, Quebec, Canada) and Marty Fisher (born 24 December 1945, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), while the 'Oak' represented British members Quaife and drummer Mick Cook.

Quaife had contacts in Denmark, so the group gigged heavily there and in the UK during most of 1969 and early 1970. Cook left the band in June 1969, and was replaced by another Canadian: Gordon MacBain (born 5 August 1947, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada), who would write most of the group's original material.

Mapleoak released their first single, "Son of a Gun", in April 1970 but it failed to chart. Quaife then left both the band and the music industry. He subsequently moved to Denmark, and did not appear on Mapleoak's only album, which was released in 1971.

1980s and 1990s

Quaife never fully returned to the music world as a professional performer. In 1980, he relocated to Belleville, 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. Along with the original Kinks, Quaife was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. At the ceremony in New York, Quaife jammed on stage with the other musicians being honoured that year.

Quaife was diagnosed with renal failure in 1998. During dialysis sessions, he drew a series of cartoons based on his experiences. Following their enthusiastic reception by other patients, they have subsequently been published in book form as The Lighter Side of Dialysis (Jazz Communications, Toronto, 2004). Though he was invariably known as 'Pete' during his time with the Kinks, Quaife's books are published under the name 'Peter Quaife'.

In 1996, in an interview for the Goldmine Magazine, The Who´s John Entwistle was asked who his favourite bassist was, he responded: "I'd say one of my favourite bass players was Pete Quaife because he literally drove the Kinks along".

21st Century

Quaife has no current 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, Netherlands, in September 2004, he read excerpts from Veritas, his fictional account of a 1960s rock group. He also joined in with The Kast Off Kinks on a few songs.

Quaife lived in Canada for more than two decades, but moved back to Denmark in 2005 after his marriage ended in divorce. In 2005, Quaife was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame along with the other original Kinks.

In December 2007, Record Collector published an interview with Ray Davies, in which he was quoted as saying, "I spoke to Quaife about a month ago and he dearly wants to make another record with me". The tabloid press picked up on this quote, and turned it into a story saying that the Kinks were reforming for a tour in 2008. However, in an interview aired on the Biography Channel in December 2008, Quaife flatly said he would never participate in any type of Kinks reunion.

References

External links

• Publisher's page for "The Lighter Side of Dialysis" giving the background to the book
• Cartoons from "The Lighter Side of Dialysis"
• 1998 interview with Quaife
• 2005 interview with Quaife
• Article on Mapleoak