One of my very favorite Kinks songs.
Don't know whatever happened to Gary Lewis' Playboys in general, but wasn't Leon Russell one of them, at least in the studio? IIRC he also wrote "Just My Style."
Leon Russell arranged "This Diamond Ring" for them. ********************
Never mind, I've been wrong all these years. I checked and found this:
The other Playboys were Jim Keltner, Ron Hicklin, Al Capps, and Stan Farber.
I was somehow under the impression that the Playboys eventually became the Dominoes with Clapton.
....and upon further research....I was partially right:
The arranger on most of their recordings was Leon Russell, who would sit on the beach in Venice writing rock-and-roll songs with Gary Lewis that the group turned into smashing successes. By the end of 1965 most of the original personnel had left the group and been replaced. Keyboard player John West remained, and he played along with Tom Tripplehorn,
Carl Radle, and Jimmy Karstein. The latter three were all recruited by Leon Russell from his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.