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'The Dave Clark Five' (abbreviated as ''DC5'') were an English Beat group in the 1960s, and one of the few that were able to present something of a commercial threat to The Beatles, the dominant group of the period. They were, in fact, the second group of the "British Invasion" after The Beatles to have a chart hit in America ("Glad All Over" #6 April 1964).
The Dave Clark Five had several more hit songs (see Discography below) in the United States during 1964-67, including "Bits and Pieces" (#4 May 1964), "Can’t You See That She’s Mine" (#4 July 1964), "Because" (#3 September 1964), "Catch Us If You Can" (#4 September 1965), "Over And Over" (#1 December 1965), and "You Got What It Takes" (#7 May 1967). The group disbanded in late 1970 (see details below).

Contents

Career

Post break-up

Controversy

Band personnel details

Discography

U.S. Albums

U.S. singles

Notes

References

External links

Career

Although the group was named after him, Dave Clark was the drummer; lead vocals were provided by Mike Smith who also played the keyboards. The rest of the band was Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, Rick Huxley on bass guitar, and Denny Payton on saxophone, harmonica and guitar. Songwriting credits went to Clark, Clark and Smith, Clark and Davidson, and Clark and Payton. Some early songs were also credited to Clark and Ron Ryan, who was the brother of early group member Mick Ryan.
Originating in North London, the band promoted themselves as the vanguard of the 'Tottenham Sound', a response to the Mersey Beat stable managed by Brian Epstein. They had a series of memorable hits, including "Glad All Over" that in January 1964 knocked the Beatles out of the number one position on the UK Singles Chart.
The Dave Clark Five placed 17 records in ''Billboard's Top 40 to go with 12 Top 40 United Kingdom hits between 1964 and 1967. Their song "Over And Over" went to number one in the U.S. on the ''Billboard'' Charts Hot 100 at the end of December 1965, and they played to sell-out crowds on their tours of the U.S. Heavily promoted as having a "cleaner" image than the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five holds the distinction of having made 18 appearances on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', more than any other UK group.
Unusual for a group of that (or any) era, the leader was the drummer Dave Clark who would play and sing with his drums positioned at the front of the stage, relegating the guitarists and keyboard to his rear and sides. The group was unique in the British Invasion because it was not an exclusively guitar-based sound. The beat was prominent and the DC5 was one of the few groups of the era to feature a saxophone. Smith's growling, blues-tinged vocals were in the lead on almost all of the hit singles.
After the success of the Beatles movie ''A Hard Day's Night'' in 1964, the DC5 released their own film ''Catch Us If You Can'' (directed by John Boorman) in 1965; the film, which also starred Barbara Ferris, was released in the United States as ''Having a Wild Weekend''.
The song "Bits and Pieces" was sometimes banned from being played at their live concerts, as fans would jump up and down in time to the song's stomping beat, and promoters feared this would damage the dance hall floors.
In spite of their huge success for a period, bolstered by the movie and a television special, the major hits dried up after 1967's "You Got What It Takes". The DC5's efforts to embrace the prevailing trend of psychedelia were not successful. They disbanded in 1970, having placed a further three singles on the UK chart that year.

Post break-up

Dave Clark was also the manager of the band.
Bobby Graham, a well-known British session drummer in the 1960s, claimed in 2004 that he, rather than Clark, played on all of the group's hit records ^[1]. However, Ron Ryan, in a 2006 interview, insisted that Clark definitely played drums on all the recordings, except on the rare occasion when he could not produce and play at the same time. However, Ryan was not associated with the group when it was recording its biggest hits from 1964-67 and has no firsthand knowledge of the recording process on those tracks.
Clark was notorious for having a closed studio, primarily to protect the secret that accomplished session players were used on the records. Ironically, most session drummers would not want to be known as "the ''real'' Dave Clark", as Clark was not a skillful drummer. He was however, a successful businessman, entrepreneur, producer and promoter - and in those capacities, he was indispensable to the success of the group.
Following the break-up of the band, Clark set up a media company. In the process, he acquired the rights to the iconic '60s pop series ''Ready, Steady, Go!''.
Smith returned to performing in 2003 after a layoff of 25 years. He formed Mike Smith's Rock Engine and did two mini-tours of the U.S., although he was legally forbidden from using any mention of the DC5 in his advertising. Just a few months after his only son died in a diving accident, Smith suffered a spinal cord injury in a fall at his home in Spain on 12 September 2003. He is currently a patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, a fact which has been reported in many Sixties magazines in the United Kingdom and is common knowledge in that country. It has falsely been claimed by some sources that he is and has always been in London in a hospital.
Denis Payton died on 17 December 2006 after a long battle with cancer. He was 63.

Controversy

The band, which according to sources received the fifth most votes and thus was eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, were allegedly denied election by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner in order to allow the induction of Grandmaster Flash because no rap group was inducted into the hall. ^[2]

Band personnel details

The final members of the Dave Clark Five, with birthdate and instruments, were the following:

"1960s British Rock and Pop Chronology - Birth of a Nation" (birthdates),
Gordon Thompson, 2006-09-17, webpage:
Skidmore-BritRock.


★ Dave Clark (born David Clark, 15 December 1939, in Tottenham, North London, England), was the drummer.

★ Mike Smith (born Michael George Smith, 6 December 1943, in Edmonton, North London), was the lead vocalist, who also played the keyboards.

★ Lenny Davidson (born Leonard Arthur Davidson, 30 May 1942,^[3] in Enfield, Middlesex) (ex The Off Beats, The Impalas) on lead guitar.

★ Rick Huxley (born Richard Huxley, 5 August 1940, in Dartford, Kent) (ex The Riverside Blues Boys, The Spon Valley Stompers) on bass guitar.

★ Denis Payton (born Dennis West Payton, 11 August 1943, in Walthamstow, East London — died 17 December 2006,"Dave Clark Five star Payton dies", webpage: BBC News in Bournemouth, Dorset) (ex The Renegades, The Les Heath Combo, The Blue Dukes, The Mike Jones Combo) on tenor and baritone saxophones, harmonica, and guitar.

Discography

U.S. Albums

Album Title	Label & Catalog No.	Date
''Glad All Over''	Epic LN-24093/BN-26093	1964
''The Dave Clark Five Return''	Epic LN-24104/BN-26104	1964
''American Tour''	Epic LN-24117/BN-26117	1965
''Coast To Coast''	Epic LN-24128/BN-26128	1965
''Weekend In London''	Epic LN-24139/BN-26139	1965
''Having A Wild Weekend''	Epic LN-24162/BN-26162	1965
''I Like It Like That''	Epic LN-24178/BN-26178	1965
''The Dave Clark Five's Greatest Hits''	Epic LN-24185/BN-26185	1966
''Try Too Hard''	Epic LN-24198/BN-26198	1966
''Satisfied With You''	Epic LN-24212/BN-26212	1966
''More Greatest Hits''	Epic LN-24221/BN-26221	1966
''5 By 5''	Epic LN-24236/BN-26236	1967
''You Got What It Takes''	Epic LN-24312/BN-26312	1967
''Everybody Knows''	Epic LN-24354/BN-26354	1968
''The Dave Clark Five (2LP)''	Epic EG-30434	1971
''Glad All Over Again (2LP)''	Epic KEG-33459	1975

U.S. singles

Song Title	Highest US Chart Position	Peak Month	Highest UK Chart Position
"Glad All Over"	#6	June 1964	#1
"Bits and Pieces"	#4	May 1964	#2
"Do You Love Me"	#11	May 1964	#30
"I Knew It All The Time"	#53	April 1964	-
"Can’t You See That She’s Mine"	#4	July 1964	#10
"Because"	#3	September 1964	-
"Everybody Knows (I Still Love You)"	#15	October 1964	#37
"Anyway You Want It"	#14	December 1964	#25
"Come Home"	#14	March 1965	#16
"Reelin’ And Rockin’"	#23	May 1965	#24
"I'm Thinking"	#128	April 1965	-
"I Like It Like That"	#7	July 1965	-
"Catch Us If You Can"	#4	September 1965	#5
"Over And Over"	#1	December 1965	#45
"At The Scene"	#18	March 1966	-
"Try Too Hard"	#12	May 1966	-
"Please Tell Me Why"	#28	July 1966	-
"Look Before You Leap"	#101	June 1966	#50
"Satisfied With You"	#50	August 1966	-
"Nineteen Days"	#48	October 1966	-
"I've Got To Have A Reason"	#44	January 1967	-
"You Got What It Takes"	#7	May 1967	#28
"You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby"	#35	June 1967	-
"A Little Bit Now"	#67	August 1967	-
"Red And Blue"	#89	October 1967	-
"Everybody Knows"	#43	December 1967	#2
"Please Stay"	#115	May 1968	-

The Dave Clark 5 had additional hit singles in Britain that were not released or did not chart in the United States:

★ "Thinking Of You Baby" (#26, 1964)

★ "No One Can Break A Heart Like You" (#28, 1968)

★ "Red Balloon" (#7, 1968)

★ "Live in the Sky" (#39, 1968)

★ "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (#31, 1969)

★ "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll" (a medley of eight 1950s hits) (#7, 1969)

★ "Everybody Get Together" (#8, 1970)

★ "Here Comes Summer" (#44, 1970)

★ "More Good Old Rock 'n' Roll (another 8-song medley) (#34, 1970)

★ "Glad All Over" (reissue) (#37, 1993)
The group oddly released two different songs with the same title "Everybody Knows", the first in 1964, the second in 1967. The former was a bigger hit in the U.S., reaching no. 15 in the charts there to the latter's no. 43. In the UK, the latter was a bigger hit, reaching no. 2 to the former's no. 37.

Notes

1. http://www.retrosellers.com/features138.htm
2. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258664,00.html
3.
The IMDb biography for Lenny Davidson had his birth year incorrectly stated
as "1944" while other sources confirm "May 30, 1942" (noted 2006-10-01).

References

★ Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X

★ The Book of Golden Discs - 2nd Edition - ISBN 0-214-20512-6

★ Goldmine Standard Catalog Of American Records 1950 to 1975 - 3rd Edition - ISBN 0-87349-471-7

External links

★ Classic Bands on The Dave Clark Five.

★ http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/6742/daveclark.html

★ Dave Clark Five biography at the AMG web site.

★ Dave Clark Five website: plays jukebox of actual recordings.

★ Discussion forum for the Dave Clark Five.

★ Excellent DC5 website!