LaMonte McLemore, singer and founding member of The 5th Dimension, dies
at 90
[February 05, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
Singer LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of vocal group The 5th
Dimension, whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia
brought them big hits in the 1960s and ’70s, has died. He was 90.
McLemore died Tuesday at his home in Las Vegas surrounded by family, his
representative Jeremy Westby said in a statement. He died of natural
causes after having a stroke.
The 5th Dimension had broad crossover success and won six Grammy Awards
including record of the year twice, for 1967’s “Up, Up and Away” and
1969’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.” Both were also top 10 pop hits,
with the latter, a mashup of songs from the musical “Hair,” spending six
weeks at No. 1.
McLemore had a parallel career as a sports and celebrity photographer
whose pictures appeared in magazines including Jet.
Born in St. Louis, McLemore served in the Navy, where he worked as an
aerial photographer. He played baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm
system and settled in Southern California, where he began making use of
his warm bass voice and skill with a camera.
He sang in a jazz ensemble, the Hi-Fi’s, with future 5th Dimension
bandmate Marilyn McCoo. The group opened for Ray Charles in 1963 but
broke up the following year.
McLemore, McCoo and two of his childhood friends from St. Louis, Billy
Davis Jr. and Ronald Towson, later formed a singing group called the
Versatiles. They also recruited Florence LaRue, a schoolteacher McLemore
met through his photography, to join them. In 1965 they signed to singer
Johnny Rivers’ new label, Soul City Records, and changed their name to
The 5th Dimension to better represent the cultural moment.
Their breakthrough hit came in 1967 with the Mamas & the Papas’ song “Go
Where You Wanna Go.”
That same year they released the Jimmy Webb-penned “Up, Up and Away,”
which would go to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and win four Grammys:
record of the year, best contemporary single, best performance by a
vocal group and best contemporary group performance.
In 1968 they had hits with a pair of Laura Nyro songs, “Stoned Soul
Picnic” and “Sweet Blindness.”
1969 brought the peak of their commercial success with “Aquarius/Let the
Sunshine In,” which along with its long run at No. 1 won Grammys for
record of the year and best contemporary vocal performance by a group.
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Members of the Fifth Dimension, from left, LaMonte McLemore,
Florence LaRue, Ron Townson, Marilyn McCoo, and Billy Davis, Jr.,
pose with their Grammy Award in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 1968. (AP
Photo/Harold P. Matosian, File)
 That same year they played the
Harlem Cultural Festival, which has become known as the “Black
Woodstock.” The festival, and The 5th Dimension’s part in it, were
chronicled in the 2021 documentary from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson,
“ Summer of Soul.”
The 5th Dimension also had a rare level of success with white
audiences for a group whose members were all Black. The phenomenon
came with criticism.
“We were constantly being attacked because we weren’t, quote,
unquote, ‘Black enough,’” McCoo said in “Summer of Soul.” “Sometimes
we were called the Black group with the white sound, and we didn’t
like that. We happened to be artists who are Black, and our voices
sound the way they sound.”
The group had hits into the 1970s including “One Less Bell to
Answer,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All” and “If I Could
Reach You.”
They became regulars on TV variety shows and performed at the White
House and on an international cultural tour organized by the State
Department.
The original lineup lasted until 1975, when McCoo and Davis left to
make their own music.
“All of us who knew and loved him will definitely miss his energy
and wonderful sense of humor,” McCoo and Davis, who married in 1969,
said in a statement.
LaRue said in her own statement that McLemore’s “cheerfulness and
laughter often brought strength and refreshment to me in difficult
times. We were more like brother and sister than singing partners.”
McLemore is survived by his wife of 30 years, Mieko McLemore,
daughter Ciara, son Darin, sister Joan and three grandchildren.
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