Smith made his recording debut at age 18, in about as conspicuous a manner as it was possible to do in an unknown band, with the single "I Knew It All the Time" b/w "That's What I Said," issued by Pye Records in June of 1962 and credited to "the Dave Clark Five featuring Mike Smith." At 17, while working for a finance company, Smith was asked by Clark to join his band, which had recently lost its lead singer and was busy rebuilding itself around the core of Clark and rhythm guitarist (later bassist) Rick Huxley. In addition to doing a lot of organizing on a business and creative level, Smith also contributed to the songwriting in this setting in a major way, and Brotherhood showed some promise and some credibility as a music act by stepping forward under their names in this new role. He started lessons in classical piano and at 13 passed the entrance exams for Trinity Music College in London. Smith hung on after Levin was forced out of the full-time lineup by the military draft, but by 1967 both he and Volk had left the Raiders as well.

Mike Smith was the "other" star of the Dave Clark Five, a little less visible by name than drummer/founder Dave Clark but at the center of their sound as the group's lead singer and keyboard player. Drummer Mike Smith -- also known as "Smitty" and Michael Smith, and not to be confused with the similarly named Dave Clark Five singer/keyboardist -- was one of the most well-known musicians in the United… Read Full Biography. He eventually left the music business as a full-time activity, but he was only too happy to participate in periodic reunions with his former bandmates, official and unofficial (Revere controlling the group's name); as late as the end of the 1990s, he returned to the limelight to work with Volk, Levin, and Lindsay. Find the latest shows, biography, and artworks for sale by Mike Smith Smith's voice and keyboards were in full evidence in the Dave Clark Five's sound across their two booming years of success in 1964 and 1965, and for five years after the frenzy of the British Invasion died down in America, until the group decided to call it quits. Smith filled his slot in the lineup comfortably, so much so that he stayed on while others around him came and went -- he was soon joined by guitarist Drake Levin, and it was around then that the group got its big recording break when it was signed to Columbia Records; and in 1965, they were joined by bassist Phil "Fang" Volk, and the classic lineup was in place. Smith was, for a time in the United States, probably the second most well-known drummer in rock & roll after Ringo Starr of the Beatles; a little later on, he found a "rival" in Micky Dolenz (ironically, another guitarist-turned-drummer, though primarily an actor/singer in terms of his major contribution) of the Monkees, whose weekly network television show gave them a similar platform among pre-teens and teenyboppers. He returned to performing in the late '90s and discovered that he still had a huge following on the oldies circuit. Raised in Chicago, Michael Smith graduated from Colorado College in 1973 with a degree in painting and the beginnings of an extensive network in New York's creative community, gained while participating in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 1970 and 1973. The group left behind three LPs before they called it quits in late 1969. By his mid-teens, he had also developed a strong vocal delivery, having idolized Little Richard, among other American rock & roll stars. Smith's singing showed the strong influence of Elvis Presley as he sounded during the period of "The Girl of My Best Friend," "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame," and "Little Sister." Smith, Levin, and Volk, however, re-emerged at the end of the decade together in a group called Brotherhood that was thoroughly their work and their music. He would probably have an even bigger reputation if the Dave Clark Five's classic recordings -- apart from a couple of very early singles -- weren't being kept out of print by Clark. Mike Smith was the "other" star of the Dave Clark Five, a little less visible by name than drummer/founder Dave Clark but at the center of their sound as the group's lead singer and keyboard player.