Lamonte McLemore
Lamonte McLemore | |
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McLemore (top) with The 5th Dimension, 1971 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Lamonte McLemore |
Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | September 17, 1939
Genres | Pop music |
Occupation(s) | Singer, actor |
Website | www |
Lamonte McLemore (born September 17, 1939) is an American vocalist, composer, and photographer. He was a founding member of The 5th Dimension, a popular vocal group of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Personal life
[edit]McLemore married Lisa Harvey and had a daughter named Ciara. In 2014, he wrote and published his autobiography with Robert-Allan Arno, From the Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension - A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music.[1][2]
Biography
[edit]McLemore was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
He is a professional photographer for Playboy, Ebony, Jet, People, and Harper's Bazaar magazines.[3]
Baseball
[edit]McLemore was the first African American athlete to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. After he moved to Los Angeles, he was a minor league strong-arm pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a short time.[4]
Photography
[edit]After he graduated from high school, McLemore enlisted in the United States Navy, and worked as an aerial photographer. He co-founded Halmont Graphics with Cliff Hall, and worked there as a photographer beginning in 1958.[5] McLemore was the first African American photographer hired by Harper's Bazaar magazine and was the photographer for Stevie Wonder's first album cover. McLemore has been a photographer for Jet and Ebony magazines for over forty years. It was because of his photo shoot at the Miss Black Beauty Pageant in the mid-1960s that he met Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue which ultimately led to The 5th Dimension being created.[4]
Songwriting
[edit]He co-wrote two songs recorded by The 5th Dimension, A Love Like Ours (with Bob Alcivar)[6] and The Singer (with Elliot Willensky).[7]
References
[edit]- ^ McLemore, Lamonte; Arno, Robert-Allan (2014). "From the Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension". Amazon.com. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "Interview with Lamonte McLemore". YouTube.com. 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "Lamonte McLemore Photography Website". Retrieved 21 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Lamonte McLemore". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- ^ Nelson, Laura J. (5 January 2020). "Cliff Hall, an inventor who photographed Los Angeles high society, dies at 94". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Lamonte McLemore, Bob Alcivar - A Love Like Ours". 45cat.com.
- ^ "Elliot Willensky, Lamonte McLemore - The Singer". 45cat.com.
- 1939 births
- Musicians from St. Louis
- Living people
- Singers from Missouri
- 20th-century American composers
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century American male singers
- African-American composers
- African-American male composers
- African-American photographers
- American photographers
- Baseball players from Missouri