The musician Elton John called a “stone cold genius”

One of the best-selling artists of all time, with an estimated 300 million records sold worldwide, Elton John was a huge inspiration for countless musicians over the decades. ‘Genius’ is a word that has been used countless times to describe him as a musician, and it was also the word Elton himself used to define an artist who was not as commercially successful as him but had a huge impact on music in the 1960s.

The musician Elton John called a “stone cold genius”

The 1960s gave to Rock and Roll music bands like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones but one that tends to be forgotten are The Dave Clark Five. Elton John is a big fan of their music and in an interview for the documentary “The Dave Clark Five and Beyond – Glad All Over“ called Dave a “stone cold genius”. The musician explained that in his opinion the three biggest United Kingdom bands during that decade were The Dave Clark Five, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

“The Dave Clark Five were a big live band. Like great Rock and Roll songs and if you listen to the records they had a lot of raw power. You had a residency at the …. and you played five times a week. When they were ready, when they broke, they did many more shows that The Beatles ever did. They were much more of a live band than The Beatles were. They did the Ed Sullivan show more times than any other British act. I think they did it 18 times.”

“They obviously got on together really well, they liked each other, they were having great fun, they were living the dream but once that’s gone, they had four years of doing that and then you don’t get it back. But those four years were just magical.”

He continued:

“I think of him as one of the giants of the music business. He (Dave) is an absolute stone cold genius. Dave Clark is the most extraordinary man in the music business. He owned all those early masters (tapes). He had complete control of his destiny.”

“To have that knowledge is unbelievable.  We all went through our ups and downs, our lawsuits with people. The Rolling Stones with Allan Klein, The Beatles with Allan Klein, me with Dick James. Never happened to Dave Clark, because he didn’t have to. Bastard! (laughs),” Elton John said.

The Dave Clark Five was formed by the drummer Dave Clark in 1958 and was active until 1970. They released 19 studio albums which had many hits. Some of them are “Because”, “Over and Over”, “Bits and Pieces”, “Catch Us If You Can” and “Do You Love Me”. As Elton said, besides being the drummer, Dave also was the leader, producer and co-songwriter.