The Dave Clark Five

Biography

The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, "Glad All Over×Glad All OverMarch 1964 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Glad All Over2:43A2All of the Time2:16A3Stay2:09A4Chaquita2:13A5Do You Love Me2:21B1Bits and Pieces1:57B2I Know You2:00B3No Time to Lose2:01B4Doo Dah2:23B5Time2:20B6She's All Mine2:13", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over×Over and Over1965 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAOver and Over1:55BI'll Be Yours (My Love)2:41". Their other UK top-ten hits include "Bits and Pieces×Bits and Pieces20 March 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABits and Pieces1:56BAll of the Time2:13", "Can't You See That She's Mine×Can't You See That She's Mine29 May 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksACan't You See That She's MineBNo Time to Lose", "Catch Us If You Can×Catch Us If You Can1965 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Catch Us If You Can1:53A2On the Move2:22A3If You Come Back2:52A4Long Ago2:12A5Any Time You Want Love2:12A6I Can't Stand It1:33B1Your Turn to Cry3:12B2Hurtin' Inside2:38B3Don't Be Taken In2:23B4Don't You Realize3:36B5I Cried Over You2:28B6Sweet Memories2:42", "Everybody Knows×Everybody Knows1967 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1You Got What It Takes2I’ll Do the Best I Can3At the Place4A Little Bit Strong5Good Love Is Hard to Find6Blueberry Hill7Tabatha Twitchit8Everybody Knows9Beautiful Baby10Lost in His Dreams11Go On12Sitting Here Baby13Bernerdette14Got to Have a Reason15Play Me Around16Inside and Out", "The Red Balloon", "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll", and a version of Chet Powers' "Get Together" (retitled as "Everybody Get Together").
They were the second group of the British Invasion to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States (for two weeks in March 1964 following the Beatles' three weeks the previous month). They would ultimately have 18 appearances on the show. The DC5 were one of the most commercially successful acts of the British Invasion, releasing seventeen top-40 hits in the US between 1964 and 1967, including several that did not chart as highly in the UK such as "Because×Because13 July 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABecauseBTheme Without a Name", "Do You Love Me", "Everybody Knows (I Still Love You)", "Any Way You Want It", "I Like It Like That×I Like It Like That1965 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1I Like It Like That1:40A2Pumping1:45A3I Need Love3:40A4Maybe It's You2:16A5That's How Long Our Love Will Last2:45A6A Little Bit of Love2:41B1I'll Be Your My Love2:40B2Please Love Me2:05B3Goodbye My Friends3:03B4I Am on My Own2:33B5She's a Loving Girl2:02B6You Know You're Lying2:01", "Try Too Hard×Try Too Hard1966 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Try Too Hard2:10A2Today2:10A3I Never Will1:54A4Looking In2:03A5Ever Since You’ve Been Away1:34B1Somebody Find a Home2:06B2I Really Love You1:53B3It Don’t Feel Good1:41B4Scared of Falling in Love1:56B5I Know2:38" and "You Got What It Takes×You Got What It Takes1967 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1You Got What It Takes2:59A2I've Got to Have a Reason1:53A3You Don't Play Me Around2:19A4Thinking of You Baby2:33A5Lovin' So Good1:46B1Doctor Rhythm2:48B2Play With Me1:40B3Let Me Be1:44B4Blueberry Hill2:18B5Tabatha Twitchit2:25". In 1965, the group starred in a feature film vehicle, Catch Us If You Can, directed by John Boorman. The group disbanded in early 1970, though Clark and a few former members continued as Dave Clark & Friends until 1973. In 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

History

The band had its origins in 1958, as the backing musicians for north London vocalist Stan Saxon. Dave Clark played drums and contributed background vocals, alongside a frequently changing line-up. Clark and guitarist Rick Huxley both participated in the 1958 line-up. Clark and his bandmates eventually split with Saxon and reconstituted themselves as a standalone concern in January 1962, making their home in the South Grove Youth Club in Tottenham, London. After a little more evolution, a lasting ensemble was settled, with Clark on drums, Huxley moving to bass, Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, Denis Payton on saxophone (and harmonica and rhythm guitar), and Mike Smith on keyboards and lead vocals. Davidson's previous bands were the Off Beats and the Impalas.
The DC5 were promoted as the vanguard of a "Tottenham Sound", a response to Liverpool's Mersey Beat sound, which featured an often loud and forceful production style driven by Clark's punchy drumming, Payton's saxophone padding and Smith's belting vocals. Dave Clark produced their recordings in collaboration with sound engineer Adrian Kerridge of Lansdowne Studios, with production credited using the pseudonym Adrian Clark. Session drummer Bobby Graham has claimed to have played on some of the band's hits to allow Clark to be free to produce.
Dave Clark was also the group's manager, and struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band's recordings and gave him control of the master recordings. Songwriting credits for the band's original material went to Clark, or more often to the team of Clark and Smith. Clark/Davidson and Clark/Payton compositions were also not uncommon.
The Dave Clark Five had 12 Top 40 hits in the UK between 1964 and 1967, and 17 records in the Top 40 of the US Billboard chart. Their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over×Over and Over1965 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAOver and Over1:55BI'll Be Yours (My Love)2:41" went to No. 1 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 on Christmas Day 1965, despite less impressive sales in the UK (it peaked at No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart). They made 18 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show – more than any other British Invasion group. They were featured in a film released in 1964 entitled, Get Yourself a College Girl.
The band released a film, Catch Us If You Can (directed by John Boorman), in 1965. It starred Barbara Ferris, and was released in the United States as Having a Wild Weekend. The short film Hits in Action highlighted a series of Dave Clark Five hits.
Other than the songs "Live in the Sky", "Maze of Love", "Inside and Out", "The Red Balloon" and "Lost in His Dreams", the band did not follow the psychedelic music trend. Their popularity in the US mostly dried up by 1967, though they continued to score hits in Britain for another three years. The Dave Clark Five disbanded in 1970, having had three singles on the UK chart that year, two of which reached the Top Ten. In 1970, Davidson, Huxley and Payton left, and Alan Parker and Eric Ford joined on lead guitar and bass. That line-up, renamed "Dave Clark & Friends", lasted until 1972.

Post break-up

Following the group's break-up, Clark set up a cable company. In the process, he acquired the rights to the 1960s pop series Ready Steady Go!. Additionally, he wrote and produced the 1986 London stage musical Time – The Musical where he directed the last performance of Sir Laurence Olivier. A two-disc vinyl album was released in conjunction with the stage production featuring music recorded by Julian Lennon (singing DC5's song "Because×Because13 July 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABecauseBTheme Without a Name"), Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, Cliff Richard, Ashford & Simpson and Olivier's selected dialogue. This double album was digitally remastered and released on iTunes in May 2012.
Mike Smith teamed up with Mike d'Abo (previously with Manfred Mann) for one album in 1976. He also released a now-scarce CD in 2000 titled It's Only Rock & Roll and returned to performing in 2003 after a hiatus of 25 years. He formed Mike Smith's Rock Engine and did two mini-tours of the US He died on 28 February 2008 in a Buckinghamshire hospital from pneumonia, a complication of a paralysing spinal injury sustained from a fall in 2003.
Denis Payton died on 17 December 2006 at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer. Rick Huxley died from emphysema on 11 February 2013 at the age of 72. Lenny Davidson taught guitar for many years at a school in Cambridgeshire, the county he lives in.
Between 1978 and 1993, none of their music was available to be purchased in any commercial format due to rights-holder Clark declining to license the band's recordings. In 1993, a single CD Glad All Over Again was produced by Dave himself and released by EMI in Britain. After a 1989 deal with the Disney Channel to rebroadcast the 1960s ITV show Ready Steady Go! (which Clark owned), he made a deal with Disney-owned Hollywood Records to issue in 1993 a double CD History of the Dave Clark Five. No DC5 material was then legally available until 2008, when the 28-track The Hits compilation was released by Universal Music in the UK. In 2009, selections from the band's catalogue were released on iTunes.
In 2014, Dave Clark wrote, produced, appeared in, and partly presented the television documentary The Dave Clark Five and Beyond: Glad All Over. Smith also appeared via archival footage and archived interviews, but there was no participation from Lenny Davidson nor were there any archived interviews from Denis Payton or Rick Huxley. The documentary also featured appearances from Paul McCartney, Whoopi Goldberg, Elton John, and Gene Simmons of Kiss.
In 2019, almost the entire catalogue from the band, including all the original 1960s studio albums, became available on Spotify for the first time. On 24 January 2020, BMG Rights Management, with whom Clark has recently joined forces to reissue the band's recordings, released a new DC5 greatest hits CD (titled All the Hits, and which was based on the 2008 The Hits compilation) in two configurations.

Induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Dave Clark Five made the list of nominees for the class of 2008, and on 13 December 2007 it was announced that the band would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008. The group was inducted by Tom Hanks, who wrote, directed and starred in the 1996 film That Thing You Do!, which was about an American one-hit wonder band that became popular in the wake of the British Invasion.
In attendance with the three surviving members of the DC5 were the families of Lenny Davidson and Rick Huxley, and Denis Payton's two sons. Mike Smith had planned on attending but died 11 days before the induction. Dave Clark opened up his acceptance speech by saying that he felt like he was at the Oscars. Davidson mentioned that they arrived in New York City for the ceremony on 8 March, exactly 44 years after the group's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Joan Jett honoured the Dave Clark Five by performing "Bits and Pieces×Bits and Pieces20 March 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABits and Pieces1:56BAll of the Time2:13" with John Mellencamp's band. To perform "Glad All Over×Glad All OverMarch 1964 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Glad All Over2:43A2All of the Time2:16A3Stay2:09A4Chaquita2:13A5Do You Love Me2:21B1Bits and Pieces1:57B2I Know You2:00B3No Time to Lose2:01B4Doo Dah2:23B5Time2:20B6She's All Mine2:13", Jett was joined by John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Billy Joel and other artists who performed throughout the evening.

Classic line-up

Dave Clark – backing and occasional lead vocals, drums (1959–1970; 1970–1972, Dave Clark and Friends spinoff group)
Mike Smith – lead vocals, keyboards (1961–1970; 1970–1973, Dave Clark and Friends spinoff group; died 2008)
Lenny Davidson – backing and lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars (1961–1970)
Rick Huxley (ex the Riverside Blues Boys, the Spon Valley Stompers) – backing vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar (1959–1970; died 2013)
Denis Payton (ex the Renegades, the Les Heath Combo, the Blue Dukes, the Mike Jones Combo) – backing and occasional lead vocals, tenor and baritone saxophones, harmonica, rhythm guitar (1962–1970; died 2006)

Early members

Stan Saxon – lead vocals, saxophone
Mick Ryan – lead guitar
Chris Walls – bass

Dave Clark & Friends members

Alan Parker – lead guitar
Eric Ford – bass

Studio albums

Glad All Over (US, 1964)
The Dave Clark Five Return! (US, 1964)/A Session with The Dave Clark Five (UK, 1964)
American Tour (US, 1964)
Coast to Coast (US, 1964)
Weekend in London (US, 1965)
Having a Wild Weekend (US, 1965)/Catch Us If You Can (UK, 1965)
I Like It Like That (US, 1965)
Try Too Hard (US, 1966)
Satisfied with You (US, 1966)
5 by 5 (US, 1967)
You Got What It Takes (US, 1967)
Everybody Knows (US, 1968) / Everybody Knows (UK, 1967)
5 By 5 (1964–69) (UK, 1968)
If Somebody Loves You (UK, 1970)
The Dave Clark Five Play Good Old Rock & Roll (UK, 1971)
Dave Clark & Friends (UK, 1972)