LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of the chart-topping vocal group The 5th Dimension and a longtime celebrity and sports photographer, died Tuesday, February 3 of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas. He was 90 and suffered a stroke several years ago.
His death was announced today by family.
With The 5th Dimension, McLemore was at the forefront of a smooth vocal group style that dominated American pop and soul charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group won multiple Grammy Awards and sold millions of records with such ubiquitous, era-defining hits as “Up, Up and Away” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” both songs scoring Grammy Awards for Record of the Year twice in, respectively, 1968 and 1970. Both recordings were later inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
McLemore co-founded The 5th Dimension in Los Angeles with Billy Davis Jr., Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue and Ron Townson. They’d been singing together under various group names since the early 1960s, officially becoming The 5th Dimension in 1966.
McLemore lent the bass vocals that were a crucial anchor to the group’s immensely pleasing, sophisticated, radio-friendly harmonies which have been credited with expanding the sounds of 1960s pop, soul and R&B. The group was a frequent presence not only on radio but television variety shows and international concert stages that included a 1973 State Department cultural tour taking American pop music behind the Iron Curtain.
The 5th Dimension in undated photo. Clockwise from top left: Ron Townson, Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue, Lamonte McLemore and Billy Davis Jr.
John Engstead
“Lamonte loved music and was always so generous, making his photography studio available to us in our early years before the hits started,” said McCoo.
“As a childhood friend to me from St. Louis, Mo., he will certainly be missed,” said Davis, while LaRue paid tribute with, “Proverbs 17:22 states that ‘A joyful heart is good medicine…’ Well, Lamonte really knew my prescription. His cheerfulness and laughter often brought strength and refreshment to me in difficult times. We were more like brother and sister than singing partners. I didn’t realize the depth of my love for Lamonte until he was no longer here. His absence has shown me the magnitude of what he meant to me and that love will stay in my heart forever.”
McLemore continued in various iterations of the group until 2006. Original group member Townson died in 2001.
Outside the recording studio, McLemore was a longtime and successful photographer with work spanning decades and such genres as entertainment, sports and editorial portraiture. His images for Jet magazine and other publications captured many of the defining figures of 20th-century popular culture.
Born Sept. 17, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, McLemore served in the United States Navy where he trained and worked as an aerial photographer. He later pursued professional baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system, one of the first African Americans to participate, before settling in Southern California and turning his attention to music and photography full time.
The 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” medley topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in the spring of 1969 and remains an iconic, era-defining recording. Other hits included the Number 1 “Wedding Bell Blues,” as well as “Stoned Soul Picnic,” both songs written by Laura Nyro and providing that singer-songwriter’s work its widest popularity.
In all, The 5th Dimension scored seven Gold albums and six Platinum RIAA-certified singles. Other hits included “One Less Bell To Answer” (1967), “Sweet Blindness” (1968) and “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” (1972), among others.
In 1991, the original 5th Dimension line-up received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
More recently, McLemore and The 5th Dimension were featured in Questlove’s Oscar-winning 2021 documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)which revisited the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and its musical impact.
In 2014, McLemore co-authored with Robert-Allan Arno the autobiography From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music.
McLemore is survived by wife Mieko McLemore, daughter Ciara, son Darin, sister Joan, and three grandchildren.
A memorial service and celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
