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.
The amount of bands not in there who will have members in their 60s soon is criminal. Rush, Kiss, Boston, Journey, Chicago, Foreigner etc...not in the rock hall. Smith waited and waited and waited...now he won't be alive to be inducted.
Jann Wenner...burn in hell.
Wow. I am in pieces. Bits and pieces.
I guess he's not feelin' Glad All Over anymore.
Accurate assessment of Wenner. The Dave Clark Five personified the British Invasion and are pivotal in the history of Rock & Roll.
My husband passed about 5 years ago. He was a guitarist, and loved the Dave Clark 5. I still have many of their original 45s and LPs.
Sad, nostalgic ping.
It makes me laugh every time another “rapper” or “hip hop” act I never heard of gets inducted into the Rock and Roll “Hall of Fame”. That thing is a joke, and Wenner is nothing but a washed-up little mouse.
One of my early favs (NOT Jann!)...RIP Mike
I was listening to our oldies station a few weeks ago and the DJ went off on this guy. I think it was Scott Shannon - remember him?
Really loved the Dave Clark Five. I saw them in concert when I was a teenybopper in the mid 60’s. Mike Smith had been in ill health and in a wheelchair for several years.
RIP Mike, you gave us a lot of listening pleasure.
The Dave Clark Five personified the British Invasion and are pivotal in the history of Rock & Roll. They were up there with The Who, The Stones, The Beatles...all of those bands...they just didn’t last as long...but their influence was HUGE...thing is..when Smith got hurt a few years back...he said...they better hurry up getting the DC5 in the hall of fame because it’s clear God wants me home soon...with a laugh...then they got nominated again...last year and Jann Wenner put in Afrikan Bambaataa instead of DC5 although DC5 had the votes to get in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q26yIGPT3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6GRYerfD3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-p9fwHuFwc
My older sister listened to the DC5 albums when I was a little kid. I remember the music as happy, fartsy sing alongs. That was before my older brother corrupted me with Hendrix, Cream, Led Zep, Jefferson Airplane, Zappa, Janis Joplin, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Doors, Steppen Wolf, Santana, etc.
Vocal genius from Mike Smith in the great:
Catch us if you ca-AA-aa-an, catch us if you ca-aa-aa-an, catch us if you ca-aa-AA an, catch us if you can.
Beats all hell out of:
I got my b!tches and my Ho’s and my Dom, in the Pres’dent’s Suite
This makes me so sad. I have so many fond memories of dancing on the piano bench to the DC5 as a little one, making my bro and all of his friends laugh at little sister!
Bro is gone now some 6 years..
just all makes me sad.
Heard he was saved. “Glad All Over” I’m certain he is tonight if that’s true.
Rock Hall Voting Scandal: Dave Clark 5 Actually Won (Jann Wenner FINALLY EXPOSED)
-PJ
Don’t forget Try Too Hard from 1966.
RIP.
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