Lamonte McLemore (born September 17, 1939) is an American

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

. He was a founding member of

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

, a popular vocal group of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Personal life

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''.

Biography

McLemore was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. He is a professional photographer for ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'', ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

'', '' Jet'', ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' magazines.

Baseball

McLemore was the first African American athlete to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. After he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he was a minor league strong-arm pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a short time.

Photography

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. 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.

Songwriting

He co-wrote two songs recorded by The 5th Dimension, ''A Love Like Ours'' (with Bob Alcivar) and ''The Singer'' (with Elliot Willensky).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLemore, Lamonte 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 20th-century American sportsmen