LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of the pioneering soul group The 5th Dimension, has died, TMZ has confirmed. He was 90 years old.
His wife Mieko tells TMZ … the icon died peacefully yesterday in his Las Vegas home, surrounded by family and friends. His cause of death was not released.
McLemore was born in St. Louis, Missouri … he served in the U.S. Navy as an aerial photographer. He later pursued a career in professional baseball before he started focusing full-time on photography.
McLemore met Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue during a photo shoot held as part of a beauty pageant in the mid-1960s, and the three went on to form The 5th Dimension alongside Billy Davis Jr. and Ron Townson in 1965.
The group achieved widespread success in the late 1960s and early ’70s, and they earned the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1968 and 1970, respectively. McLemore won a total of six Grammys with The 5th Dimension.
The original lineup of The 5th Dimension earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and McLemore remained with the group until 2006, Deadline reports.
McLemore remained active as a photographer while working with The 5th Dimension, and his work was featured in publications like Jet and Playboy.
LaMonte McLemore was 90 years old.
RIP