Posted on 02/06/2026 12:57:56 PM PST by fidelis
He provided warm bass vocals on such hits as “Up, Up and Away,” “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” and “Wedding Bell Blues” and was a photographer and author as well.
LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of The 5th Dimension and a longtime celebrity and sports photographer whose images graced magazines including Jet, Ebony and Harper’s Bazaar, has died. He was 90.
McLemore died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas, a publicist announced. He suffered a stroke several years ago.
With The 5th Dimension alongside Florence LaRue, Ron Townson and married couple Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo, McLemore helped bring a polished, genre-blending sound to American pop and soul in the late 1960s and early ’70s on such hits as “Up, Up and Away” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.”
The group won the Grammy for record of the year twice — for “Up, Up and Away” in 1968 and for “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)” in 1970. The latter topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in spring 1969, becoming one of the signature recordings of its generation.
The group’s other hits included another No. 1 song, “Wedding Bell Blues,” Laura Nyro’s “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Go Where You Wanna Go,” “One Less Bell to Answer” and “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All.” Along the way, they created seven Gold albums and six Platinum RIAA-certified singles.
McLemore was known for the warm bass vocals and easygoing presence that helped anchor the group’s sophisticated harmonies and modern pop sensibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
“Always loved them. And Marilyn McCoo was one of my first schoolboy crushes.”
Yeah, me too.
Same thing, same station.
One of Bacharach’s and David’s best.
And similar song by Bacharach/David, sung by Dionne Warwick
Odds and Ends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hDJ9jIspk
Thanks for all the good music and “Fair Thee Well”.
It’s been decades since I’ve heard this style of music. What a “Snap Back” to some of my earliest memories long forgotten.
My mother played all this music when we were kids and we never paid any attention to it.
But it’s there. Buried in my memory. 😊👍
Great stuff.
I’ve been going back and rediscovering a lot of music from that era I’ve haven’t heard in years. I really have an appreciation for how well the songs were crafted.
RIP LaMonte
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