Neil's Aunt, Rosy.
Neil's Mom, Lola.
Neil's lovely wife, a distant relative to The Queen. Notice the similarities?
Neil's family at Christmas time.
Neil with his mates from the Hornsey Art School, The Kinks
Anyway, Neil went through his childhood and school days fairly uneventfully, except for the time he sat fire to that barn in Chicago and nearly burned the whole city down.
He applied to and was accepted to the Hornsey Art School, but when they gave Ray some toilet paper to use for his artwork, he quit to join his friends Ray and Dave on a strange odyssey that had him play a large part in The Kinks' career...as an unofficial "8th Kink."
He was fully qualified, having taken Clapton's place in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Oh, he couldn't play guitar as well as Clapton. Beck and Page, maybe, but not Clapton. His problem was that he didn't own a guitar, having invested his money in a skiffle group, The Shaggs (see below).
It was at this time that Neil helped to write "You Really Got Me." Well, "write" might be too strong a term. He was out getting Chinese food when Ray got the idea for the song, and Dave finish off the classic guitar riff that would launch a thousand garage bands.
But it was Neil who got the idea for cutting the speakers in Dave's "Little Green Amp," the Elpico. Well, actually, he tripped on the floor mat coming into Konk Studios and fell into the amp, ruining the speakers, but Dave just kept playing and the rest is history.