Posted on 02/28/2008 5:25:47 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Dave Clark Five Singer Dies of Pneumonia By JILL SERJEANT, Reuters
LOS ANGELES (Feb. 29) - Mike Smith, the lead singer of the 1960s British band the Dave Clark Five, died on Thursday of pneumonia at an English hospital, his U.S. agent said.
Mike Smith, Feb. 28: The singer and keyboardist, right, helped lead the British Invasion with the Dave Clark Five -- scoring hits with 'Glad All Over' and 'Because.' Smith died of pneumonia just days away from being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. He was 64. Pictured with him in 1965 are Dennis Payton and Dave Clark, seated. Smith, 64, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday morning with a chest infection resulting from complications of a 2003 spinal cord injury that had left him paralyzed from the waist down, his New York agent, Margo Lewis, said in a statement.
His death at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, north of London, came just two weeks before the Dave Clark Five -- one of the leading bands of the 1960s "British invasion" -- was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York.
The Dave Clark Five, whose hits included "Glad All Over," "Bits and Pieces" and "Because," were one of the first British bands to find major success in the United States after the Beatles.
According to a biography of the band on the Web site allmusic.com, it was the Dave Clark Five who knocked the Fab Four's hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the British charts with "Glad All Over."
Four Out of Five
'She's All Mine'
'Because'
'Everybody Knows'
News Reel: 'Glad All Over' And they made more appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" than any other English act of their era.
Despite a string of more than 10 other hits, the group disbanded in 1970. It had sold more than 50 million albums by the end of 2007.
The Dave Clark Five was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a March 10 ceremony in New York that Smith had hoped to attend despite his September 2003 injury.
Smith, who was both lead singer and keyboard player with the quintet, had spent the years since his injury hospitalized until December 2007, when he moved into a specially prepared home with his wife, Arlene, the statement said.
"These last five years were extremely difficult for Mike, Lewis said.
"He was extremely excited and honored to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I am glad that he will be remembered as a Hall of Famer, because he was in so many ways," she added.
You express it well
This lets the great music speak for itself and as a bonus, is chronologically correct.
Hope y’all like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYohqAMaSKI
Chicago started out kinda good. When Terry Kath offed himself it was curtains for that band.
Early Chicago with Terry Kath was greatness.
Only in the early seventies it came down to The Jackson Five vs. The Osmonds.
And not ONE of them held any where near the excitement for kids across the USA as one of the two times the Beatles perfomed on Sullivan in February 1964.
If you dispute that, you either weren't there or you were related to one of the DC5 band members and your perception is altered.
This is not to say they didn't have some great songs (actually mostly covers.)
(Plus I did get a litle tired of Dave Clark's silly long drum roll he trotted out on nearly EVERY possible occasion--think "Over and Over")
“...the Dave Clark Five holds the distinction of having made 18 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, more than any other UK group...”
And not ONE of them held any where near the excitement for kids across the USA as one of the two times the Beatles perfomed on Sullivan in February 1964.
If you dispute that, you either weren’t there or you were related to one of the DC5 band members and your perception is altered.
This is not to say they didn’t have some great songs (actually mostly covers.)
(Plus I did get a litle tired of Dave Clark’s silly long drum roll he trotted out on nearly EVERY possible occasion—think “Over and Over”)
If you are going to hold EVERY group to the same standards as The Beatles , well , then NObody else belongs in the Hall Of Fame .
Check the list of current members of the HOF and wake up .
Most of the DC 5’s were originals , and I was there dude !
Where were you ?
Thanks,Eye.Brings back lots of great memories from the long ago Summer of 1964,the last time of true innocence for me.
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