Everyone cites The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show as the “big bang” moment. After three straight weeks of the Fab Four beaming into every American’s living room, another beat group from the Land of Shakespeare would emerge. The Dave Clark Five burst onto the American scene after the door had been kicked open. Relentless touring, recording, and television appearances brought the band success both here and in their homeland, where their “Glad All Over” knocked “I Want to Hold Your Hand” out of the top spot. The Dave Clark Five was rivaling The Beatles as the top band in the world. Let’s take a look at five fascinating facts about The Dave Clark Five.
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Their Second Gig Was at Buckingham Palace
The Dave Clark Five started as a soccer team at a youth club, and they were invited to play a Dutch team. They put together the band to raise funds to go to Holland, where they won the match 3-2. Drummer Dave Clark assumed the band was over, but he went ahead and had some business cards printed up and one of them landed a job at Buckingham Palace, from where they received an offer to perform for the staff ball. Clark thought it was a joke. Then, a footman came around to confirm it was, indeed, a real offer. The band didn’t have much money, so they took the subway just short of the palace and hailed a cab to go through the gates.
The band continued playing at American military bases throughout England. They learned songs from the jukeboxes that played between their sets. This was where they picked up many of the rhythm and blues songs, which would become Dave Clark Five hits in the coming years.
They landed a steady gig with a residency at the Tottenham Royal. Giant crowds would clamor to see the quintet, which led to the management attempting to outlaw dancing as they feared for the safety of the theater.
The Dave Clark Five Appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 18 Times
When the band came to America, singer Mike Smith had never been out of England. In fact, he’d never been on a plane before. It was all very new and exciting for all of the members of the band as they toured all of the U.S., having the benefit of the biggest exposure an act could get, The Ed Sullivan Show. The variety show had begun in 1948 and had regularly featured Broadway casts, comedians, jugglers, crooners, and now, even long-haired beat groups. The Dave Clark Five seemed to be regulars on the show.
Clark Owned All of His Masters
In a shrewd business move, Clark struck a deal with EMI to produce the band. He also arranged to own his master recordings. He would lease them to the record label, and they would be returned after three years.
Paul McCartney shared his thoughts on this in 2014: “Dave was more managerial. He knew more than we knew, and it became clear that that was his role in The Dave Clark Five, you know, was to actually manage them on a business level as well as a musical level. So, it would be right that he would produce the stuff for the band. … We were just musicians. We didn’t understand any of that. So, if someone stuck a contract under our nose and said, ‘Sign it,’ we went, ‘Is this alright?’ They’d go, ‘Yeah,’ and we signed it. That’s why I don’t have my publishing, to this day, you know.”
Elton John called Clark a stone-cold genius. “He owned all of their early masters. He had complete control of his destiny,” he said. “To have that musical savvy or to have that knowledge is unbelievable. … We all went through our ups and downs and our lawsuits with people. The Rolling Stones with Allen Klein, The Beatles with Allen Klein, me with Dick James. It never happened with Dave Clark because he didn’t have to.”
The Band Used a New Approach (with the Help of James Bond) to Promote Themselves
With the success of their movie, titled Catch Us if You Can in the UK and Having a Wild Weekend in the U.S., Clark became interested in producing movies and television. After sending The Ed Sullivan Show footage of themselves water skiing, the clip received such positive feedback that Clark decided to produce a full-length television special called Hold on It’s the Dave Clark Five. It consisted of sketches, performances, skits, and comedy. A 15-minute feature, Dave Clark Five Hits in Action, was produced and shown in theaters before the new James Bond Film. It was the first time something like that had been attempted.
Clark Bought Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go! was a live British television show featuring musical acts. It went out on Friday nights and depicted what was happening in the world of fashion, film, and music. From 1963 to 1966, it featured popular British artists as well as some of America’s biggest stars. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and Brenda Lee were just some of the artists featured. In the 1980s, when the BBC was threatening to erase the tapes to use for other projects, Clark stepped in and purchased the rights to all of the surviving shows.
In 1969, it was agreed the band would call it a day in spring 1970.
In 2008, The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with a memorable speech by Tom Hanks.
Smith had died 11 days before the ceremony, and saxophonist Denis Payton passed in 2006. Bassist Rick Huxley, guitarist Lenny Davidson, and Clark accepted the award. Joan Jett sang “Bits & Pieces” and then was joined by John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, and Billy Joel on “Glad All Over” to honor the band.
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Photo by Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images
