Mike Smith, 64, 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.
The cause was pneumonia, a complication of a spinal cord injury he sustained in 2003 that had left him paralyzed below the ribs, said Margo Lewis, his agent in New York.
The Dave Clark Five, part of the so-called British Invasion of the early 1960s, recorded a string of hits that included “Glad All Over,” “Catch Us If You Can” and “Over and Over.”
The band made 12 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” by 1966.
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 the Costa del Sol region of Spain.
Before his death, preparations were underway to transport Smith to New York so that he could attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on March 10, Lewis said. The New York Times
Ben Chapman, 79, a decorated Korean War veteran and real estate executive best-known for playing the title character in the 1954 horror film “Creature From the Black Lagoon,” died Feb. 21.
Chapman died at Tripler Army Medical Center. His son, Ben Chapman III of Honolulu, confirmed the death.
Chapman’s role as the Gill Man — the quintessential 1950s monster in Universal Pictures’ black-and-white three-dimensional film — made him a darling on the collectibles and sci-fi circuit.
“Creature” was released in 1954, when Chapman was a contract player at Universal. The 6-foot-5 Tahiti native got the part because of his size. He wore a foam rubber suit that defined his character: part amphibian, part man.
There were actually two actors who played the Gill Man. Chapman was the creature on land; Ricou Browning was the actor in water sequences.
Chapman also served in Korea with the Marine Corps, earning a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. He also earned two Purple Hearts for battle injuries to his legs. The Associated Press
