The BBC reports that Pete Quaife, founding bassist for the Kinks, has died. No cause of death has yet been revealed, but according to the BBC, Quaife had been undergoing kidney dialysis for years. He was 66.
Quaife was an original member of the Kinks, playing with the band when they still called themselves the Ravens in the early 60s. A school friend of Ray and Dave Davies, Quaife started out on guitar and eventually switched to bass. He played on all the band's early recordings, including the clarion-call hit singles "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", as well as the classic albums Something Else by the Kinks and The Village Green Preservation Society. He left the band in 1969.
According to CBC News, Quaife formed the country-rock band Mapleoak after leaving the Kinks. After that band failed to find commercial success, he moved to Ontario, and then to Denmark, working as a graphic artist. He rejoined the Kinks twice: At a 1981 Toronto show and at the band's 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
