Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five died on Thursday of pneumonia at the age of 64. Smith had been in declining health after suffering a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed below the ribcage with limited use of his upper body. The injury occurred when he fell from a fence at his home in Spain in September 2003.As the Dave Clark Five's rough-edged lead vocalist and keyboardist, Smith helped make the group's sound distinctive from their main competitors The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. During their career, the group hit the U.S. singles chart over 20 times from 1964-1967. Their biggest hits included "Glad All Over, "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Because", and "Over and Over" (their only U.S. #1 single).
Smith's death comes less than two weeks before the Dave Clark Five are scheduled to be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to his agent, Smith was trying to attend the ceremony.
Below is a 1969 clip of The Dave Clark Five performing "Mulberry Tree" on the German series Beat-Club.
6 comments:
So sad....I've read a lot about him in the last year.
~sigh~
I'm kinda partial to "Catch Us if You Can." But those are great tunes too, and the fact that another 60s British r&ber is gone saddens me.
That's messed up! Just when he was about to be inducted in the RRHOF. That's too bad.
I heard this yesterday on the radio in the car...very sad!!!!
The radio announcer had a Dave Clark 5 trivia question. I didn't know the answer and I had already arrived at where I was going before they said the answer....I figured maybe you would just know!!! LOL
They said the managers and the studio did not want Dave Clark 5 to release one of songs which turned out to big a huge hit for them. Management and the studio were convinced that releasing this song would end their careers. Years later, one of the band members said in an interview that if people only remember Dave Clark 5 by that one song, it is ok with him.
Do you know which song it was by any chance? Just curious......
Mistress of the D: It would have been so cool if Mike Smith could have attended the RRHOF induction ceremony. Although I knew he was paralyzed, I didn't realize that he was hospitalized from the time of the accident until December of last year.
X. Dell: "Catch Us If You Can" is another great DC5 tune. I believe it's here somewhere, I just didn't have time to look for it and upload it to my blog. It's a shame that the DC5's recordings are out of print. You can find some, but it's likely going to cost you a nice little chunk of change.
Pjazzy: You ain't kidding. A similar situation happened to Dusty Springfield when she was inducted. Although she hadn't died yet, she was too ill to attend the ceremony.
Jessica: Man, that's a good question. My guess would be the song "Because". This is due to it being their first ballad and a big departure from their uptempo, driving rock and roll sound.
Do you remember the station you were listening to at the time? If you do and have time to call them, I would love to find out the answer to that question myself.
This is so sad. I was unaware he had passed away. I just mentioned the DC5 in a post today on my pop culture blog.
Man, you know you're gettin' old when all your rock heroes are heading off to that big rock and roll concert in the sky.
Post a Comment