One of the most popular faces in pop and soul, from her days in the Fifth Dimension to her solo career and hosting duties for Solid Gold. On August 30, 1943, was born Marilyn McCoo, singer, 1977 US No.1 & UK No.7 single 'You Don't Have To Be A Star'. Also a member of The 5th Dimension.
Vocalist Marilyn McCoo is featured on the 5th Dimension's million-selling hits "Wedding Bell Blues," "One Less Bell to Answer," and "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All." A daughter of a doctor, McCoo started singing at an early age and continued to sing throughout her grammar and high school years. As a teen, she appeared on Art Linkletter's Talent Scouts. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was around 19. While pursuing a modeling career and entering beauty contests (she won the title of Miss Bronze California, 1962), McCoo met photographer Lamonte McLemore. In the early '60s, McLemore and McCoo joined with Floyd Butler and Harry Elston to form the Hi-Fis. Performing in local clubs, the group came to the attention of Ray Charles. They toured with "the Genius of Soul" in 1965. Charles produced a single, the jazzy "Lonesome Mood." Butler and Elston left the Hi-Fis to form the Friends of Distinction ("Grazing in the Grass," "Going in Circles," "Love or Let Me Be Lonely"). McLemore was contacted by his childhood friend from St. Louis, Billy Davis, Jr. Davis said that he was offered a record deal with Motown. McLemore contacted another St. Louis native, Ron Townson, and he, along with Davis, McCoo, and school teacher/1963 Miss Bronze California winner Florence LaRue, started the Versatiles. The group was signed to Bob Keene's Bronco Records where their A&R director was future "Icon of Love" Barry White. After getting a contractual release from Bronco, the Versatiles signed to singer/producer Johnny Rivers' ("Secret Agent Man") Soul City label where the group became the 5th Dimension and was paired with producer Bones Howe. Howe used top L.A. session players the Wrecking Crew: bassist Joe Osborn, drummer Hal Blaine, keyboardist Larry Knechtel, and arranger Bob Alcivar on their sessions. Their first hit was a cover of the Mama and the Papas' "Go Where You Wanna Go," making it into Billboard's Top 20 pop charts in early 1967. "Up Up and Away," written by Jimmy Webb, went to number seven pop during the summer of 1967. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to their first hit LP. In 1969, McCoo and Davis were married. That same year, the 5th Dimension enjoyed their greatest success. After being impressed by Ronnie Dyson's performance in the hit Broadway musical Hair, the group decided to cover one of the show's songs. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" parked at number one pop for six weeks and number six R&B in spring 1969. The group performed the song in Milos Forman's 1979 movie version of Hair. The Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In LP, their best album, went gold, and included "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" written by Neil Sedaka. The next album, Portrait, yielded the hits singles "Save the Country," the gold "One Less Bell to Answer" -- written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David -- and "Puppet Man." Though the gold "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" and "If I Could Reach You" were the group's last two singles to make it into the Top Ten, the 5th Dimension continued to have hits: "Living Together, Growing Together" -- another Bacharach/David song written for the Peter Finch movie Lost Horizon -- and "Ashes to Ashes." In the mid-'70s, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo. Landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, I Hope We Get to Love in Time, with Detroit producer Don Davis (Johnny Taylor, the Dramatics). The first single was the title track, which was a mid-chart hit. The second single, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)," went to number one on both the R&B and the pop charts during January 1977. Motown great James Jamerson is featured on bass. Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. were awarded a gold single and a gold album their first time out. The third single, "Your Love," went Top Ten R&B and Top 20 pop. In the summer of 1977, the couple had their own variety show, The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show, on CBS. Their next ABC album, 1977's The Two of Us, was produced by Motown alumni Frank Wilson (Eddie Kendricks, New Birth) and boasted the singles "Look What You've Done to My Heart," "Wonderful," the ballad "My Reason to Be Is You," and the tender title track. Switching to Columbia Records, their Marilyn & Billy album was released during the fall of in 1978. One charting single, a cover of "Shine on Silvery Moon," became a favorite in disco clubs. McCoo recorded her first solo LP for RCA Records, with the single "Heart Stop Beating in Time," written by the Bee Gees, being a small hit. Other solo albums by McCoo are White Christmas (Laserlight, 1996) and The Me Nobody Knows, produced by Chris Christian and Humberto Gatica (EMI Special Products, 1991). During the '80s, McCoo hosted the nationally syndicated pop music show Solid Gold and appeared on NBC shows Night Court and the soap opera Days of Our Lives. She also took to the stage, appearing in Dreamgirls, Showboat, and Man of La Mancha. McCoo co-hosted with Glynn Turman McDonald's Gospelfest Pt. 1 in 1990, available on home video. The couple continues to perform around the country in concerts (some being 5th Dimension reunions) and musicals such as It Takes Two, Hit With a Hot Note!: The Duke Ellington Songbook, and celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary with a cover story in the August 9, 1999 issue of Jet Magazine. THE FIFTH DIMENSION: The Fifth Dimension's unique sound lay somewhere between smooth, elegant soul and straightforward, adult-oriented pop, often with a distinct flower-power vibe. Although they appealed more to mainstream listeners than to a hip, hardcore R&B audience, they had a definite ear for contemporary trends; their selection of material helped kickstart the notable songwriting careers of Jimmy Webb and Laura Nyro, and their biggest hit was a medley from the hippie musical Hair, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." The group's soaring, seamless harmonies were given appropriately sweeping, orchestrated period production by Bones Howe, which often placed their records closer to California-style sunshine pop. That's actually part of the reason why the best singles from The Fifth Dimension's heyday of the late '60s and early '70s still evoke their era with uncanny precision. The Fifth Dimension began life in Los Angeles in 1965 as the Versatiles. Lamonte McLemore, Ron Townson, and Billy Davis, Jr. all grew up in St. Louis, and moved to Los Angeles independently of one another; each was trained in a different area -- jazz, opera, and gospel/R&B, respectively. Marilyn McCoo was the first female singer to join, and she was soon augmented by Florence LaRue; both were ex-beauty pageant winners who'd attended college in the L.A. area. Their demo tape was rejected by Motown, but after a one-off single for Bronco, they caught the attention of singer Johnny Rivers, who'd just set up his own label, Soul City. Rivers signed the group in 1966 on the condition that they update their name and image, and thus The Fifth Dimension was born. Their first Soul City single, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever," was a flop, but a cover of the Mamas & the Papas' "Go Where You Wanna Go" climbed into the Top 20. Budding young songwriter Jimmy Webb ("Macarthur Park," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," etc.) supplied The Fifth Dimension with their breakthrough hit, 1967's "Up, Up and Away." An ode to the pleasures of flying in a beautiful balloon, the song became the group's first Top Ten hit, peaking at number seven, and went on to sweep the Grammy Awards, taking home five total (including Record of the Year and Song of the Year). Its success pushed The Fifth Dimension's first album, also titled Up, Up and Away, to gold sales status. The group stuck with Webb for its second album, The Magic Garden, which featured only one non-Webb composition; it produced a couple of minor hits in "Paper Cup" and "Carpet Man," but nothing on the level of "Up, Up and Away." Their third LP was thus more diverse, featuring several compositions by another up-and-coming songwriter, Laura Nyro. The title cut, Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic," went all the way to number three in the spring of 1968, selling over a million copies and putting Nyro on the map. The Nyro-penned follow-up single, "Sweet Blindness," also reached the Top 20. The Fifth Dimension's success peaked in 1969 when the group caught a Broadway production of Hair, and immediately decided to cut a medley of two songs from the show. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was a monster hit and grew to become one of the era's defining pop records; it spent six weeks at number one, sold a whopping three million copies, and won the group its second Record of the Year Grammy. Accompanying LP The Age of Aquarius went gold and nearly hit number one, and their Nyro-penned follow-up single, "Wedding Bell Blues," followed its predecessor to number one as well. The song was something of a mirror of real life; Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo were married that year, and Florence LaRue also married group manager Marc Gordon. Johnny Rivers sold Soul City to the Bell label in 1970, and the first Fifth Dimension LP on Bell was that year's Portrait, which spawned several minor hits and the Top Five smash "One Less Bell to Answer," a Burt Bacharach composition. 1970 also brought a controversial performance at the White House; although the group sang "The Declaration," a socially conscious critique, the simple act of appearing before President Nixon further alienated The Fifth Dimension from the black wing of their fan base, at a time when their releases had already begun to peak higher on the pop charts than on the R&B side. Indeed, their Bell recordings moved farther into soft pop and away from R&B and the gently trippy vibes of their late-'60s material. Their album sales began to taper off, and their vocal arrangements now tended to spotlight soloists rather than unified harmonies. McCoo emerged as a focal point, singing lead on the 1972 Top Ten hits "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" and "If I Could Reach You." They proved to be the group's last major successes; another Bacharach tune, 1973's "Living Together, Growing Together," barely made the Top 40, and the following year's Soul & Inspiration LP marked the end of their relationship with producer Bones Howe. 1975's Earthbound was another full-length collaboration with Jimmy Webb, and much like The Magic Garden, its thematic unity failed to produce a significant hit single. It was also the last album by the original lineup; McCoo and Davis left the group to form a duo, and scored a big hit in 1976 with "You Don't Have to Be a Star." The remaining trio carried on with new members, and nearly had a hit in 1976 with the LaRue-sung "Love Hangover"; unfortunately, Motown issued Diana Ross' own version shortly after The Fifth Dimension's hit the charts, and hers proved far more popular. Strangely enough, The Fifth Dimension signed with Motown not long after, releasing two albums in 1978. Townson briefly left the group to try a solo career, but soon returned, as the group resigned itself to the nostalgia circuit; meanwhile, McCoo served a stint as the host of Solid Gold. Phyllis Battle joined in the mid-'80s, and the original quintet reunited in 1990 for a tour. In 1995, the quintet of LaRue, Townson, McLemore, Battle, and Greg Walker recorded a new album, In the House, for Click Records. In 1998, Willie Williams replaced Townson, who passed away in 2001 due to kidney failure. Battle departed in 2002, to be replaced by Van Jewel. "Honor the past, don't just remember it." Dizzie Gillespie https://www.facebook.com/groups/DukeofEarlGroup/ |
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