The Dave Clark Five

The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over". Their other UK top-ten hits include "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Catch Us If You Can", "Everybody Knows", "The Red Balloon", "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll", and a version of Chet Powers' "Get Together" (retitled as "Everybody Get Together").They were the second group of the British Invasion to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States (for two weeks in March 1964 following the Beatles' three weeks the previous month). They would ultimately have 18 appearances on the show. The DC5 were one of the most commercially successful acts of the British Invasion, releasing seventeen top-40 hits in the US between 1964 and 1967, including several that did not chart as highly in the UK such as "Because", "Do You Love Me", "Everybody Knows (I Still Love You)", "Any Way You Want It", "I Like It Like That", "Try Too Hard" and "You Got What It Takes". In 1965, the group starred in a feature film vehicle, Catch Us If You Can, directed by John Boorman. The group disbanded in early 1970, though Clark and a few former members continued as Dave Clark & Friends until 1973. In 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.The band had its origins in 1958, as the backing musicians for north London vocalist Stan Saxon. Dave Clark played drums and contributed background vocals, alongside a frequently changing line-up. Clark and guitarist Rick Huxley both participated in the 1958 line-up. Clark and his bandmates eventually split with Saxon and reconstituted themselves as a standalone concern in January 1962, making their home in the South Grove Youth Club in Tottenham, London. After a little more evolution, a lasting ensemble was settled, with Clark on drums, Huxley moving to bass, Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, Denis Payton on saxophone (and harmonica and rhythm guitar), and Mike Smith on keyboards and lead vocals. Davidson's previous bands were the Off Beats and the Impalas.The DC5 were promoted as the vanguard of a "Tottenham Sound", a response to Liverpool's Mersey Beat sound, which featured an often loud and forceful production style driven by Clark's punchy drumming, Payton's saxophone padding and Smith's belting vocals. Dave Clark produced their recordings in collaboration with sound engineer Adrian Kerridge of Lansdowne Studios, with production credited using the pseudonym Adrian Clark. Session drummer Bobby Graham has claimed to have played on some of the band's hits to allow Clark to be free to produce.Dave Clark was also the group's manager, and struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band's recordings and gave him control of the master recordings. Songwriting credits for the band's original material went to Clark, or more often to the team of Clark and Smith. Clark/Davidson and Clark/Payton compositions were also not uncommon.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.