One of the Fifth Dimension

Background:

Along with her group The Fifth Dimension, a popular music vocal group in the late 1960s and 1970s, Florence LaRue has popularized the hits "Up, Up And Away" and "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." She has embarked on a solo acting work and was seen performing in a critically acclaimed national tour of Broadway's Tony award winning musical "Ain't Misbehavin’” and starring in the successful Toronto production of "Mo Magic."

As of 2001, LaRue and fellow Fifth Dimension performer LaMonte McLemore are the only two remaining original members of the group and continue to tour.


Philly Root

Childhood and Family:

On February 4, 1944, Florence LaRue was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married The Fifth Dimension manager Marc Gordon in 1969 and has one child with him. LaRue and Gordon have divorced.


Up, Up And Away

Career:

One of the original members of popular music vocal group in the late 1960s and 1970s The Fifth Dimension, Florence LaRue has popularized the group’s hits "Up, Up And Away" and "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." They have recorded for several different labels over their long career and have toured around the globe to sold-out audiences.

Along with her group, LaRue performed in a September 1967 episode of ABC variety show "The Hollywood Palace" and in two episodes (February 1968 and January 1969) of CBS popular show "The Jackie Gleason Show." She was also seen in four episodes of CBS variety show hosted by former entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan, "The Ed Sullivan Show" (1968-1971), and a 1971 episode of the summer music/comedy/variety series "Make Your Own Kind of Music!" Other guest performances include in NBC variety show starring black comedian Flip Wilson, "The Flip Wilson Show," and in the long-running music-related syndicated television program "Soul Train."

LaRue also embarked on a solo acting work and was seen performing in a critically acclaimed national tour of Broadway's Tony award winning musical "Ain't Misbehavin" and starring in the successful Toronto production of "Mo Magic." In 1983, she played a bit part in the mystery-drama TV movie about a former children show host (played by Dom Deluise) who keeps his old show alive by doing public appearences in character, Happy (also starring Dee Wallace-Stone and Henry Silva).

As of 2001, LaRue and fellow Fifth Dimension performer LaMonte McLemore are the only two remaining original members of the group and continue to tour. The Fifth Dimension was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, LaRue appeared in Straight from the Heart: Timeless Music of the 60's & 70's and then in 2006 Trumpet Awards.

LaRue has also been active in a charity organization which helps abused children. She recently traveled with a medical/evangelism team to The Gambia, West Africa, and her humanitarian efforts have hailed her “Woman of the Year” by the City of Hope.


Awards:
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