The Dave Clark Five

With The Beatles shaking their mop-tops and kick-starting the Merseybeat scene of the 1960s, The Dave Clark Five provided London's answer to the new beat boom with what came to be described as the "Tottenham Sound". Led by former stunt man Dave Clark, who unusually positioned his drum kit at the front and centre of the stage, the band started out as a skiffle group before making their name with a cover of the Motown classic Do You Love Me in 1963. Their following single Glad All Over became their biggest hit, reaching Number 1 in the UK and taking them to America where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, sold out Carnegie Hall, led the British Invasion and were regarded as serious rivals to their Liverpudlian contemporaries. Albums Glad All Over (1964) and The Dave Clark Five Return! (1964) both made the US top five and the hits rolled on with Bits And Pieces, Can't You See That She's Mine, Catch Us If You Can, The Red Balloon and the US Number 1, Over And Over. They made the successful movie Catch Us If You Can and sold over 50 million records before the decade took a more psychedelic turn and the band split in 1970. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Tom Hanks in 2008, the band's stomping, harmonic, three-minute pop remains one of the era's most defining sounds.

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