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LaMonte McLemore, co-founder of The 5th Dimension dies at 90

themusicsover February 3, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: Benny Clay via press release**

LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of the 5th Dimension and a celebrated celebrity and sports photographer, died Tuesday morning, February 3, at his home in Las Vegas. He was 90. McLemore passed from natural causes following a stroke suffered several years ago and was surrounded by his wife of 30 years and family.

As a core voice in the 5th Dimension, McLemore helped shape a sleek, genre-blending sound that reshaped American pop and soul in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group scored era-defining hits including “Up, Up and Away” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”, earning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year in 1968 and 1970. Both recordings were later inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. The “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” medley topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in the spring of 1969 and remains one of the signature recordings of its generation. Other major hits included the Number 1″ Wedding Bell Blues”)” and the enduring “Stoned Soul Picnic,” alongside seven gold albums and six platinum singles.

Born September 17, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, McLemore served in the United States Navy, where he trained as an aerial photographer, launching a lifelong parallel career behind the camera. He later pursued professional baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system, becoming one of the first African Americans to participate, before settling in Southern California and turning fully to music and photography.

McLemore co-founded the 5th Dimension in Los Angeles alongside Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, and Ron Townson. Known for his warm bass vocals and steady presence, he helped anchor the group’s sophisticated harmonies and modern pop sensibility. The group became fixtures on television variety shows and toured internationally, including a 1973 State Department cultural tour that brought American pop music behind the Iron Curtain.

Away from the stage, McLemore built a distinguished reputation as a photographer, capturing athletes, entertainers, and cultural figures across decades. His work appeared regularly in Jet magazine and stands as a visual chronicle of 20th-century popular culture.

In recent years, McLemore and the 5th Dimension reached new audiences through their appearance in Questlove’s Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which revisited the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and its lasting impact.

In 2014, McLemore co-authored the autobiography From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music, reflecting on a life that moved fluidly between music, photography, and sports. His legacy endures through recordings that continue to resonate and images that captured history as it happened.

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Classic Rock Rock Singer

Chuck Negron, Three Dog Night Co-founder Dies at 83

themusicsover February 2, 2026 No Comments

Chuck Negron, the soaring tenor whose voice powered some of the most recognizable hits of late-60s and early-70s rock, has died at the age of 83. A founding member of Three Dog Night, Negron passed away on February 2, 2026, at his home in Studio City, California, following a period of declining health.

Born Charles Negron II on June 8, 1942, in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, Negron found music early, singing in neighborhood doo-wop groups before relocating to Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship. Music soon eclipsed athletics, and in 1967 he joined Danny Hutton and Cory Wells to form Three Dog Night, a band built on vocal power, tight harmonies, and an uncanny instinct for great songs.

Negron’s voice quickly became the group’s emotional center. His performances on “One,” “Easy to Be Hard,” “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” and “The Show Must Go On” showcased a rare combination of range, clarity, and raw feeling. That voice reached its widest audience with “Joy to the World,” the band’s defining single and one of the most ubiquitous songs of its era. Between 1969 and 1974, Three Dog Night placed more songs on the charts than almost any other American act, turning outside compositions into radio staples and selling tens of millions of records worldwide.

Behind the success, Negron struggled. As fame intensified, so did his battle with addiction, a fight that eventually fractured relationships within the band and derailed his career. By the mid-1980s, he was out of Three Dog Night and facing the consequences of years of excess. His recovery was neither quick nor easy, but it proved enduring. After achieving sobriety in the early 1990s, Negron rebuilt his life, returned to music, and spoke openly about his experiences, offering hard-earned perspective rather than revisionist myth.

In later years, health issues limited his ability to tour, but his legacy never dimmed. His voice remained a benchmark for rock singers, admired for its power without strain and its emotional directness. Late in life, Negron reconciled with former bandmates, closing a long and complicated chapter with grace.

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Musician Power Pop Producer Rock Singer Songwriter

Parthenon Huxley, Power Pop Craftsman and ELO Part II Guitarist, Dies at 66

themusicsover January 30, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: Wordtrust via wikemedia**

Parthenon Huxley, the gifted songwriter, producer, and guitarist whose melodic instincts made him a quiet pillar of modern power pop, passed away peacefully on January 30, 2026. He was 70.

Born Richard Miller on January 19, 1956, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Parthenon Huxley, who drew his professional name from a love of Greece and Aldous Huxley, was a gifted songwriter, producer, and guitarist whose melodic instincts made him a foundation of modern power pop.

He first gained recognition in the early 1980s with the Spongetones, a band whose jangling guitars and airtight harmonies earned them lasting admiration among power pop fans and fellow musicians alike. Though mainstream success proved elusive, the group’s influence endured, shaping a generation of artists who valued precision and harmony.

After relocating to Los Angeles, Huxley launched a solo career that revealed the full depth of his songwriting voice. Albums such as Sunny Nights and Deluxe highlighted his gift for economy and melody, pairing bright hooks with thoughtful arrangements and a producer’s ear for detail.

Huxley later joined ELO Part II (later renamed the Orchestra), touring extensively and helping bring the band’s catalog to audiences around the world. His playing balanced technical precision with restraint, always in service of the song.

Beyond the stage, Parthenon Huxley earned wide respect as a producer, collaborator, and musical director. In the studio, he was known for patience and preparation, someone who understood that the smallest decisions often shaped the strongest records.

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Musician Reggae

Sly Dunbar, Legendary Drummer of Sly & Robbie, Dead at 72

themusicsover January 26, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: Tim Duncan via wikimedia**

Sly Dunbar, the towering Jamaican drummer whose innovations reshaped reggae, dub, and global pop music, has died. As one half of the revered rhythm team Sly & Robbie, Dunbar helped define the sound of modern Jamaican music while leaving an imprint that stretched far beyond the island’s shores.

Born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar in Kingston on May 10, 1952, Sly grew up immersed in the city’s studio culture. He came of age during reggae’s most fertile period, absorbing ska, rocksteady, soul, and funk before forging a style that was unmistakably his own. His drumming blended militant precision with deep swing, pairing crisp hi-hat patterns with thunderous low-end accents that became instantly recognizable.

In the mid-1970s, Dunbar joined forces with bassist Robbie Shakespeare, forming one of the most influential rhythm sections in music history. Together, Sly & Robbie anchored hundreds of recordings, providing the backbone for classics by Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, and countless others. Their work helped push reggae into the digital era, most notably on Black Uhuru’s Red and Anthem, albums that brought Jamaican music to new international audiences.

But Dunbar’s reach was never confined to reggae alone. His rhythmic vocabulary crossed borders and genres, leading to collaborations with artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Herbie Hancock, the Rolling Stones, Serge Gainsbourg, Sinéad O’Connor, No Doubt, and Joe Cocker. Whether working in Kingston, New York, London, or Paris, Sly brought the same discipline and imagination to every session.

Beyond sheer volume, thousands of recordings over five decades, it was Dunbar’s sense of invention that set him apart. He helped pioneer the use of drum machines in reggae without sacrificing feel, blending technology with human touch in ways that reshaped rhythm-driven music worldwide. His grooves were studied, sampled, and reinterpreted by generations of producers and drummers.

Despite his global stature, Dunbar remained a working musician at heart, happiest behind a kit, locked into a groove. His playing carried authority without flash, power without clutter. It was a masterclass in knowing exactly what a song needed and delivering it with conviction.

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Metal Musician Rock

Francis Buchholz, Former Scorpions and Michael Schenker Group Bassist, Dies

themusicsover January 22, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: MrPanyGoff via wikimedia**

Francis Buchholz, the steady low-end force behind Scorpions during their most successful and influential years, has died. He was 72.

Born February 19, 1954 in Hanover, Germany, Buchholz joined Scorpions in 1973, stepping into a band that was still shaping its identity and helping anchor what would become one of hard rock’s most enduring catalogs. His tenure stretched across nearly two decades, covering the group’s creative and commercial peak.

Buchholz played bass on a defining run of albums, including Fly to the Rainbow, In Trance, Virgin Killer, Taken by Force, Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, Love at First Sting, Savage Amusement, and Crazy World. Those albums produced some of the band’s most recognizable songs and helped Scorpions grow from European hard rock contenders into a global arena act.

While guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs handled the flash and Klaus Meine delivered the voice, Buchholz brought stability, groove, and feel. His playing rarely demanded attention, but it held everything together, giving Scorpions’ music its muscle and momentum. Whether driving the speed of their heavier tracks or locking into the slower burn of their ballads, his presence was constant.

Beyond his role as a bassist, Buchholz was also involved behind the scenes, contributing to songwriting during key periods of the band’s evolution. His work helped shape the sound that carried Scorpions through the late ’70s and into the MTV era of the ’80s.

He departed the band in 1992 following Crazy World, closing the chapter on a lineup that many fans still consider the group’s classic era.

After leaving Scorpions, Buchholz remained active, including a period with the Michael Schenker Group, where his grounded, melodic bass work fit naturally alongside Schenker’s sharp-edged guitar style.

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themusicsover

LaMonte McLemore, co-founder of The 5th Dimension dies at 90

Chuck Negron, Three Dog Night Co-founder Dies at 83

Parthenon Huxley, Power Pop Craftsman and ELO Part II Guitarist, Dies at 66

Sly Dunbar, Legendary Drummer of Sly & Robbie, Dead at 72

Francis Buchholz, Former Scorpions and Michael Schenker Group Bassist, Dies

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