The Dave Clark Five

The Dave Clark Five, a British Invasion phenomenon, was formed in 1961 by members of the Tottenham Hotspurs soccer team in suburban London because they needed to raise funds to travel to Holland for a match. Photogenic leader Dave Clark, a former film stuntman, had never played the drums but quickly learned; he soon became the group's chief songwriter, producer, and manager as well.

The quintet's sound differed strikingly from its British Invasion counterparts. On songs like “Glad All Over” and especially “Anyway You Want It,” the DC5 was probably the loudest U.K. act until the arrival of the Who. Denis Payton’s sax underpinned a dense, churning rhythm section, while Clark’s crackling snare-drum triplets punctuated the mix. And in Mike Smith the DC5 possessed a truly outstanding (and greatly overlooked) soul shouter.

“Glad All Over” (#6, 1964) was the first in a string of 17 Top 40 hits in just three years. The group’s Top 10s included “Bits and Pieces” (#4), “Can’t You See That She’s Mine” (#4), and the ballad “Because” (#3) in 1964; “I Like It Like That” (#7), “Catch Us If You Can” (#4), and “Over and Over” (#1) in 1965; and “You Got What It Takes” (#7) in 1967. The DC5 was the second British act after the Beatles to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show; its 18 appearances on that show eclipsed both the Fab Four and the Rolling Stones. Clark and company also followed the Beatles into film, appearing (with the Animals) in Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) and Having a Wild Weekend (1965).

By 1968, the group’s U.S. hits had dried up, although the Dave Clark Five continued to score hits in Britain through 1970, the year the band split up. Smith and Clark continued to put out records under the name Dave Clark and Friends for another three years. Smith then made an album with onetime Manfred Mann vocalist Mike D’Abo in 1975. He later got into commercial jingle writing and session work, and appeared on the original album to Evita. In 1990 he recorded an album of ’50s American rock standards as well as originals.

Clark wrote and produced the 1986 musical Time, which starred Cliff Richard and, later, David Cassidy. An accompanying album of music from the stage production featured Richard, Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, and others. Clark, a savvy businessman, has owned the DC5’s original masters from the beginning. When he put together the 1993 double-CD retrospective, it marked the first time the DC5 catalogue was made available in 20 years. Over its career, the Dave Clark Five has sold over 50 million records worldwide.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)