Singer LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of vocal group The 5th Dimension, whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia brought them big hits in the 1960s and ’70s, has died. He was 90.
McLemore died Tuesday at his home in Las Vegas surrounded by family, his representative Jeremy Westby said in a statement. He died of natural causes after having a stroke.
The 5th Dimension had broad crossover success and 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.” Both were also top 10 pop hits, with the latter, a mashup of songs from the musical “Hair,” spending six weeks at No. 1.
McLemore had a parallel career as a sports and celebrity photographer whose pictures appeared in magazines including Jet.
Born in St. Louis, McLemore served in the Navy, where he worked as an aerial photographer. He played baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system and settled in Southern California, where he began making use of his warm bass voice and skill with a camera.
He sang in a jazz ensemble, the Hi-Fi’s, with future 5th Dimension bandmate Marilyn McCoo. The group opened for Ray Charles in 1963 but broke up the following year.
McLemore, McCoo and two of his childhood friends from St. Louis, Billy Davis Jr. and Ronald Towson, later formed a singing group called the Versatiles. They also recruited Florence LaRue, a schoolteacher McLemore met through his photography, to join them. In 1965 they signed to singer Johnny Rivers’ new label, Soul City Records, and changed their name to The 5th Dimension to better represent the cultural moment.
Their breakthrough hit came in 1967 with the Mamas & the Papas’ song “Go Where You Wanna Go.”
That same year they released the Jimmy Webb-penned “Up, Up and Away,” which would go to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and win four Grammys: record of the year, best contemporary single, best performance by a vocal group and best contemporary group performance.
In 1968 they had hits with a pair of Laura Nyro songs, “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Sweet Blindness.”
1969 brought the peak of their commercial success with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” which along with its long run at No. 1 won Grammys for record of the year and best contemporary vocal performance by a group.
That same year they played the Harlem Cultural Festival, which has become known as the “Black Woodstock.” The festival, and The 5th Dimension’s part in it, were chronicled in the 2021 documentary from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, “ Summer of Soul.”
The 5th Dimension also had a rare level of success with white audiences for a group whose members were all Black. The phenomenon came with criticism.
“We were constantly being attacked because we weren’t, quote, unquote, ‘Black enough,’” McCoo said in “Summer of Soul.” “Sometimes we were called the Black group with the white sound, and we didn’t like that. We happened to be artists who are Black, and our voices sound the way they sound.”
The group had hits into the 1970s including “One Less Bell to Answer,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All” and “If I Could Reach You.”
They became regulars on TV variety shows and performed at the White House and on an international cultural tour organized by the State Department.
The original lineup lasted until 1975, when McCoo and Davis left to make their own music.
“All of us who knew and loved him will definitely miss his energy and wonderful sense of humor,” McCoo and Davis, who married in 1969, said in a statement.
LaRue said in her own statement that McLemore’s “cheerfulness and laughter often brought strength and refreshment to me in difficult times. We 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.
FILE - Members of the Fifth Dimension, from left, LaMonte McLemore, Florence LaRue, Ron Townson, Marilyn McCoo, and Billy Davis, Jr., pose with their Grammy Award in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 1968. (AP Photo/Harold P. Matosian, File)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Emotional medical staff on the Greek island of Chios on Wednesday have spoken of frantic efforts to identify the parents of injured children after an overnight collision between a coast guard patrol boat and a speedboat carrying migrants killed at least 15 people and injured more than two dozen others.
Coast guard vessels and a helicopter were still scouring the sea off the eastern coast of Chios, an island located near the Turkish mainland, on Wednesday as it was unclear how many people had been on board the speedboat, the coast guard said. Initial information indicated the vast majority of passengers were Afghans, while one person was identified as a Moroccan national.
Authorities ordered the arrest of the Moroccan man, who was among the injured, on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of migrant smuggling.
The bodies of 11 men and three women were recovered from the sea shortly after the collision late Tuesday, while one woman who had been hospitalized died a few hours later. Twenty-four people, including 11 children, remained hospitalized Wednesday, as did one of the two coast guard officers who were injured, hospital and coast guard officials said.
Nighttime video footage from a dock in Chios showed injured people being offloaded from a boat and being led to waiting coast guard vehicles, their blue lights flashing. A young child kneels beside someone on the ground wrapped in a foil emergency blanket, holding on with an outstretched arm and resisting being led away before the child is eventually taken to a waiting car, limping.
Hospital doctors told local media Wednesday that the injuries were mainly broken bones, traumatic abdominal injuries and head injuries, while three people were in serious condition in the intensive care unit. Two pregnant women also suffered miscarriages.
“On the pediatric side, one problem we had was finding the parents,” said pediatrician Kirykas Zannikos, pausing to compose himself as his voice broke and he struggled to fight back tears. The children ranged in age from 1 to 15. Some parents were located among the injured on Wednesday, he said, including one mother who was in intensive care.
Olympia Kouvara, a representative of the hospital staff, described the case of one baby that clung to a medical worker's arms as staff tried to locate the parents. Despite fears they were among the dead, the child's mother was later identified as being one of the surgical ward patients.
“There are some times like these when we also break down,” Kouvara told the politischios local news website.
Doctors said that all hospital staff, including administrative staff, rushed to the hospital on Tuesday night to volunteer as those on duty struggled with the sudden influx of injured and dead.
“Our sorrow for the loss of 15 human lives in Chios is unspeakable,” said Maritime Affairs Minister Vassilis Kikilias, under whose responsibility the coast guard falls. “Modern-day smugglers, traffickers, are the enemies of the country. They put human lives in mortal danger, both of those unfortunate people and of the members of the coast guard.”
An investigation would be conducted “with transparency and professionalism,” Kikilias said.
Greek President Constantine Tassoulas expressed his grief at the loss of life, saying that “the support of the Greek state will be unwavering” for the survivors.
Details of exactly what happened were unclear. According to a coast guard statement, one of its patrol boats came across the speedboat late Tuesday making its way towards Chios without its navigation lights on. The speedboat refused to stop despite sound and visual signals by the patrol boat and changed direction, colliding with the patrol boat and capsizing, the statement said.
Photos posted by the coast guard showed signs of abrasion on the patrol boat's right side. The coast guard’s account couldn't be independently verified.
Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and fatalities are common.
Many undertake the short but often perilous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands, often in overcrowded inflatable dinghies or aboard speedboats piloted by smugglers. But increased patrols and allegations of pushbacks — summary deportations without allowing for asylum applications — by Greek authorities have reduced crossing attempts.
“Let me stress something which we cannot stress enough. Every life lost as sea is a tragedy,” EU spokesperson Markus Lammert said. “At the hands of smugglers, too many people risk their lives and lose their lives, and this is exactly what we're working on to prevent.”
In December, the EU was overhauling its migration system, including streamlining deportations and increasing detentions.
There has long been a fierce debate among EU members about migration. Since a surge in asylum-seekers and other migrants to Europe a decade ago, public debate has shifted and far-right parties have gained political power. EU migration policies have hardened, and the number of asylum-seekers is down from record levels.
This photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, shows a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol vessel docked at the port of Chios after being involved in a collision with a speedboat carrying migrants off the eastern Aegean island of Chios late Tuesday. (Hellenic Coast Guard via AP)
Rescue workers and paramedics wait at the port on the eastern Aegean island of Chios, Greece, late Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, after a collision between a migrant speedboat and a coast guard patrol vessel killed multiple people. (Kostas Anagnostou/Eurokinissi via AP)
Greek coast guard officers carry out rescue operations at a port on the eastern Aegean island of Chios, Greece, late Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, after a collision between a migrant speedboat and a coast guard patrol vessel killed multiple people, authorities said. (Pantelis Fykaris/Politischios.gr via AP)
