LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of the vocal group The 5th Dimension whose smooth pop-soul sound brought major hits in the 1960s and ’70s, died Feb. 4, 2026. He was 90.
McLemore died at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by family, his representative Jeremy Westby said. He died of natural causes after having a stroke.
The 5th Dimension won six Grammy Awards, including record of the year twice — for 1967’s “Up, Up and Away” and 1969’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.” “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” a mashup of songs from the musical Hair, spent six weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts. Other notable hits included the Mamas & the Papas’ “Go Where You Wanna Go,” Laura Nyro songs “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Sweet Blindness,” and 1970s singles such as “One Less Bell to Answer,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All” and “If I Could Reach You.”
Born in St. Louis, McLemore served in the Navy as an aerial photographer and spent time in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system before settling in Southern California. He combined a warm bass vocal with a parallel career as a sports and celebrity photographer, with work published in magazines including Jet.
McLemore sang in a jazz ensemble, the Hi-Fi’s, with future bandmate Marilyn McCoo; the group opened for Ray Charles in 1963 but broke up the next year. McLemore, McCoo and childhood friends Billy Davis Jr. and Ronald Towson formed the Versatiles and later recruited Florence LaRue, whom McLemore met through his photography. In 1965 they signed to Johnny Rivers’ Soul City Records, changed their name to The 5th Dimension and soon found crossover success.
Their 1967 single “Up, Up and Away,” written by Jimmy Webb, reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won multiple Grammys. The group performed at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival — the event chronicled in the 2021 documentary Summer of Soul — and enjoyed a rare level of mainstream success for an all-Black group, a phenomenon that drew criticism from some who said they were not “Black enough.” “Sometimes we were called the Black group with the white sound,” McCoo said in Summer of Soul. “We happened to be artists who are Black, and our voices sound the way they sound.”
The 5th Dimension were regulars on television variety shows, performed at the White House and took part in an international cultural tour organized by the State Department. The original lineup remained together until 1975, when McCoo and Davis left to pursue other projects.
“All of us who knew and loved him will definitely miss his energy and wonderful sense of humor,” McCoo and Davis said in a statement. LaRue remembered McLemore’s “cheerfulness and laughter” and said they were “more like brother and sister than singing partners.”
McLemore is survived by his wife of 30 years, Mieko McLemore; daughter Ciara; son Darin; sister Joan; and three grandchildren.