Some of the songwriters who worked with the 5th Dimension went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote the song "California Soul". The group is also notable for having more success with the songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself,[4] particularly with "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Blowin' Away" and "Save the Country". The group also recorded songs by well-known songwriters including Burt Bacharach and Hal David ("One Less Bell to Answer") and Jimmy Webb, who wrote "Up, Up and Away". The group's 1967 LPThe Magic Garden features all but one song composed by Webb.
The 5th Dimension's producer Bones Howe used Bob Alcivar as the singers' vocal arranger as well as instrumental backing by the Wrecking Crew for their recording sessions.
Career
Formation
In the early 1960s, Lamonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo got together with three friends from Los Angeles—Harry Elston, Lawrence Summers, and Fritz Baskett—to form a group called the Hi-Fis, which later became the Vocals.[6] When the Vocals broke up, McLemore and McCoo teamed up with aspiring opera singer Ron Townson, gospel singer Billy Davis Jr., and Florence LaRue, who — like McCoo — had won the Grand Talent award in the annual Miss Bronze beauty pageant.[7]
The members began rehearsing as the Versatiles in late 1965 and auditioned for Marc Gordon, who headed Motown's Los Angeles office.[6]Berry Gordy, the head of Motown Records, declined the group, but Gordon still believed in them and wanted to manage them. Gordon brought them to the attention of Johnny Rivers, who had just started his own label, Soul City Records. Soul City signed the group, but Rivers insisted on a new name. Townson and his wife came up with "The 5th Dimension," and as Davis recalled later, "We all heard it, we all agreed right away, 'That’s got to be it!’"[8] In November 1966, Soul City released their first single as the 5th Dimension, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever". However, the song failed to chart.
Major hits
The group performing in 1970
In 1967 the 5th Dimension recorded "Go Where You Wanna Go," which became a breakthrough hit for them. The song was a John Phillips tune and reached No. 16 on the US Hot 100 chart.[6] The group followed this with "Up, Up and Away",[6] which reached No. 7 later that same year and went on to win five Grammy Awards. The following year, the group scored major hit singles with Laura Nyro's songs "Stoned Soul Picnic" (U.S. No. 3) and "Sweet Blindness" (U.S. No. 13).[6] The group received a gold record for their album Stoned Soul Picnic.
That album included "California Soul", which peaked at No. 25 in February 1969.[6] Weeks later the group's success broke wide open, with "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" from the musical Hair topping the Hot 100 for six straight weeks in April and May[6] and another Nyro song, "Wedding Bell Blues", doing the same for the first three full weeks in November. Their cover of Neil Sedaka's "Workin' On a Groovy Thing" went to No. 20 in between. Those four singles kept the group on the Hot 100 for all but four weeks in 1969. By some reckonings, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was the biggest hit single for 1969.[9]
The 5th Dimension were the featured act of a July 28, 1969, CBS broadcast of highlights from the Harlem Cultural Festival, the "Black Woodstock" gathering in Mount Morris Park that drew 300,000 festival attendees over six shows. The New York Times reported the 5th Dimension show drew 60,000 alone.[10]
On August 18, 1971, their television special, The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show, first aired.[11] The group also performed in Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La, a 1973 special promoting Lost Horizon.[12]
In 1975, McCoo and Davis, who had married on July 26, 1969, left the group to do collective and individual projects.[6] The duo had success with "Your Love" and the chart topper "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)",[14] which won them their seventh Grammy award as well as their own television variety show, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. show. Marilyn McCoo served a lengthy 1980s stint as the host of the TV show Solid Gold.[14]
21st century
Florence LaRue and the 5th Dimension performing a free outdoor concert in Manalapan, New Jersey in 2018
As of April 2009[update], the group was actively touring as "the 5th Dimension featuring Florence LaRue," led by LaRue, with Willie Williams, Leonard Tucker, Patrice Morris and Floyd Smith.[15]
On June 21, 2016, the 5th Dimension featuring Florence LaRue performed in The Villages, Florida just days after the Orlando nightclub shooting. LaRue took the opportunity to share her thoughts on the shooting: "We will not be terrorized. We know what's happening in the world, but this is a song about good health, love, peace and happiness. We still believe in those things today," she stated before the group performed "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".[16]
In November 2017, the 5th Dimension appeared for 18 performances at the Andy Williams Performing Arts Centre in Branson, Missouri, in the Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza hosted by Jimmy Osmond.[17]
