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player ready...Mike Smith, the lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, died Thursday outside London, less than two weeks before the band is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was 64.
The cause was pneumonia, a complication of a spinal cord injury he sustained in 2003 that had left him paralyzed below the ribs, according to Margo Lewis, his agent.
The Dave Clark Five, part of the British Invasion of the early 1960s, had a string of hits including “Glad All Over,” “Catch Us If You Can” and “Over and Over.” The band made 12 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” by 1966. Mr. Smith also played keyboards and helped write songs for the band, which was founded by its drummer, Dave Clark.
In 2006, he told the British newspaper The Daily Mail that he had injured his spinal cord when he fell while climbing over a locked 7-foot-high garden gate behind his home in Spain.
Mr. Smith had been in a hospital outside London since shortly after the accident and was released in December. He had been living near the hospital when he was admitted again Wednesday, Lewis said.
After his accident, Mr. Smith drew support from, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, who helped to defray medical costs through donations and fundraisers.
After the Dave Clark Five disbanded in 1970, Mr. Smith performed for a time in a new band with Clark but worked mainly as a producer and songwriter.