David Clark (born 15 December 1939) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. Clark was the leader, drummer and manager of the 1960s

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

group

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 served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

, the first

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...

band to follow

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

to the United States in 1964. In 2008 Clark and his band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Career

Clark was born in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

, then lived in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. He left school without qualifications at the age of 15 and claims to have become a film stuntman, performing in over 40 films (although IMDB only gives him four pre-fame film credits). In the late 1950s he bought a set of drums, taught himself how to play them, and formed a

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United State ...

band to raise funds so that his football team could travel to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The skiffle band grew into

, with Clark their leader, co-songwriter, manager and producer. The Dave Clark Five grew in popularity in the UK. They unseated

' "

I Want to Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded on 17 October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment. With advance orders ...

" from its number one spot in the

UK singles charts The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top- ...

in January 1964 with "

Glad All Over "Glad All Over" is a song written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith and recorded by The Dave Clark Five. Overview "Glad All Over" featured Smith leading unison group vocals, often in call and response style, a saxophone line used not for solo decor ...

". The British press, briefly, called them the Beatles' "most serious threat". The Dave Clark Five were the first

band to follow the Beatles to the United States in 1964, where they achieved 14 top 20 hits, eight of which were consecutive. They also appeared on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'' more times than any other English group. Dave Clark became a popular name for babies in the 1960s.

Andrew Loog Oldham Andrew Loog Oldham (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style. Early life Loog Oldha ...

, former manager of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, said of the band's early success as rivals to the Beatles:

If the Beatles ever looked over their shoulders, it was not the Stones they saw. They saw the Dave Clark 5 or Herman's Hermits.

The band broke up in 1970, and Clark stopped drumming in 1972 after he broke four knuckles in a

toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill ...

ing accident. He later wrote a science fiction

stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', which debuted in 1986. It played for two years in London's West End, starring

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

(replaced later by

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

). The musical also launched a concept album, likewise titled ''

'', which featured Richard, Freddie Mercury,

Leo Sayer Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...

, Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick. Two million copies were sold and it spun off several hit singles.

Business career

Clark is an entrepreneur and a multi-millionaire. He owns a £12 million house in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

. From the outset, Clark owned the rights to all the Dave Clark Five music masters. It is claimed that other songwriters in the band were required to give copyright ownership of their tunes to Clark, even if he did not co-write them. In the late 1960s, in addition to managing his band, Clark began directing and producing for television. In 1968 he made a television production, ''Hold On, It's the Dave Clark Five''. In the 1980s he acquired the rights to the 1960s UK music show ''

Ready Steady Go! ''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light ente ...

''. On the release of a (DC5) British hits album in the mid-1970s, Clark resided in the US for a year, thus avoiding paying UK taxes in Britain on the proceeds of that release. The British government challenged this but lost the case in court. In 1993, Clark released remastered versions of all the Dave Clark Five singles on a CD, '' Glad All Over Again''. Companies House lists him as director of several companies.

Personal life

Clark was a close friend of Freddie Mercury, whom he had known since 1976. He was by Mercury's bedside when the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

singer died on 24 November 1991.

Honours and legacy

In 2008, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the band, the Dave Clark Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clark, making a rare public appearance, and the two other surviving band members at the time accepted the award on behalf of the group. In 2014 Clark wrote, produced, appeared in, and partly presented, the 115-minute documentary ''The Dave Clark Five and Beyond: Glad All Over''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Dave English rock drummers British male drummers English male singers English rock singers People from Tottenham Living people Year of birth uncertain The Dave Clark Five members 20th-century English musicians Musicians from London Beat musicians Age controversies 1939 births