Pete Kennedy on Mike Smith of the DC5

Mike Smith, the lead singer of the Dave Clark 5, died on Thursday at the age of 64. According to the Times, the cause was pneumonia, a complication of a spinal cord injury he suffered in 2003 that left him paralyzed below the ribs. Ironically, the DC5 is to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hallf of Fame in less than two weeks.

WFUV’s good friend, Pete Kennedy, of The Kennedys and The Strangelings, offers this appreciation of Mike:

To tackle R&B classics like “Do You Love Me” and “I Like it LIke That” and actually outdo the originals is an amazing accomplishment, and while the DC5 didn’t fully make the transition to the psychedelic era like their peers the Beatles and the Stones, the energy and full-on pop triumph of their string of hits: “Glad All Over”, “Bits and Pieces”, “Do You Love Me”, “Because”, “Over and Over”, “I Like It Like That”, “Catch Us If You Can”, to name a few, puts them in the top echelon of British Invasion bands. It was all about Mike Smith and that incredible rock’n’roll voice. It’s too bad he’ll miss out on the general resurgence of interest in the band that will surely result from this year’s Hall of Fame Induction.

Watching the NME Awards shows from the mid-sixties, it’s obvious that the standard by which bands were judged in those days was how well they could pull off an American R&B tune. In a two song set, one of the songs would be a soul standard. It’s painfully obvious that most of the singers were great doing their pop hits, but awkward and wan trying to emulate their funky idols.

I think only a few young Brits at the time could really nail it. Tom Jones, obviously. McCartney in his “Little Richard” persona. On the horizon were Steve Marriott, Rod the Mod, and Little Stevie Winwood. But right at the top of the list, giving way to no one, was Mike Smith.

On “Do You Love Me”, he makes the Contours original Motown version sound tame!