Up, Up And Away

Florence LaRue is showing her age.

It's certainly not in appearance. The only original member remaining with the 5th Dimension has been singing for 50 years and looks about 30.

But LaRue readily admits she is old school in her attitudes. She prefers to be called Miss LaRue until she invites an acquaintance to do otherwise. She believes in being a lady. And she guides her actions by a verse of the Bible, Matthew 5:6, which says: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

"With the change to casual dress, so went the manners," the vocalist muses. "I'm a senior citizen! Would you call your mother by her first name? It's a different world.

"But I love young people," she adds. "I really enjoy going in to the schools and speaking. And I have letters from the kids saying how much they enjoy listening to me. They always have two questions: How old am I? And how much money do I make?

"I tell them my age. No one ever guesses. But if you take care of yourself, you can look like I look. Enjoy who you are and that God has let you live long enough to have some wisdom!"

LaRue says she "never meant to become a singer" and in the mid-1960s resisted joining The Versatiles, the group that evolved into the 5th Dimension.

"My background was classical; I played violin and studied ballet," she recalls. "I had two desires, to teach and be in the movies."

Having moved from Pennsylvania to California, LaRue earned a bachelor's degree in education but, not knowing what to do next, she let her friends enter her into beauty contests hoping she'd be discovered.

"I was blessed to win quite a few contests," she says. "The year I was in the Miss Bronze California contest, I won the talent (singing 'April in Paris' in French), and a gentleman came to me, saying, 'I have a group; I'd like you to join us.' I told him, 'I'm not a singer, I'm an actress.' He kept bugging me and bugging me, so I finally said, 'OK, I'll give it a try.'"

In 1967, the group -- by then the 5th Dimension -- released "Up, Up and Away" and shot to stardom. Hits such as "Wedding Bell Blues," "Stone Soul Picnic," "Last Night I Didn't Get to Sleep" and "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In" followed, and the 5th Dimension earned 14 gold records, six platinum records and six Grammy Awards.

"I enjoyed singing the harmonies. I liked the people. And we were successful within a very short time," LaRue recalls. "Within a year, we had a hit record. We were truly a Cinderella group.

"But you know, the original group was only together for 10 years," she adds. "I was blessed to learn to surround myself with the best as far as management, arrangers, and that's one of the reasons we were able to continue so successfully. In choosing the people to join the group, we were very careful. We were looking for the 5th Dimension personality -- what people called 'square' -- someone who would represent the 5th Dimension well.

"When I first started in show business, I discovered you have to demand respect," she says. "People assume because you're an entertainer, you do drugs. If you're a female, they assume you're not a lady. I am an entertainer, and I am a lady."

LaRue says she continues to keep busy, not just with the 5th Dimension.

"Having my own cabaret show gives me a chance to grow musically," she says. "The 5th Dimension is both blessed and cursed" -- she chuckles -- "to have so many hits!"

NAN What's Up on 02/05/2016