senior-spectrum.com

Former Dave Clark Five Singer Hospitalized After Fall

Spectrum staff

Mike Smith, 59, the former lead singer and keyboardist for the popular 1960s British rock band The Dave Clark Five, is listed in critical condition at a Cadiz, Spain, hospital after suffering a spinal injury as a result of a fall, his booking agent said.

Smith fell Sept. 13 at his home in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain.

Smith, who performed at The Radisson’s Grove in Sacramento on Aug. 31 and was featured in the Sept. 9 issue of Spectrum, was admitted to a private hospital that specializes in sports injuries. Smith is being cared for by Dr. Keith McKee, his long-time London physician, and a spinal specialist.

According to a statement released by Talent Consultants International, Smith’s American booking agency, the doctors are “cautiously optimistic.”

The accident adds to what has been a bittersweet year for Smith, who returned to active touring for the first time since 1968 and garnered rave reviews for concert performances with his band, Rock Engine. In the midst of this success, Smith suffered a personal tragedy June 1 when his son Jamie, a 23-year-old scuba diving instructor, died off the coast of Egypt while trying to rescue lost divers.

The Sacramento appearance of Smith’s Rock Engine was the final stop of the group’s second American tour.

Margo Lewis, Smith’s agent at TCI in New York, said, “We’re in the process of putting together a 2004 tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the British Invasion, and we have every confidence that Mike Smith will be a part of it.”