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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Dave Clark Five singer Mike Smith dies of pneumonia
Band to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in less than 2 weeks
Smith injured when he fell from a fence at his home in Spain in September 2003
Had been in hospital since the accident, only recently moved home
Dave Clark Five was part of so-called British Invasion of United States in 1960s
LONDON (AP) -- Dave Clark Five lead singer Mike Smith died of pneumonia Thursday, less than two weeks before the band is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was 64.
Smith died at a hospital outside of London, his agent Margo Lewis said.
He was admitted to the intensive care unit Wednesday morning with a chest infection, a complication from a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed below the ribcage with limited use of his upper body. Lewis said he was injured when he fell from a fence at his home in Spain in September 2003.
Smith wrote songs as well as singing and playing keyboards for the Dave Clark Five, one of many British rock acts whose music swept across the United States in the 1960s during the so-called British Invasion.
The Beatles are the best remembered, of course, but at the time the Dave Clark Five posed the strongest threat, commercially and critically, to their pre-eminence.
The Dave Clark Five claimed a string of U.S. hits, including "Because," "Glad All Over," and "I Like it Like That." By 1966, the band had made 12 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," then a record for any British group..
While the group -- which broke up in 1970 -- was named after him, Dave Clark himself was the drummer.
The group is going to be inducted in the rock hall on March 10, a ceremony Lewis said Smith was trying to attend. "We're very unhappy about the whole situation -- it's sad," Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President Joel
Smith is survived by his wife, Arlene (nicknamed Charlie).
Again, it's been a heavy week...The DC5 were a part of many of us older members musicial pasts...
Thanks Mike for the good times, and rest peacefully! |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | I saw the Dave Clark 5 on their first American tour at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. I was a young teen who prided myself on not being caught up in Beatles fever. So, I went to a concert where girls screamed, wept, swooned, etc. instead.
I really did like that band back then. But, hey... I was 14 and hadn't heard Eric Clapton yet. |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Another of the Great Voices of Rock silenced.
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 863
Location: Central Florida | They were a great little band. Maybe not groundbreaking like the Beatles, but they gave us some rocking music nonetheless. RIP, Mike. :( |
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OT - Mike Smith dies
