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The Dave Clark Five was one of the most successful 1960s British Invasion Bands. They ran neck-and-neck with the Beatles. In the three short years, they had eight top ten records between 1964 and 1967, 15 albums in the United States, and more appearances on the Ed Sullivan show than any other band.
The Dave Clark Five (also known as "The DC5") were a pop rock group. It was the second group of the British Invasion, after The Beatles, to have a chart hit in the United States ("Glad All Over" #6, February 1964).
The Dave Clark Five had several more hit songs in the United States during 1964-67, including "Bits and Pieces" (#4, April 1964), "Can’t You See That She’s Mine" (#4, June 1964), "Because" (#3, August 1964), "Anyway You Want It" (#14, November 1964), "I Like It Like That" (#7, June 1965), "Catch Us If You Can" (#4, August 1965), "Over And Over" (#1, December 25, 1965), and "You Got What It Takes" (#7, April 1967). The group disbanded in late 1970.
On 10 March 2008 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Unusual for a group named after an individual, Dave Clark, born in 1942, was the drummer. He played with his drums at the front of the stage, relegating the guitarists and keyboard to his rear and sides. He formed the band around 1957, originally as a partnership, but from 1963 to 1968 he employed the other members, paying their wages and also paying for the recordings. He owned the copyright in the recordings for this period.
The band started out life as a backing group for Stan Saxon, a North London singer. The line up then included Chris Wells and Mick Ryan as well as Dave Clark. Chris and Mick left and Dave Clark along with Mike Smith, Dennis Payton, Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson formed The Dave Clark Five. Lead vocals were provided by Mike Smith, who also played the keyboards. There 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 credited to Clark and Ron Ryan, who was the brother of early group member Mick Ryan.
The group played locally in Tottenham, a suburb just north of London. The band was promoted as the vanguard of the 'Tottenham Sound', a response to the Mersey Beat stable managed by Brian Epstein. From the outset, the band's sound was complemented by the inclusion of a saxophone. They signed a recording contract with Ember / Pye in 1962, and became more and more popular in England. Their first release was "Mulberry Bush" (a rock version of the nursery rhyme) which made no impact, but their second, a cover of The Contours' "Do You Love Me" did make the lower reaches of the charts in the autumn of 1963. Both the DC5 and the Tremeloes released "Do You Love Me" at the same time, with The Tremelos version rising higher on the British record charts. This was to make a major impact on the band, as they then decided to record their own material.
The Clark / Smith composition "Glad All Over" was released in the late 1963 and by January 1964 was number 1 on the British Pop Charts, replacing the Beatles " I Want To Hold Your Hand" which had been number 1 for six weeks. This song has become one of the most recognizable Beat Era hits and still enjoys a major amount of air play today. Toppling the Beatles brought some major press for the group and they took advantage of this with the release of their next single, "Bits and Pieces" which reached number 2 on the British Charts.
The DC5 were distinguished from their British contemporaries by their larger-than-life production, Clark's loud stomping drum sound, and Mike Smith's powerful vocals. Though accused by detractors of lacking finesse and hipness, they had a solid ear for melodies and harmonies, and wrote much of their early material, the best of which has endured quite well, although their albums were fairly weak.
The Dave Clark Five took the U.S. by storm, spearheading what was to become known as "The British Invasion". Heavily promoted as having a "cleaner" image than the Beatles, they made a record 18 appearances (for a British Beat Group) on the Ed Sullivan Show along with 6 sold out tours and 15 Top 20 hits in three years, established the DC5 as one of the best known British Bands. One of their tours included an amazing 12 sold out shows at Carnegie Hall in 3 days.
Six more records from the group were released in 1964 that reached the top fifteen in the U.S., including the top ten songs "Bits and Pieces" (#4), "Can't You See That She's Mine" (#4) and "Because" (#3). Their hot streak continued the following year with "I Like It Like That" (#7), "Catch Us If You Can"(#4) and their sole U.S. #1, "Over and Over", which had been released earlier by Bobby Day as the flip side of his hit, "Rockin' Robin". 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, despite less than impressive sales in the UK, and they played to sell-out crowds on their tours of the U.S.
The Beatles had a hit film with A Hard Day's Night and Dave Clark answered it with Having a Wild Weekend, a 1965 film that was to be the directorial debut of John Boorman (who would later direct a number of major motion pictures including Deliverance and Exorcist II).
1966 saw The DC5 reach the U.S. top 40 with "At The Scene" (#18), "Try Too Hard" (#12) and "Please Tell Me Why" (#28). There were more hits in 1967, including a cover of Marv Johnson's "You Got What It Takes" (#7), which would prove to be their last top ten entry in the U.S. charts and their final top 40 hit, "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" (#38). The major hits dried up after 1967's "You Got What It Takes".
Times were changing in the music business. Psychedelia was the rage in the late 60's, but the Dave Clark Five didn't get on that bandwagon. Their popularity diminished somewhat in the U.S. Without resorting to using modern studio technology, they still had some top ten songs in the UK including "Everybody Knows", "Red Balloon", and "Everybody Get Together". The early 70's saw them chart with the first Maxi-Single, "Good Old Rock and Roll", but after being relegated to the revival tours, they disbanded.