Berry Gordy and the 5th Dimension

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 01:21 PM

Hi guys--more Motown stuff from LaMonte McLemore's book. Lamonte was and still is a professional photographer, who shot the weekly Jet magazine Beauty of the Week pictorials. Anyway LaMonte was a staff photographer for Motown's West Coast division back when the 5th was just getting together. He shot The Supremes, Marvin and others at this time. All LaMonte and the other group members wanted was to be signed by Motown, so Lamonte contacted Marc Gordon, who was then the VP of Motown, and through Marc the group got some hand-me-down Smokey compositions to record, but they were on their own when it came to getting their recordings to Berry Gordy. Gordy was still in Detroit, while the 5th were based out of the LA area. So the 5th all chipped in on some demos, but Berry always blew them of saying he was "too busy. Come back tomorrow" kind of thing.Eventually LaMonte camped out on the front steps of Motown's Detroit office and eventually snagged Berry as he was coming in to work. L begged him to give their stuff a listen, saying he was too broke to fly out again. Berry relented. After hearing the demos, Berry said they sounded great but he didn't hear any hits [[as if demos are supposed to be hits). Berry said come back with more demos.

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 01:27 PM

Continued...So the 5th were heartbroken but in stepped Marc Gordon. He told them that if they got with Motown, they'd be lost behind the Supremes, Temptations etc. Marc said the group should go to Soul City records, run by Johnny Rivers. Marc said Johnny would put them first--plus he had a new songwriter named Jimmy Webb whom they should give a listen to. Marc left Motown and decided to properly manage the 5th, taking them to meet Jimmy Webb.

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 01:34 PM

Originally Marc thought Jimmy would be great for some other group, but when they heard this pretty little song called Up, Up and Away, they enjoyed singing it. Soul City signed them and cut a bunch of tunes for the first album, and asked the members which of the songs should be their first single. Nobody picked Up Up and away. Soul City released it anyway. It was a smash hit right out of the box! But here's the best part: a few months after Up Up and Away hit big, LaMonte ran into Berry Gordy at the Grammy Awards...

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 01:44 PM

Continued...Berry quizzed LaMonte about the fantastic reaction to Up Up and Away! Berry asked him "You, Mac, was that Up Up and Away on that demo you brought me?" LaMonte paused and said "Well yes, Berry, it was!" This was false, but LaMonte was no dummy. Later, when L would pass Diana Ross in the hallways of Motown, he informed her he had his own group now. DR sort of blew him off, probably thinking she'd already heard of 1000 "great new bands" at that point. It wasn't until the 5th appeared on The Tonight Show that DR understood what LaMonte was trying to tell him. When she saw the group on TV, she immediately called LaMonte and said "I know I didn't see who I thought I saw, Lamonte!!" L felt DR was maybe a little jealous, but was genuinley happy for the 5th Dimension. And that's the end of this story!

**SatansBlues** · 02-27-2020, 01:53 PM

DR jealous of the 5th Dimension? lol Don't make me laugh.

**Boogiedown** · 02-27-2020, 02:33 PM

I like reviewing this tangled webb [[no pun intended, ok maybe yes) that intertwines between the Supremes and The fifth Dimension and Marc Gordon, a producer of SAM COOKE and LIVERPOOL ....along with Hal Davis [[ as in LOVE HANGOVER) I wonder if Berry saw in The Fifth what he wished for The Supremes , a sort of collegiate , wholesome look and image.

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 02:44 PM

Satan--look. LaMonte was merely saying that DR was probably tinged with a bit of jealousy seeing the 5th getting so much attention for Up Up and Away. Remember this was when the Supremes were starting to have problems and the 5th was clearly just starting. Don't turn this into something ugly. The fact of the matter was that DR didn't like ANYBODY else getting the spotlight, even though deep down she was probably
happy for them.

**BobbyC** · 02-27-2020, 02:54 PM

Boogie--add this to your detective work on Marc and Motown. When Marc first met the 5th, they were called the Versatiles. Marc told them to change the name to something more contemporary, in the same way Berry told the Primettes to change theirs. They changed it to the 5th Dimension. Marc started managing the 5th AFTER he left Motown, but it was clear that he had learned things from Berry. Next, Marc started grooming the group to play upscale dinner clubs and theaters--just like Berry did with his acts. This worked for a time for the 5th, but unfortunately for them things were changing quickly, culturally speaking. By the end of the decade, these clubs were seen as "white" and black acts who played them were sell outs. The dinner clubs started to fade away.

**SatansBlues** · 02-27-2020, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by BobbyC

Satan--look. LaMonte was merely saying that DR was probably tinged with a bit of jealousy seeing the 5th getting so much attention for Up Up and Away. Remember this was when the Supremes were starting to have problems and the 5th was clearly just starting. Don't turn this into something ugly. The fact of the matter was that DR didn't like ANYBODY else getting the spotlight, even though deep down she was probably
happy for them.

DR was the lead singer of the most successful girl group of the 60's and by the time Up, Up and Away was release DR was secure in where she stood in the entertainment world. She was well aware that there were plenty of successful musical acts out there, I seriously doubt that she was intimidated or jealous of the one hit that the 5th Dimension had anymore than she was jealous of Bobbi Gentri or the Ronettes or Ike and Tina.

**khansperac** · 02-27-2020, 04:12 PM

Any person who writes/speaks of another person and injects what they think this person was thinking, or the motive behind their actions, loses credibility with me.