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The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Its music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. The band was an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular musical approach and mass appeal. During the original group's heyday, they were twice invited to perform at the White House, and accepting those invitations was controversial during that era of social upheaval.

Formed as The Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "The 5th Dimension" by 1966. Between 1967 and 1973, they charted with 20 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, two of which – "Up, Up and Away" (No. 7, 1967) and the 1969 No. 1 "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)"—won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Other big hits include "Stoned Soul Picnic" (No. 3), "Wedding Bell Blues" (No. 1), "One Less Bell to Answer" (No. 2), a cover of "Never My Love" (Pop chart, No. 12/Easy Listening No. 1), "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" (No. 8), and "If I Could Reach You" (Pop chart No. 10/Easy Listening No. 1). Three of their records reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Rhythm & Blues/Soul chart. Five of their 19 "Top 20" hits on the Easy Listening chart reached the No. 1 position.

The five original members were Lamonte McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue, Ronald Townson, and Billy Davis Jr. Their earliest recordings were on the Soul City record label, which was started by recording artist Johnny Rivers. The group later recorded for Bell/Arista Records, ABC Records, and Motown Records.

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. 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.

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. 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:

Man, you all sound great, but I don't hear no hit. So just go back and cut some more.

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. 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!'" 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

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. The group followed this with "Up, Up and Away", 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). The group received a gold record for their album Stoned Soul Picnic, presented by Frank Sinatra at Caesars Palace, following a 1968 performance.

That album included "California Soul", which peaked at No. 25 in February 1969. 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 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.