Editing The 5th Dimension (section)

==Career==
===Formation===
In 1963, LaMonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo got together with three fellow vocalists from Los Angeles—Harry Elston, Lawrence Summers, and Fritz Baskett—to form a jazz-oriented vocal group called The Hi-Fi's. Ray Charles signed The Hi-Fi's as his touring opening act in 1963. The vocal group's name was changed to The Vocals,  and they recorded a single, "Lonesome Mood"  on Tangerine Records in 1963.<ref name="LarkinSM"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLemore |first1=Lamonte |last2=Allan-Arno |first2=Robert |date= |title=From Hobo Flats to the 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography and Music |url= |location= |publisher=The Soul of the Voice, Ltd. |page=23 |isbn=0692307362 |access-date=}}</ref> When The Vocals broke up in 1964, McLemore and McCoo teamed up with two of McLemore's childhood acquaintances from St. Louis (now looking for music opportunities in Los Angeles): aspiring opera singer Ron Townson, and gospel and R&B singer Billy Davis Jr. And a second female singer was recruited: Florence LaRue, who — like McCoo — had won the Grand Talent award in the annual Miss Bronze beauty pageant, and had also been photographed by McLemore for the event.<ref>{{cite book| page=119| title=Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop| first=Danyel| last=Smith| year=2023| publisher=Random House Publishing Group| ISBN=9780593132739}}</ref>

The members began rehearsing as The Versatiles in late 1965. McLemore had been a staff photographer at Motown West in Los Angeles for a short period, so he connected with [[Marc Gordon]], Motown's Senior Vice President in Los Angeles, to arrange for a meeting.<ref name="LarkinSM">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1993|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-733-9|page=84/5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLemore |first1=Lamonte |last2=Allan-Arno |first2=Robert |date= |title=From Hobo Flats to the 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography and Music |url= |location= |publisher=The Soul of the Voice, Ltd. |page=31 |isbn=0692307362 |access-date=}}</ref> Gordon gave The Versatiles permission to record some existing Motown songs as a demo tape, but it was left to McLemore to fly to Detroit and meet with Motown head, [[Berry Gordy]] and play the audition tape for him. According to McLemore, Gordy's response to the tape was non-committal:
<blockquote>"Man, you all sound great, but I don't hear no hit. So just go back and cut some more."<ref>{{cite book |last1=McLemore |first1=Lamonte |last2=Allan-Arno |first2=Robert |date= |title=From Hobo Flats to the 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography and Music |url= |location= |publisher=The Soul of the Voice, Ltd. |page=32 |isbn=0692307362 |access-date=}}</ref></blockquote>
Although Gordy had not immediately offered a recording contract to The Versatiles, Marc Gordon believed they had something special, and offered to manage the group. Gordon brought them to the attention of popular singer [[Johnny Rivers]], who had just started his own label, [[Soul City Records (American label)|Soul City Records]]. Soul City signed the group on the spot, 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!'"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/spotlight-central/an-interview-with-the-5th-dimensions-marilyn-mccoo-and-billy-davis-jr-f1160419d680|website=Spotlight Central|title=An Interview with The 5th Dimension's Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., Starring in ''The Colors of Christmas'' at New Brunswick's State Theatre|date=November 21, 2017|accessdate=November 14, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLemore |first1=Lamonte |last2=Allan-Arno |first2=Robert |date= |title=From Hobo Flats to the 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography and Music |url= |location= |publisher=The Soul of the Voice, Ltd. |page=32 |isbn=0692307362 |access-date=}}</ref> In November 1966, Soul City released their first single as The 5th Dimension, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever", with a decidedly Motown-flavored arrangement. However, the song failed to chart.

===Major hits===
[[File:5th Dimension 1970.jpg|thumb|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 (musician)|John Phillips]] tune and reached No. 16 on the US Hot 100 chart.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> The group followed this with "Up, Up and Away",<ref name="LarkinSM"/> which reached No. 7 later that same year and went on to win five [[Grammy Award]]s. The following year, the group scored major hit singles with [[Laura Nyro]]'s songs "[[Stoned Soul Picnic (song)|Stoned Soul Picnic]]" (U.S. No. 3) and "[[Sweet Blindness]]" (U.S. No. 13).<ref name="LarkinSM"/> 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.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> Weeks later the group's success broke wide open, with "[[Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In]]" from the musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'' topping the Hot 100 for six straight weeks in April and May<ref name="LarkinSM"/> 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 (song)|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicradio77.com/Top1969.html|title=The Musicradio Top 100 of 1969|publisher=WABC|access-date=2020-06-11}}</ref>

Later top 20 hits included 1970's "One Less Bell to Answer" (U.S. No. 2),<ref name="LarkinSM"/> 1971's "[[Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes (song)|Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes]]" (U.S. No. 19) and "[[Never My Love]]" (U.S. No. 12), and 1972's "[[(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All]]" (U.S. No. 8) and "[[If I Could Reach You (song)|If I Could Reach You]]" (U.S. No. 10). The group had seven other top 40 hits, the last being 1973's "[[Living Together, Growing Together]]" (U.S. No. 32) from the film ''[[Lost Horizon (1973 film)|Lost Horizon]]''.

===TV and film appearances===

*The 5th Dimension made numerous appearances on [[The Ed Sullivan Show]], including shows on March 10, 1968; February 23, 1969; May 18, 1969, and in the last season of The Ed Sullivan Show, Sullivan dedicated the entire February 21, 1971, episode to the "5th Anniversary of The 5th Dimension."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Ed Sullivan Show (Television Variety Show Archive) |title=Artists – The 5th Dimension |website=[[Ed Sullivan]] |url=https://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-5th-dimension/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=2025-02-26}}</ref>

*The group appeared on the ''Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing'' TV Special (1968), performing "It's a Great Life", "Stoned Soul Picnic", and "Sweet Blindness," sharing the stage with Sinatra for the final song.<ref>{{cite web |author1=IMDb (Movie and TV Industry Database Archive) |title=The 5th Dimension |website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1502280/?showAllCredits=true |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=2025-02-26}}</ref>

*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 [[Marcus Garvey Park|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://greenpleasantland.com|title=Parks and Recreation: Harlem at a Crossroads in the Summer of '69|author=Greene, Bryan|publisher=Poverty and Race Research Action Council|date=June 2017}}</ref>

*The group appeared on four separate episodes of the British ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' TV show from 1969 to 1972.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Top of the Pops (TV Archive) |title=The 5th Dimension |website=TOTP Archive |url=https://totparchive.co.uk/artist.php?name=the-fifth-dimension |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref>

*The 5th Dimension appeared on Robert Wagner's popular adventure TV show, ''[[It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series)|It Takes a Thief]]'' in 1970, performing "The Puppet Man" and "One Less Bell to Answer."<ref>{{cite web |author1=IMDb (Movie and TV Industry Database Archive) |title=The 5th Dimension |website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1502280/?showAllCredits=true |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=2025-02-26}}</ref>

*''The 5th Dimension Special: An Odyssey in the Cosmic Universe of Peter Max'' aired on May 21, 1970.<ref>{{cite web |author1=IMDb (Movie and TV Industry Database Archive) |title=The 5th Dimension Special: An Odyssey in the Cosmic Universe of Peter Max |website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10782536/?showAllCredits=true |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=2025-02-26}}</ref>

*On August 18, 1971, their television special, ''The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show'', first aired.<ref>{{Cite news|title=It's Time to Take the 5th|volume=LXXXIX|work=Alexandria Daily Town Talk|url=}}</ref>

*The group performed "Living Together, Growing Together" and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" in ''Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La,'' a 1973 special promoting ''[[Lost Horizon (1973 film)|Lost Horizon]].''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://filmthreat.com/uncategorized/the-bootleg-files-burt-bacharach-in-shangri-la/|title=The Bootleg Files: 'Burt Bacharach in Shangri-la' &#124; Film Threat|author=Terry Whittier|website=Filmthreat.com|date=20 May 2005|access-date=12 June 2021}}</ref>

*The 5th Dimension made appearances on ''[[Soul Train]]'', ''[[American Bandstand]]'', ''[[The Flip Wilson Show]]'', ''[[The Mike Douglas Show]]'', ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', ''The [[Bobby Goldsboro]] Show'',<ref> {{cite episode |title=The Bobby Goldsboro Show: The 5th Dimension |series=The Bobby Goldsboro Show |network=CBS |season=2 |number=23 |airdate=1976-02-14}}</ref> and ''[[The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour]]''.<ref> {{cite episode |title=The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour |series=The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour |network=CBS |season=1 |number=4 |airdate=1971-02-22}}</ref>

===Regrouping===
In 1975, McCoo and Davis, who had married on July 26, 1969, left the group to do collective and individual projects.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> The duo had success with "Your Love" and the [[chart topper]] "[[You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)]]",<ref name="Larkin60">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0149-X|page=195}}</ref> which won them their seventh Grammy award as well as their own television variety program, ''The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show.'' Marilyn McCoo served a lengthy 1980s stint as the host of the TV show ''[[Solid Gold (TV series)|Solid Gold]]''.<ref name="Larkin60"/>

===21st century===
[[File:Florence LaRue and the 5th Dimension performing outdoors 2018.JPG|thumb|right|Florence LaRue and The 5th Dimension performing a free outdoor concert in Manalapan, New Jersey in 2018]]
{{As of|2009|April}}, 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thefifthdimension.org/biography.pdf|title=Florence LaRue & The 5th Dimension: A Brief Biography|access-date=2009-04-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530155156/http://www.thefifthdimension.org/biography.pdf|archive-date=2009-05-30}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villages-news.com/5th-dimensions-florence-larue-charms-sold-crowd-savannah-center |title=5th Dimension's Florence LaRue charms sold-out crowds at Savannah Center |website=Villages-News.com|date=June 22, 2016 |access-date=2016-08-25}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uitti |first=Jacob |date=2021-10-05 |title=The 5th Dimension's Florence LaRue Talks New Memoir, Band History, and Eartha Kitt |url=https://americansongwriter.com/the-5th-dimensions-florence-larue-talks-new-memoir-band-history-and-eartha-kitt/ |access-date=2023-06-17 |website=American Songwriter |language=en-US}}</ref>