The 5th Dimension

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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Died On This Date (August 22, 2011) Nick Ashford / Ashford & Simpson

themusicsover August 22, 2011 1 Comment

Nick Ashford
May 4, 1942 – August 22, 2001

ashford-simpson — Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson

Nick Ashford was a respected songwriter, singer and producer, who with his wife Valerie Simpson made up one of popular music’s most successful hit-making teams. The pair got their start as songwriters during the mid ’60s when they penned such R&B staples as the 5th Dimension’s “California Soul,” Aretha Franklin’s “Cry Like A Baby,” and Ray Charles’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” They quickly caught the eye of Motown’s Berry Gordy who hired them on to write songs for and produce many of the label’s acts. For Motown, Ashford and Simpson wrote such hits as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing,” and “Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” to name just a few. Beyond Motown, the list of artists who scored hits with their songs includes Teddy Pendergrass, Chaka Khan, and the Brothers Johnson. As performers, Ashford and Simpson were a formidable force as well. They began making records together during the mid ’60s, but it was the late ’70s and early ’80s that saw their biggest hits like “Solid,” “Street Corner, and “Don’t Cost You Nothin’.” In 1992, Whitney Houston had a huge hit with their “I’m Every Woman” from The Bodyguard soundtrack. The song had originally been recorded by Chaka Khan. 1985 saw Ashford and Simpson become one of Live-Aid’s most memorable if not emotional moments when the brought Teddy Pendergrass on stage for his first public performance since an automobile accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Their performance of “Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” that day struck a chord with viewers from the Philadelphia crowd to those watching on TV from around the world. The pair continued to perform and produce together and separately for many years to come while their songs continued to find new audiences, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” which was prominently sampled for Amy Winehouse’s single, “Tears Dry On Their Own.” Nick Ashford passed away on August 22, 2011 following a courageous battle with throat cancer. He was 70.