McCoo, Marilyn

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Marilyn McCoo

Singer, actress

Marilyn McCoo's warm alto has been best known as the lead voice of the phenomenally popular 1960s pop group the 5th Dimension. McCoo met her husband, Billy Davis Jr., when both were performing in that group, the pair went on to a successful career as a duo, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. McCoo was also a solo performer, appearing in several musical theater productions and hosting or co-hosting the Solid Gold television variety show for much of its run from 1980 to 1988.

McCoo was born on September 30, 1943, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her parents, both physicians, moved the family to Los Angeles when Marilyn was seven, and she grew up taking dance and music classes in the midst of the city's entertainment industry. She did modeling and entered talent shows as a teen. Although she enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles and earned a degree in business administration, she had her sights set on a career as a performer. She got her start in 1962 when she entered and won a beauty pageant called Miss Bronze California. Jet magazine photographer Lamont McLemoore shot a spread of McCoo photos for the magazine but also invited her to join his group, the Hi-Fi's. The group had some success performing in Los Angeles clubs and they toured with rhythm-and-blues superstar Ray Charles in 1965.

The Hi-Fi's disbanded that year and McLemoore began to discuss a new group with a friend, Billy Davis Jr. McCoo and another Miss Bronze California, Florence LaRue, were brought on board along with Ron Townson to form the Versatiles. At first McCoo had few expectations for the group beyond enjoyment; she was working as a retail clerk and had an activist job in the Watts neighborhood with a group called Economic Youth Opportunities. "I told LaMonte it'd be okay to form a group because I loved group singing," she told Jet.

Psychedelic Pop

The Versatiles were signed to the small Bronco label, where they worked under artists and repertoire executive Barry White. He was the first of a long series of influential creative figures with whom McCoo and the 5th Dimension had the good judgment to associate themselves. When they moved to the Soul City label they took the name the 5th Dimension, riding one of the early waves of psychedelic pop. Working with a group of top Los Angeles session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, they cracked Billboard's pop top 20 with a single, "Go Where You Wanna Go," early in 1967.

From there on it was "Up, Up and Away" for the group, to use the title of their first album and multiple Grammy Award-winning hit of 1967. McCoo's vocals were always prominent in the mix, and she was equally effective blending in with the elaborate pop production of their iconic 1969 hit "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" or taking the vocal lead on such ballads as "One Less Bell to Answer," by the pop songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The group was adept at identifying composers typically not connected with African-American vocal ensembles; "Up, Up and Away" (and many other 5th Dimension songs) came from the pen of country-pop songwriter Jimmy Webb, and "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Wedding Bell Blues" were written by folk-pop poetess Laura Nyro.

Married Fellow 5th Dimension Group Member

Although McCoo had nothing to do with the composition of "Wedding Bell Blues," her lead vocal on the song had an autobiographical aspect: she and Davis had been dating for several years by the time the song appeared in 1969. At first the relationship was purely platonic, although the foundations for a deeper relationship were being laid. "Billy and I spent a lot of time talking to each other," McCoo recalled to Jet. "I found I really liked him, really liked his spirit, his heart. I thought he was a neat guy, but that was all." The relationship deepened into romance, although it was troubled by conflict. "We fought like cats and dogs," McCoo told Jet. "We fought for the two years we were going together. Daily! We were fighting on the day we got married." That day was in 1969, and the 5th Dimension continued to enjoy moderate hits, although not at the level of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," for several years after that.

The new marriage was threatened in its early years by disputes in which McCoo and Davis found fault, among other things, with each other's performing styles. After turning to a marriage counselor they emerged with a stronger marriage—and a new musical vision. In 1975, after a performance at Harvard University, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension. "It wasn't friction," McCoo told the Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger. "We were all friends. But it was dissatisfaction. We had to see for ourselves."

Performing as Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., the duo was signed to the ABC label. Working with several veterans of the Detroit music scene who had landed on the West Coast, they recorded the album I Hope We Get to Love in Time, produced by Don Davis. The album's second single, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)," featured Motown label legend James Jamerson on bass and went to the number one spot on the R&B and pop charts; it was a tuneful early example of the genre that later received the name black pop. The duo's second album, The Two of Us, appeared in 1977.

Solid Gold

That album represented the last time McCoo saw the R&B top 30, but she remained in the spotlight throughout the disco era and beyond. The duo's album Marilyn & Billy, recorded for Columbia in 1978, contained the original version of the song "Saving All My Love for You," later a major hit for Whitney Houston. McCoo and Davis hosted The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show on the CBS television network in the late 1970s, and McCoo returned to the small screen as a solo performer in the 1980s on the dance variety show Solid Gold; she was its host or cohost for most of its run between 1980 and 1988.

For the Record …

Born on September 30, 1943, in Jersey City, NJ; married Billy Davis Jr., 1969. Education: University of California at Los Angeles, B.A. in business administration.

Joined group the Hi-Fi's, 1962; with Lamont McLemore, Florence LaRue, Ron Townson, and Billy Davis Jr., formed the 5th Dimension (at first called the Versatiles), 1965; vocal soloist, the 5th Dimension, 1965-75; performed with Billy Davis Jr. as Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., 1975—; hosted Solid Gold television program, 1980s; released solo album Solid Gold, 1983; released gospel album The Me Nobody Knows, 1991; released Marilyn McCoo Christmas, 2000.

Awards: Miss Bronze California, 1962; six Grammy Awards with the 5th Dimension; Grammy Award (with Billy Davis Jr.), Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, for "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)," 1977; Hollywood Walk of Fame (with the 5th Dimension), sidewalk star, 1991; Children's Miracle Network, Achievement Award, 2002; Grammy Hall of Fame (with the 5th Dimension), for "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," 2004.

Addresses: Mailing address—Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., P.O. Box 7905, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Website—Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Official Website, http://www.mccoodavis.com.

McCoo recorded a well-received contemporary gospel album, The Me Nobody Knows, in 1991, and she and Davis returned to the studio in 2004 with another religious release, Spirituals: Songs of the Soul. That year they released a book, Up, Up and Away: How We Found Love, Faith and Lasting Marriage in the Enter-tainment World. They remained married and continued to tour successfully as of 2007; Leslie Gray Streeter of the Palm Beach Post wrote in 2005 that theirs was "literally the first South Florida show I've been to in a theater where nobody left early." McCoo appeared in stage productions both by herself (she replaced Lonnette McKee in a Broadway production of Show Boat) and with Davis (they joined forces for The Duke Ellington Songbook Tour and It Takes Two). Her television appearances included a recurring role on the Days of Our Lives soap opera. McCoo was featured on the Colors of Christmas tour with fellow middle-of-the-road soul singer Peabo Bryson. She received an achievement award from the Children's Miracle Network in 2002.