Ronald LaPread, the former bassist for funk and soul group Commodores, has died. He was 75.
The musician played with the band from 1970 to 1986, during the period when they were led by singer Lionel Richie and enjoyed huge hits including “Three Times a Lady”, “Easy” and “Sail On.”
He was not a member of the group’s current line-up, which recently pulled out of the Donald Trump-backed Great American State Fair.
LaPread’s death was announced on social media by his daughter, musician and film producer Soraya LaPread, who wrote that she shared the news with a “heavy heart.”
He died in Auckland, New Zealand, where he had been living since the 1980s. Local paper the New Zealand Herald reported that his death came after a “sudden medical event.”
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open image in gallery
open image in galleryLaPread was born on September 4, 1950 in Florida and grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama. He got his start as a musician singing in church, and learned to play multiple instruments. He was also heavily invested in the Civil Rights Movement, and while he was still young he marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1970, LaPread was approached by Richie and guitarist Thomas McClary about joining their fledgling band the Commodores. He was a key member of the group’s sound by the time they signed with Motown Records and recorded their debut album, 1974’s Machine Gun. LaPread was credited as a writer on the song “Young Girls Are My Weakness.”
On the group’s second album, 1975’s Caught In The Act, LaPread wrote another track “Look What You’ve Done to Me,” and he contributed “Gimme My Mule” to Movin’ On later that same year.
Commodores celebrated their first number one R&B album with 1976’s Hot on the Tracks, which featured the Richie-LaPread cowrite “Funky Dancer.”
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Their fifth album, 1977’s self-titled Commodores, took the group to greater heights and became their first top five pop album. It featured a wide variety of styles including the ballad “Easy” as well as the funk classic “Brick House”, which LaPread co-wrote. The album was dedicated to LaPread’s wife, Kathy Faye LaPread, who died from cancer during the album’s production.
1978’s Natural High produced the massive hit “Three Times a Lady.” LaPread stayed with the band until their eleventh studio album, 1985’s Nightshift.
LaPread left the band the following year and relocated to Auckland, New Zealand, where he raised his daughter and continued to make music.