Came home from the nam (oakland) on twa 1970,my first time i was 12 the stewardess showed me the cockpit and i got a set of kiddie wings,man i was in heaven
Wonderful individual singers and together produced great harmonies. What strikes me about this biography of the group is how there is no negative history, no drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse, rehabs, interventions, illicit love affairs, not even ego conflicts or differences of artistic opinion.Just seems like five very happy, successful,well adjusted people. So different from the usual rocknroll story. Very nice if true,but seems too good to be so.
Howard greenman, as a touring drummer all through the 70's I crossed passed with them while I was backing up other artists at jazz festivals ect. They were the sweetest people you ever wanted to know. They were clean of body, mind, and soul. Talent in spades.
@@williamfeilhauer My brother was pianist for Marilyn on her TV show, Solid Gold. He says she and Billy were sweethearts (unlike several other famous people he played for).
There was of course a certain amount of disagreement having to do with singing leads - the record company's were always wanting to promote songs with strong leads rather than ensemble singing. Billy Davis was the lead singer to begin with, but it wasn't long before the public was clamoring to hear more and more of McCoo. The others (naturally) wanted a more even distribution of opportunities. It made sense for Davis and McCoo to eventually move on to develop solo and duet material. That freed up Townsend, McLemore and LaRue to take on more lead roles. But even that situation didn't last long with Townson leaving in 1976.
Marilyn and Karen Carpenter to me are the best female vocalists of all time in contemporary music. Pitch perfect great at harmony and most importantly just as good live as on the recordings . I am Guitar playing Rock n Roller however when I want a pleasant mood I listen to those two. Just amazing talent
M. McCoo's rendition of ' One Less Bell ' is one of the best performances of ANY song by ANY artist in ANY genre. She just GETS IT !! There's no alteration you could make that wouldn't lessen it.
They had a hauntingly beautiful sound which made them one of my favorite bands of all time. They make up much of my playlist. Thank you for doing this wonderful video.
With so many changes and so many different people joining group, it was hard for me to keep up, after looking at this, I still don't know what happened to the 5th dimension!!!
The Fifth Dimension were fantastic singers. My mother whom was a Music Teacher's Consultant for a Board of Education in Canada, used the 5D Best of... album as part of her lesson-plans for late 60s and early 70s grades 6 to 8 students. She told me she was drawn to the 5D sound as the group could always maintain perfect pitch and carry a harmonized melody better than any other popular recording artist of the day. Beautiful songs, which are timeless, I still have that Fifth Dimension best of... album in my record collection. One of the many bands I wanted see 'live' yet never did.
Most of their hits were covers of Laura Nyro originals: Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness, Save the Country, Blowin' Away, Blackpatch. Nyro's Eli's Comin' was a top 10 hit for Three Dog Night. In November 1969 Nyro songs were at 1,2 and 10 on Billboard - Wedding Bell Blues (5D), And When I Die (Blood Sweat and Tears), Eli's Comin' (Three Dog Night).
Baritone singer Billy and soprano singer Marilyn have been married for 53 years, and still record and tour together. Alto singer Florence LaRue performs with her own lineup of the 5th Dimension. Bass singer Lamonte McLemore retired from the group in 2007, and is now a full-time photographer. Tenor singer Ron Townson passed away on August 2nd,2001. Their final two hits together were “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” and “If I Could Reach You” before Clive Davis dropped them from Bell Records, and changed the label name to Arista.
We were able to watch Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. in concert not too long ago. They performed at Biloxi, Mississippi in 2010! It was such an awesome show!!! 🎼
First concert that I ever saw in my life ! It was in 1972, It was at the Allentown fairgrounds I was 5 years old I saw it with my mother and my brother...
Another interesting fact about the 5th Dimension: they recorded a version of Love Hangover around the same time Diana Ross recorded and released her version of the song, but Ross' version took off and became a major hit while the Dimension version sadly flounderd at #80 on the pop charts.
One of my favorite groups from that era. Their style of music was different than most R&B artists doing that time. They could do both; be soulful and contemporary. Three of my favorites of their’s are “ Wedding Bells “ ,“One last bell “and “Stone soul panic “ . I may have the titles wrong. Anyway this group had a big impact on the 60’s. Sad to hear of Ron Townson passing, RIP. But so good to see the other original members are still well and performing. Thanks for sharing.
Exactly. I posted their version of the song “My Song” from the Soul & Inspiration album back when it wasn’t on You Tube. I remember the first time I ever heard it. That song is 🔥🔥🔥
Waiting exited! The fifth dimension is my favorite of soul-rock band ever! This band is the soundtrack of my youth! This program w'll be beautiful! ☮️✌️👍🏆🎖️🎸🎸🎸
I like that you see them as Soul-Rock because I’ve often said that they were a fusion band of some kind due to the meaty they were doing on some of their albums that the public didn’t really get to hear UNLESS they bought or listened to the entire albums. “Half Moon” is an excellent example of what I mean and what they could and should have been doing more of.
It was Florence LaRue & Marc Gordon, not Marilyn & Billy, who were married in a hot air balloon. Also, I took that photo of Marilyn & Billy onstage that's featured about 9 minutes into the video. I'm honored!
I remember them as a kid they were awesome. Billy and Marilyn still together is the cherry on top of the banana split. God bless these extremely talented people living or departed, they are America's best.
Excellent video! I love the 5th dimension!! they r one of my favorite groups. I think you skimmed over the 1967 - 1975 most important part of their career a little too fast, but thats okay. You showed a short clip from the awesome 5th Dimension special, but I think that would be a fact u missed. The 5th dimension special was produced by Peter Max who is one of the most famous 60s visual artists. I think it would have been cool to show some clips from that, even though the video is owned by some dude who just happened to record it off his TV lol. Another fact that is often overlooked is that after the incredible success of the song Up Up & Away written by Jimmy Web; Jimmy Web went on to write every song but one on their 2nd album The Magic Garden. It's a fantastic sortof concept album record and the setting is featured prominently in the 5th Dimension Special i was just talking about. Peace.
Well done! Thanks! 💕 I always loved them and their music. I recommend Ms. LaRue’s book. Wish there were more artists like them, who are about uplifting. Pure talent with positive vibes. Love them. Was just watching Aquarius. I hope we can all get back to love and respect, and supporting people like this.
I still remember seeing them at the Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den in the summer of 2001 when Florence LaRue was still performing as the original member of the quintet.
Very good, upbeat, and interesting history of this excellent group. Today, in September 2022, with four new members and apparently with Florence LaRue, they're still touring. I'm going to see them next week. Great music from a time of great music.
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. also wrote an autobiography back around 2003/2004 titled Up Up and Away: How We Found Love, Faith and a Lasting Marriage in the Entertainment Business Marilyn had a popular role on Days of Our Lives during the 80s as Tamara Price. She was Abe Carver’s girlfriend and Lani’s mother (I refuse to accept the most recent change in Days history per these hack writers 😐😩). Marilyn was in the Broadway play Showboat. Billy was James “Thunder” Early in the off Broadway version of Dreamgirls. Marilyn and Billy have been featured in both of the most recent Waltons movies on the Hallmark channel.
I'm an 90s kid 17 years ago my grandmother introduce me to The 5th dimension when we was watching old classic concerts on 📺 before she passed away . My uncles & aunts grew listening to the 5th dimension which is their childhood & teen years My grandfather was an army soldier while The 5th dimension became famous.
Artists or groups decline mostly because they don't write their own songs. If you're dependent on a pro songwriter to write your songs for you, what happens is that you get fed A-grade material only as long as you've had a recent top 10 hit. Then everyone is throwing you their best songs, hoping you'll record it. But if you go six months or a year without a hit, then you're old news, and the songwriters only give you the material that was rejected by the people currently at the top of the charts. It becomes a slippery slope: your material gets more and more unmemorable. until you're no longer considered a top draw. That's what happened to The 5th Dimension. They debuted with an LP that was fabulous, one great song after another. (Some of the deep cuts were even better than the singles.) However, over the years the quality of the songs on the LPs gradually declined to the point where only the singles were worth buying. Then even the singles became inconsistent in quality, and in their last years most of the singles were totally unmemorable. Another problem is that they started chasing trends rather than innovating and being themselves. Chasing trends usually is self-defeating. "California Soul", although by Ashford & Simpson, isn't A-grade material, frankly it sucks. "Puppet man" (by Greenfield & Sedaka) and "Save the country" (Nyro) are even worse. They had a fabulous sound, great voices and great harmonies, but they needed better management than they got. Better direction choosing material and better direction creating and sticking to a sound that was distinctly their own. And some of the choices for singles were headscratchers. Why did it take the company four tries to realize "One less bell to answer" was worth releasing as single -- after three bad choices? Somehow their management was failing them.
Great discussion, but the 5th Dimension never released "Eli's Coming" as a single. Their follow-ups to "Up, Up and Away" were "Paper Cup" and "Carpet Man," both Top 40 US singles. Thanks for sharing the identity of their costume designer Boyd Clopton. They always looked fantastic. Just a clarification, "Summer of Soul" which came out in 2021 feature footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
I saw Florence LaRue's Fifth Dimension last year. They still got it, put on a great show. And Davis and McCoo are still happily married and singing together, over 50 years together. So impressive!
Fun facts: Tons more gold records and hits than mentioned in the video. 1960's Stone Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness. 1970's Puppet Man, Love's Lines Angles and Rhymes, Light Sings, Never My Love, Last Night I Didn't Get To Sleep At All, Ashes To Ashes, Flashback...
I'm surprised you missed the connection to "Friends of Distinction" - which had a very similar sound. Marilyn McCoo and Lamont McLemore sang in the "Hi Fis" with Harry Elston and Floyd Butler who would later co-found The Fifth Dimension.
Their cover of “Living Together, Growing Together", by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1973 film “Lost Horizon”, reached #5 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart and #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, marking the band's last Top 40 hit. The song was featured on their 1973 album, “Living Together, Growing Together”.
i cant talk enough about my memories of the band and how special the songs are to me.. about 20 years agowathing a pbs oldies show. mcoo and davis were an act. 10 min later the then fifth dimention with florence larue came out. i thought how hard wouldit have been to come out together
The Professor of Rock mentioned the Fine Young Cannibals has being a hit group that had one or two big songs then disappeared. How about an episode about them?
10:11 "Silly Love Songs" was *NOT* a Beatles record. That song was written by Paul McCartney and performed by him with his band, Wings in 1976(issued as Parlophone R-6014 in April of that year).
Leonard Tucker last performance with the😢 fifth dimension May 8th Niagra FallsView Casino in Canada. His TENOR voice and stage presence for 17 years will be greatly missed. He retired to enjoy time with family and his frist grandson. He will be greatly missed.
Mr. Tenor himself Leonard Tucker retired after 17 years . His last performance at Falls View Casino in Canada..His performance and his voice will be greatly missed. 2024
from wikipedia: Florence LaRue (born February 4, 1942)[1] is an American singer and actress, best known as an original member of the 5th Dimension. Early life She received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from California State University.[2] She didn't go to USC.
