Kinks guitarist Dave Davies calls singer-songwriter brother Ray a megalomaniac in a book laying bare their tempestuous relationship.
The feuding duo rowed on and off stage as the The Kinks rose to fame with hits including You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, and Waterloo Sunset.
In his book Living on a Thin Line, Dave claims that by 1971 Ray was a “megalomaniac feeding his narcissism”, calling the shots for the whole band. He writes: “It was unnerving to see how quickly someone could disappear up their own a**e.”
He claims that after the pair worked on The Kinks album State of Confusion in 1983 he asked for a sleeve credit for “writing, arranging and collaborating”.
But when the linear notes appeared he was “stunned to see everything credited as per sodding usual, to Raymond Douglas Davies”.
More rows followed when Ray began doing a solo spot to start The Kinks’ gigs and Dave felt sidelined.
A 2014 musical about the band led to a legal row as Dave’s part in creating the guitar sound for You Really Got Me was glossed over.
Dave, 75, puts their issues down to him being the youngest and getting more attention than Ray, now 78, as a child.
In the book he says: “My sisters and aunts used to coo over me..Ray was loved just as much but went from being the youngest and the only boy to, in his eyes, competing with me for affection. Whenever there was jealously or bitterness later on connected to The Kinks, I believe it was because of underlying resentment.”
After a stroke in 2004 Dave went to stay with Ray for two weeks, but says it “became a nightmare”.
Get all the biggest showbiz news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror Showbiz newsletter.
In the prologue of the book he says: “I sometimes feel he’s like a vampire the way he draws so much energy from people. The way he was absorbing my energy during those two weeks, eventually I thought...really I don’t have much to give at the moment.”
Dave says he wanted to tell the truth about their relationship.
He adds: “Ray is my brother and I love him.
“I want this book partly to stand as a tribute to Ray and to The Kinks – and especially Ray’s writing. There really is nobody else like him.”
- Living On A Thin Line by Dave Davies, published by Headline, out now.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct at 0207 29 33033.
