Ronnie Allen's Interviews:with Coasters, Archies, Shirelles Jimmy Clanton, Roy Orbison
Mike Smith with his wife Charlie, homeward bound from hospital
DC-5 with Mike Smith (on the right) in London
Mike, Lenny and Rick of the DC-5 with (left) Rick Picone, Jackie Green, Lou Sherman at a Young Rascals' club appearance in NYC
DC-5 and Clay in a 30-theatre NY tour to promote their 1965 MGM film: "Catch Us If You Can"
Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, helped to defray Mike Smith's medical costs. In 2005, Paul Shaffer, the “Late Show With David Letterman” bandleader, helped organize a benefit concert in New York featuring many of Mr. Smith’s fellow British Invasion stars, including The Zombies and Peter & Gordon. A DVD of the concert is to be released in March. Before the accident, Mike Smith made a good living writing commercials for companies including American Airlines, British Airways, Volvo and McDonald's.
Michael George Smith was born in 1943 in Edmonton, England. In the mid-Sixties, The Dave Clark Five knocked the Beatles hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the charts with "Glad All Over;" they made more "live" TV appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" than any other English act of their era, and sold more than 50 million albums. After the Dave Clark Five disbanded in 1970, Smith performed for a time in a new band with Mr. Clark, but worked mainly as a producer and songwriter. Smith made a good living writing commercials for companies including American Airlines, British Airways, Volvo and McDonald's. Mike is survived by wife Arlene, known as "Charlie."
The DC-5, nominated in the 2006 and 2007 semifinals, were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by longtime admirer Tom Hanks; Drummer Dave Clark, guitarist Lenny Davidson and bassist Rick Huxley, survivors of the lineup, were inducted. "It's a great compliment," says Clark, 65, speaking from his home in London.
(Citing anonymous sources, fox news reported last year that the DC5 had received enough votes for induction in 2007, but were passed over in favor of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; Rock Hall officials denied the allegation.) Clark's only regret about the delayed induction is that his two band mates, Denis Payton and Mike Smith, didn't live to bask in the glory. Clark had spent the previous Sunday at Smith's home to watch their beloved Tottenham Hotspur soccer team beat Chelsea.
To mark the occasion, a new CD, The Dave Clark Five: The Hits, was released on Clark's DC International label. The 28-track collection culls the band's out-of-print catalog and includes the unreleased Every American Citizen and Universal Love, plus a 28-page booklet with a biography, discography and rare photos.
Dave Clark on drums, Mike Smith, vocals and keyboard, Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, Rick Huxley on bass guitar & Denis Payton on saxophone and guitar. Payton died December 17, 2006, following a long-term battle with cancer.
"Denis was extremely brave and not afraid of death," says Dave Clark. "He had an amazing philosophy on life and will be greatly missed by me and all who knew him."
And then, there were three: Mike Smith died February 28th of pneumonia, just two weeks before the Dave Clark Five
was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2003, tragedy hit his life. Smith's son was killed in a diving accident, and Smith severely injured his spinal cord after falling while attempting to scale a fence at his home
on the Costa del Sol in Spain. Mike had spent four years in a hospital, until December 2007, when he was moved
into a specially prepared home with his wife "Charlie."
DC5 were the first English act to tour during the ' 64 British Invasion, starting in New Jersey on May 25 1964. The Beatles had played their first U.S. concert in February in Washington, DC, but they didn't tour until August.
THE DC-5 FILES
On March 8, 1964, the Dave Clark Five delivered Glad All Over on The Ed Sullivan Show, first of the band's 18 appearances. A week later, DC-5 returned to perform Do You Love Me and Bits and Pieces.
Between 1964 and '66 the DC5 racked up 15 Top 40 hit singles, more than any other act except The Beatles.
The DC5's six sold-out U.S. tours broke house records at a variety of venues, including Carnegie Hall, where the band played a dozen capacity houses in three days, a record that still stands.
The band generated 30 hit singles before its run ended in 1970 and has sold 100 million records worldwide.
'It's been an emotional time without them,' says Clark, who has dedicated the new gold-embossed compilation of The DC5's hits to Dennis Payton and Mike Smith.
What stood out when he accepted the award was how much younger he looked than the remainder of his bandmates. In fact, he looked so young in the pictures taken at the ceremony in New York that people were asking if he had invested in some cosmetic enhancement.
He explodes with laughter. 'No, I haven't, and I haven't had Botox either. I was very flattered that people thought I had, but if you put a picture of me in the Sixties against one now, you'll see my hair was much thicker and my fringe was over my forehead. 'Anyone can look good if you have 500-flash bulbs exploding in your face. I tell you, though, if I had big bags under my eyes I wouldn't think twice about having something done. I've got nothing to hide, you know.
But now when I get in a cab and the driver says: "God, you look like Dave Clark", I say: "Oh, he's my father!"'
Clark is very well set up. The trappings of success are everywhere at his palatial home near London's Hyde Park.
The house seems to go on for ever, more Hollywood than London. There are are huge white sofas, thick cream carpets, massive modern paintings, tropical plants everywhere, a wall-sized TV in the lounge, and Buddhas he has collected from around the world. Adjoining the house is a recording and film studio, and there's a Rolls-Royce. Clark himself has never married. 'I always kept my private life to myself. I did find love in my life, but I love my freedom more. I found when I got into serious relationships it interfered with my work. You're travelling the world and you want to get on and do one thing but the other person wants you to do something else. I felt the need to come and go as I please, to answer to no one, so marriage wasn't for me.' - Reported by David Wiggs, London Daily Mail
Updated 21st December 2008: The London Daily Mail reports Mike Smith, the lead singer of Sixties band the Dave Clark Five, left just £66,000 [just short of $100,000 US$] in his will. Despite the band’s string of hits including "Bits And Pieces" and "Glad All Over," and record sales of 100-million, Smith, 64, died with little money to his name.
Smith left most of his estate to second wife Charlie and a legacy to the National Spinal Injuries Centre. His son Jamie from his first marriage to Jill died in 2003.
Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, helped to defray Mike Smith's medical costs. In 2005, Paul Shaffer, the “Late Show With David Letterman” bandleader, helped organize a benefit concert in New York featuring many of Mr. Smith’s fellow British Invasion stars, including The Zombies and Peter & Gordon. A DVD of the concert is to be released in March. Before the accident, Mike Smith made a good living writing commercials for companies including American Airlines, British Airways, Volvo and McDonald's. 
