Dave Clark Five

The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group.

Their single “Glad All Over” knocked the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964: it peaked at number 6 in the United States in April 1964.

For some time the Dave Clark Five were more popular in the US than in their native UK, but had a renaissance in the UK between 1967 and 1970.

In 1958, Sanford was replaced by Rick Huxley and the band became the Dave Clark Five with Stan Saxon on lead vocals, Huxley on rhythm guitar, Roger Smedley on piano, and Johnny Johnson on lead guitar.

Mick Ryan replaced Johnson in 1958 and Jim Spencer joined on saxophone, while Smedley left.

Walls left in 1959 and Huxley became the bass player. Mike Smith joined on piano in 1960, and Lenny Davidson replaced Ryan in 1961.

In 1962, the band changed its name to the Dave Clark Five, when Saxon left.

After their initial success, which included the movie and a television special, the major hits dried up in the US after 1967’s “You Got What It Takes”, although the band had several substantial hits in the UK in the 1967–1970 periods.

Other than the songs “Inside and Out”, “Maze of Love” and “Live in the Sky” (the latter actually quotes directly from the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”), the band did not follow the trend of psychedelic music.

The DC5 disbanded in 1970, having placed 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.

This line-up, renamed “Dave Clark & Friends”, lasted until 1973.

In 1989, Dave made a deal with the Disney Channel to program the 1960s English music show Ready, Steady, Go! During evenings to attract adult viewers to the kids cable channel.

Dave had purchased the surviving shows only a small percentage of those that were produced.

With a relationship with Disney now established, in 1992 he made a deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records to issue his group’s masters.

At this point, the record company was not a success, so it was with some desperation that they gave Dave the large advance he held out for.

Because the record company needed us to be involved — we had three DC5 experts, Hollywood had none — they sold us the marketing rights for mail order.

Dave knew this. What he didn’t know was that we were pulling the creative strings.

Because they failed to progress musically in the manner of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, they were later dismissed as being lightweight.

It took so long for the group to be voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that it was almost an embarrassment when they were finally inducted in 2008.

Joel Stein, writing in the Los Angeles Times, made a joke at their expense when he reasoned that they failed to get enough votes the previous year “for allegations of totally sucking. Even the sluttiest ’60s groupie didn’t want Dave Clark getting glad all over her.”