The Dave Clark Five have the distinction of being the band that bumped The Beatles first big hit, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” out of the number one spot in England. They did it with their first big hit, “Glad All Over” which reached number six in the United States. You can hardly blame them for thinking they might be the next Beatles. But, alas, it was not to be. The Dave Clark Five did pretty well and were certainly a part of the British Invasion here in America, but their career can hardly be compared to the Beatles.

The Dave Clark Five, or as they are often known as DC5, were comprised of five guys. Dave Clark created the group in 1957. He was the drummer. It was originally known as the Dave Clark Quintet and the personnel changed over the years, until by 1964, when the group started charting in England, the members were fixed and their name had changed to the Dave Clark Five. The other four were Rick Huxley on bass, Mike Smith on organ and lead vocals, Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, and Denis Payton on saxophone, harmonica and guitar. Between 1964 and 1967, they put seventeen songs into the Top 40 in the United States. Then things dried up as the music tastes were shifting to more psychedelic music. The Beatles found a way to make that shift, but DC5 couldn’t do it and their hits stopped coming. They split up in 1970, with Dave Clark retaining ownership of their music.

“Over and Over” was their only number one song in the United States. Surprisingly, “Glad All Over” was their only number one in England. “Over and Over” was written by Robert James Byrd who sang under the name of Bobby Day. Day had a big hit with a song that has become something of a classic in Fifties rock-and-roll, “Rockin’ Robin.” It was the only hit Bobby Day had on the pop charts, although he did much better on the R&B chart. His version of “Over and Over” did not make the Top 40.

Dave Clark stayed in the music business all of his life, writing a stage musical called Time in 1986 which featured the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury. There is some dispute as to Dave’s birth date, but he is still alive and is either 78 or 75 years old, depending on what source you read.

“Over and Over” entered the pop chart on November 20, 1965 and hit number one the week of Christmas, where it stayed for one week, becoming the last number one of the year 1965.