September 3, 1970

There's not much to say today. It's Tuesday, September 3, and that means another Tuesday Timeline. So let's just get on with it.

Here are some of the events that have taken place on this date in history, beginning with...

1666 – The Royal Exchange is burned to the ground during the Great London Fire

1777 – The United States flag is flown for the first time in battle during the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Cooch's Bridge

1783 – The American Revolutionary War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and Great Britain

1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”

1838 – Future abolitionist Fredrick Douglass escapes slavery

1875 – Introduced by British ranchers, the first game of polo is played in the country of Argentina

1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just half a year after his rule is met with much opposition

1925 – USS Shenandoah is destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio, killing fourteen of the forty-two crew members on board

1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell becomes the first person to drive a car at a speed of over three hundred miles per hour

1939 – The United Kingdom, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany, which intensifies World War II

1944 – Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to Auschwitz concentration camp

1951 – The daytime drama “Search for Tomorrow” debuts on CBS, and runs for thirty-five years

1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state

1985 – Songwriter Johnny Marks – known for composing some Christmas classics – dies at the age of 75

1987 – Burundi President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya in a coup d'etat

1991 – Director Frank Capra passes away in La Quinta, California, at the age of 94

2001 – Actress Thuy Trang – best known as the original Yellow Power Ranger – is killed in a motor vehicle accident at the age of 27

2004 – The Beslan school hostage crisis ends – 300 are killed, with more than half the victims children

2012 – Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies of a heart attack at the age of 54

September 3 is also known for its bevy of celebrity birthdays. Celebrating a birthday today are Al Jardine, Valerie Perrine, George Biondo (Steppenwolf), Steve Schirripa, Costas Mandylor, Spike Feresten, Thomas Mikal Ford, Holt McCallany, Nigel Rhodes, Charlie Sheen, Noah Baumbach, John Fugelsang, Trevor St. John, Christine Boudrias, Jennifer Paige, Damon Stoudamire, Redfoo, Ashley Jones, Tiffany Chapman, B.G., Jennie Finch, Fearne Cotton, and Chris Fountain.

So, what date in history will we be visiting today?

How does September 3, 1970 sound? Good?

Okay, so what happened on this date forty-three years ago? Well, I imagine that all three of the big networks were putting the finishing touches on their 1970/1971 television schedules, and that the World Series was in full swing, and school was back in session.

However, for one musical group, September 3, 1970 was the beginning of the end.

The band certainly had a good run on the charts. For twelve years, the band dominated the charts in both their native UK and across the pond in the United States. They became known as one of the bands that were a part of the 1960s “British Invasion”, joining the ranks of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, and The Who, and during their tenure together released fifteen albums, and seventy-five singles.

Of those seventy-five singles, thirty-six were released in the United States, and of those thirty-six, seventeen peaked within the Top 40. One single even reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

But as it so happens, the reason why the band called it quits in the early 1970s was because it seemed as though the band's well of creativity dried up. The band stopped having substantial hits after the late 1960s, and while other bands adapted their music to join the psychadelic movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, this band stuck to their guns, and were kind of ignored in the music scene as a result of it.

This eventually lead to the band's announcement that they were breaking up on September 3, 1970. Mind you, some of the members tried to form a brand new band with a combination of old and new members, but this line-up only lasted until 1973.

The funny thing is that both of these bands were named after the same person. The 1970 project that emerged after the dissolution of the original band was named “Dave Clark & Friends”.

Of course, most of you probably remember the band's original name...The Dave Clark Five. And, that's who we're going to be focusing our Tuesday Timeline on today.

You know, in the world of pop music – specifically British pop music – there has never been a shortage of similar groups competing against each other in the quest to be the #1 band on the top of the charts. In the 1980s, you had Duran Duran taking on Wham! In the 1990s, you had Take That, 5ive, and Boyzone duking it out on the UK Charts. And currently there seems to be a battle royale between One Direction and The Wanted over how many lockers of teenage girls their posters will appear in.

Well, in the 1960s, The Dave Clark Five were kind of an upset in the British music scene. Prior to their arrival, The Beatles had dominated the pop music scene for two whole years, having a lot of hit singles between 1962 and 1964. But when The Dave Clark Five arrived on the scene with the song below, they actually kicked The Beatles off the top of the UK Charts!

ARTIST: The Dave Clark Five

SONG: Glad All Over

ALBUM: N/A (was a single release)

DATE RELEASED: November 1963

PEAK POSITION ON THE UK CHARTS: #1

TRIVIA: In the United States, the single peaked at #6.

And to think that the band actually started off as a quartet!

Now, I'm sure that most of you know the classic line-up of The Dave Clark Five. But, for those of you who don't, here it is.

Dave Clark – drums

Mike Smith – lead vocals, keyboards

Lenny Davidson – lead guitar

Rick Huxley – bass guitar

Denis Payton – saxophones, harmonica, guitar

Yes, you are reading this correctly. The band was in fact named after the drummer. But I suppose there was one good reason behind it. Dave Clark was the founding and original member of the band. The other four members didn't join the band until after the other members left while the band was still under the more demure name of “The Dave Clark Quintet”!

The band was founded in 1957, and by 1962, the band's most well-known line-up was in place.

Originating from North London, the band quickly became one of the top bands in the UK during the 1960s, and they actually surpassed their closest rivals, The Beatles, in a couple of aspects.

Firstly, the band was the first out of all of the bands of The British Invasion to tour the United States. And the reception that the band received in the United States was incredible. Every single one of their shows played to sell-out crowds!

And, back in the 1960s, the place to go to promote your music was The Ed Sullivan Show. And certainly all of the bands of the British Invasion got the chance to play their music on the show at least once.

Well, let's just say that the relationship between Ed Sullivan and The Dave Clark Five must have been very special. The Dave Clark Five appeared on the show a grand total of eighteen times – more than any other band that was a part of the British Invasion!

And, as mentioned before, the band scored seventeen Top 40 hits in the United States. And the song below reached #1 in 1965!

(Wow...I completely forgot how much I actually enjoy The Dave Clark Five!)

Oh, yeah...like most bands of the British Invasion, their career wouldn't be complete without releasing a motion picture of some sort. In which case, the movie for The Dave Clark Five was “Catch Us If You Can”.

(Or, in the United States, it was entitled “Having a Wild Weekend”.)

But, all good things do come to an end, and the band announced their split on September 3, 1970. However, for Dave Clark, he managed to turn an ending into a new beginning.

Granted, his second attempt at a band didn't do as well as the first. But Clark successfully set up his own media company, as well as buying the rights to the 1960s pop series “Ready Steady Go!”, as well as being credited with being a co-writer of “TIME – The Musical”.

On the flipside, Dave Clark held all the rights to the band's music, which was a point of contention for Dave Clark Five fans, as Dave Clark practically banned the music from being purchased in any commercial format for close to two decades. The ban was finally lifted in 1993, and you can now purchase most of their songs on iTunes.

Sadly, of the five members of The Dave Clark Five, only two survive – Clark and Lenny Davidson. Denis Payton succumbed to cancer in December 2006, Mike Smith died in February 2008 following a spinal cord injury, and after a battle with emphysema, Rick Huxley died in February 2013.

But the memories of the music they shared will always remain, forty-three years after their break-up. Their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 is proof of that.