The Dave Clark Five [VIDEO]

One could honestly say that the British invasion started with The Dave Clark Five considering they were the first English group to hit the United States, yet the second to perform on the Ed Sullivan show (the first was The Beatles) a record 18 times.

In a previous article I wrote about The Kinks I mentioned the popular British TV chart show, 'Top of the Pops' below you can witness The Dave Clark Five performing there back in the early stages of the show (1964).

The Dave Clark Quintet (1957) was the original name that had members, Dave Clark (drums), Dave Sanford (lead guitar), Chris Wall (bass), Don Vale (keyboards). Many changes would follow as Dave Sanford was replaced with Rick Huxley ( rhythm guitar/bass) and Stan Saxon (lead vocals), eventually they would end up with Dave Clark, Rick Huxley, Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson and Denis Payton and finally we have The Dave Clark Five.

Hit after hit with songs like, "Catch Us If You Can", "Because", "Glad All Over", "I Like It Like That", "Over and Over" and "Bits and Pieces" the DC5 were a band to reckon with.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Dave Clark Five (DC5) had no problem selling their records, over one hundred million, that included 23 Hit albums and well over 30 global hit singles,that's quite the accomplishment. DC5 had 12 Top Hits in the U.K. from 1964 -  1967.

The U.S. was very excited to see the guys as they made six sellout tours, they broke house records at Carnegie Hall in New York (not an easy thing to do), they had a dozen capacity houses in a three day span, still holds to this day.

Another record breaking landmark for the band was charting 15 consecutive Top 20 U.S. hit singles in a two year period, except for The Beatles, no other group or artist pulled that off, I believe that record still stands to this date.

They toured the world, selling out everywhere they went even played to a quarter million fans at one show.

The DC5 were the first British Act to own their own plane, they had their logo 'DC5' on the nose, as well as ; the tail of the plane.

The Dave Clark Five, performing, "Bits and Pieces" at the Top of the Pops (1964) :