On this day in 1964, three months after the Beatles' Empire Stadium concert, British hitmakers The Dave Clark Five arrived in Vancouver! A month after the Beatles smash February performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the DC5 visited Sullivan and performed their first hit "Glad All Over". They returned the next week with two more songs and an encore of "Glad All Over". The group appeared on Ed Sullivan twelve times over a span of three years.

Rock'n'roll competitor CKLG was just getting established and they were eager to take away some C-FUN listeners. To counter this I arranged for the Dave Clark Five to be available for an exclusive press conference right in the radio station's studio. Preparations were carefully made to ensure a minimum of interruption from avid fans who might invade the station. The first knowledge that fans had of the Dave Clark Five's presence in the studios was when they hit the air with their live press conference. CKLG complained bitterly to the show promoters... but to no avail.

The Dave Clark Five — Dave Clark, Mike Smith, Rick Huxley, Dennis Peyton and Lenny Davidson — racked up some major hits between 1964 and 1967: "Glad All Over", "Bits and Pieces", "Do You Love Me", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Because", "Any Way You Want It", "I Like It Like That", "Catch Us If You Can" and "Over and Over"

Their last big hit, 1967's "You Got What It Takes", was released a couple of months before the Beatles' landmark "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. Suddenly, music had changed and the formula hits stopped coming. The group disbanded in early 1970. Exactly 44 years after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 by Tom Hanks.

They might have lacked the originality of The Beatles, but The Dave Clark Five did make a contribution. They were among the most memorable of the British acts that played Vancouver.

Just a coincidence, but The Dave Clark Five just reissued their debut US album “Glad All Over” today! Remastered by Dave Clark at Abbey Road Studios and released on limited edition white vinyl, it includes the hit singles “Glad All Over”, “Do You Love Me”, “Bits and Pieces” and more. Pre-order your copy now at DC5.lnk.to/GladAllOverFA

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