MIKE SMITHMike Smith, lead singer and organist of the pioneering ’60s beat group the Dave Clark Five, died on 28 February, 2008, aged 64.They were the first British Invasion group to arrive on the shores of America and scored global hits such as Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, Catch Us If You Can and Over And Over.They were also one of the first beat groups to emerge from London, predating the Rolling Stones and Who as The Beatles’ main rivals for pop supremacy. After they split up, Mr Smith worked as a solo artist and producer.Michael George Smith was born on 6 December, 1943, in Edmonton. He could play the piano as early as five and by 13 had passed entrance exams at London’s Trinity Music College. Meanwhile his early singing style was being shaped by his idol, Little Richard.He and drummer Dave Clark met as team-mates on the St George Boys Club football team. In 1961 Clark, who had just lost his lead singer, invited Smith to leave his finance job and join his band.The new line-up of the DC5 recorded their first single, That’s What I Said, in 1962, when Smith, Clark, guitarist Lenny Davidson, bassist Rick Huxley and saxophonist Denny Payton were still in their teens.Their next few records didn’t chart, but after The Beatles exploded onto the British music scene in 1963, the DC5 were hot on their trail. In January ’64 they knocked the Fab Four’s I Want to Hold Your Hand off the top of the UK charts with Glad All Over.Co-written by Smith and Clark, Glad All Over featured the group’s trademark heavy drum sound, in a call and response stomp to the chorus, as well as the distinctive saxophone and a catchy, sing-along quality.The arrangement gave the DC5 an original style that didn’t ape the Mersey Sound as so many other contemporary groups did. They blended complex, Beach Boys-esque harmonies with prominent R&B beats. The sax even provided a hint of Jamaican ska feel on follow-up single Bits and Pieces, which peaked at 2 in the UK and 4 in America.As well the organ, Mr Smith’s rasping vocals – one of the things he shared with his rival John Lennon – also helped set the band apart and gave them instant appeal in America. They embarked on the first of six sell-out tours of the States and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show for the first of a record 18 times.Although the British music press sometimes criticised the DC5 for their clean-cut image and restrained production, made to seem a bit tame by the likes of Jagger, Townshend and Davis over the following years, the American public embraced the band at the same time they were burning Beatles records.In the States they had six top 10 albums between 1964 and 1966 and seven top 10 singles in the same period, including their only US number one, Over and Over (1965). At one stage they sold out 12 shows over three days at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 1965 they made the film Catch Us If You Can, a more commendably plot-orientated movie than A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Monkees’ Head (1968) and similar films starring bands.Back in the UK they remained a consistent singles band, hitting the charts with sides like Everybody Knows (1967), The Red Balloon (1968) and Everybody Get Together (1970). They remained local heroes in Tottenham and promoters feared for their dance floors whenever they performed their stomping hits.The group split up in 1970, but Mike Smith and Dave Clark continued to record together for three years to meet contractual obligations. However, they never got the hang of psychedelia and didn’t trouble the charts again until Glad All Over was reissued in 1993.Smith began working as a producer for the likes of Shirley Bassey and Michael Ball, as well as recording an album with Manfred Mann’s Mike D’Abo and singing on a soundtrack album of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita (1976). He also worked on advertising jingles.In the 1990s he retired and moved to Spain. There he met several one-time musicians and they began to play together for fun. Having rediscovered the performing bug, he returned to the stage with a group called Mike Smith’s Rock Engine in 2002, playing at a children’s charity concert. A popular UK tour followed.In 2003 Mr Smith’s life was hit by tragedy. First he lost his son in a diving accident. Then, that September, he fell at his home in Spain and damaged his spinal chord, leaving him almost completely paralysed. He had been bed-ridden ever since.He had recently moved out of hospital to live with his wife in a specially-designed home in London and arrangements were being made for him to attend the Dave Clark Five’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York on 10 March, 2008, with the other surviving members. He died of pneumonia in a London hospital after a sudden decline in his health a few weeks before the ceremony."I am incredibly saddened to lose him, his energy and his humour," said Margo Lewis, his American agent. "But I am comforted by the fact that he had the chance to spend his final months at home with his loving wife, Charlie, whom he adored, instead of in the hospital, and that he was able to attend a recent concert in London by his good friend, Bruce Springsteen."
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