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Brad Arnold, Co-Founding Frontman of 3 Doors Down, Dies at 47

themusicsover February 7, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: Lunchbox LP via Wikimedia**

Brad Arnold, the singer and co-founder of 3 Doors Down, died on February 7, 2026, after a long battle with stage four kidney cancer.

Born September 27, 1978, in Escatawpa, Mississippi, Arnold’s musical instincts took shape early. As a teenager, he wrote “Kryptonite” during a high school algebra class, a song that would soon escape its modest beginnings and become one of the most ubiquitous rock singles of the early 2000s. Its success helped usher in a new era of post-grunge radio dominance and established Arnold as a songwriter with an instinct for melody and emotional directness.

In 1996, Arnold formed 3 Doors Down with childhood friends, initially serving as the band’s drummer before stepping forward as lead singer. Their debut album, The Better Life, released in 2000, was an immediate commercial breakthrough, eventually selling millions of copies and yielding a string of hits including “Kryptonite,” “Here Without You,” and “When I’m Gone.”

Over the years that followed, 3 Doors Down maintained a steady presence on rock radio with a run of successful albums, Grammy nominations, and extensive touring. Arnold’s songwriting leaned toward clarity and emotional accessibility, favoring straightforward narratives over flash. His voice, familiar and unforced, became the band’s defining signature.

In 2025, Arnold publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis, leading the band to cancel touring commitments as he underwent treatment. Throughout his illness, he remained open with fans, sharing updates with honesty and resolve.

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Musician New Wave Post Punk Rock

Fred Smith, Bassist and Founding Member of Television, Dead at 77

themusicsover February 5, 2026 No Comments

**Photo Credit: Bene Riobó via wikmedia**

Fred Smith, born April 10, 1948, in New York City, the bassist whose disciplined, melodic playing helped anchor Television at the height of New York’s punk-era explosion, passed away on February 5, 2026 following a long illness. He was 77.

Smith joined Television in 1975, stepping into the band after the departure of Richard Hell. His entrance quietly reshaped the group’s internal balance. Where punk often leaned on volatility, Smith brought steadiness, patience, and an instinct for structure, giving Television’s music its sense of control beneath the tension.

That role is etched most clearly into the band’s 1977 debut, Marquee Moon. As guitars stretched, twisted, and collided, Smith’s bass lines held the center, providing a calm, deliberate pulse that allowed songs to expand without drifting apart. His playing rarely called attention to itself, yet it defined the band’s sound, acting as the stabilizing force between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Television followed with Adventure in 1978 before splitting soon after.

In the years that followed, Smith remained active, contributing to solo work by Verlaine and Lloyd and returning when Television reunited for their 1992’s Television and subsequent performances.

Away from the stage, Smith built a life far removed from music. In 1999, he and his wife, artist Paula Cereghino, began making wine in their New York apartment, eventually moving production upstate and formally establishing Cereghino Smith Winery in 2007. It was a second act defined by the same qualities that shaped his music: care, precision, and attention to detail.

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Pop R&B Singer

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.

What You Should Own

Brad Arnold, Co-Founding Frontman of 3 Doors Down, Dies at 47

Fred Smith, Bassist and Founding Member of Television, Dead at 77

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

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