LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of soul group The 5th Dimension as well as an acclaimed celebrity and sports photographer, has died at age 90, his family announced Wednesday.
McLemore died Tuesday at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by his family and his wife of 30 years, according to a statement from his publicist. He died of natural causes after suffering a stroke several years earlier.
The 5th Dimension was officially founded in 1966 by McLemore, Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr. and Ron Townson, longtime friends and fellow musicians who began singing together under other group names in the early 1960s.
By all accounts, McLemore’s smooth bass formed the bedrock of the group’s harmonies as their songs became the soundtrack to the late ’60s and early ’70s.
Their breakthrough hit came in 1967 with the Mamas & the Papas’ song “Go Where You Wanna Go,” while “Up, Up and Away,” released later that year, sent their sound soaring and their Billboard status with it.
After landing at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Best Contemporary Single, Best Performance by a Vocal Group and Best Contemporary Group Performance.
Other beloved earworms included “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” a medley from the musical “Hair” that perched atop Billboard’s No. 1 for six weeks in 1969 and won a Record of the Year Grammy in 1970.
Among scores of other favorites were “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” and “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All.”
In all, the group recorded seven gold albums and six platinum RIAA-certified singles, selling 25 million records and scoring 22 Top 40 hits. That and six Grammy Awards put them into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003. The original group was also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.
The 5th Dimension was brought to the big screen in the 2021 documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” director Questlove’s Oscar-winning portrait of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival featuring never-before-aired footage.
Prior to co-founding The 5th Dimension, McLemore spent time in the U.S. Navy as an aerial photographer, which later led to a parallel career behind the camera, photographing celebrities, models and sports figures. His work appeared for decades in magazines including Jet, Ebony, Playboy and People.
According to The History Makers, he was the first African American photographer hired by Harper’s Bazaar and was chosen to shoot Stevie Wonder’s debut album cover.
A gifted athlete, McLemore also briefly played baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system before focusing on music and photography full-time.
In 2014, McLemore published his autobiography, “From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music.” He also served on the board of the nonprofit America to Africa Higher Education Foundation, which supports students attending Nigerian Universities.
McLemore is survived by his wife, Mieko McLemore, his daughter Ciara, son Darin, sister Joan, and three grandchildren.
With News Wire Services
